1983-Trey AnastasioGuitar, vocals
Jon FishmanDrums, vocals
Mike GordonBass, vocals
Jeff HoldsworthGuitar1983-1986
Page McConnellKeyboards, vocals1985-
The band formed at the University of Vermont. Trey Anastasio and Jeff Holdsworth used to jam in Jon Fishman's dorm room, and Mike Gordon answered an ad they put up on a bulletin board.
They never play the same set twice. When Phish played 13 concerts in a row at Madison Square Garden in the summer of 2017, they performed 237 songs without repeating a single one.
Phish had a large following, but when Jerry Garcia died in 1995, many deadheads began following them and they became an even bigger concert draw.
In 2000, at the height of their powers, the band broke up. Among other things, they felt things were getting too big and they were not able to focus on music. They regrouped in 2002, but decided to limit their touring. This had the effect of making tickets even harder to get for their shows.
Anastasio has said that the band is named after Fishman, who refutes this claim. Fishman said in an interview with Relix: "When it was time to decide a name for the band, I suggested the sound of an airplane taking off - 'phssssh.' But then we thought that we needed a vowel. Imagine people saying, 'We are going to see Phssssh tonight…' We had already designed the logo and the 'I' fit perfectly in the middle. So Phish was not named after me."
They are known for their bizarre stage antics. Some of the props they used include trampolines, vacuum cleaners, and a slip-and-slide.
They appeared on the 2002 "Weekend at Burnsie's" episode of The Simpsons where Homer was trying to legalize marijuana.
Holdsworth left the band in 1986 and became a born again Christian. He played with the band again on December 1, 2003 at a concert in Albany, New York.
They're known for staging weekend festivals in out-of-the-way places, starting in 1996 with "The Clifford Ball" at what used to be an Air Force base in Plattsburgh, New York. Other locations include Limestone, Maine, and Coventry, Vermont.
Phish covered albums in their entirety for several Halloween shows, including the Beatles'
White Album ('94), the Who's
Quadrophenia ('95), Talking Heads'
Remain in Light ('96), and the Velvet Underground's
Loaded ('98).
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Suggestion credit:
Matthew - Santa Rosa, CA
Anastasio learned guitar in his sophomore year of high school, which is pretty late compared to other great axe wielders. He did play drums and sang in the men's glee club in high school. He took percussion lessons from a drummer who made him practice on a pillow for a full year before even getting a practice pad.
Anastasio plays is a band called Oysterhead with bassist Les Claypool from Primus and drummer Stewart Copeland from The Police. They played a series of shows in 2001 and released an album that year called The Grand Pecking Order. Their next tour had unfortunate timing, starting in February 2020 just before COVID hit.
Ben & Jerry's, based in Vermont, named two ice cream flavors after the band: the marshmallow-and-caramel swirled "Phish Food" and the donut-infused "Freezer Reprise" (inspired by the band's Baker's Dozen concert).
Trey Anastasio got addicted to OxyContin after it was prescribed to him following dental surgery. He later revealed that this was why the band went on hiatus in the early '00s.
Anastasio was also drinking and doing drugs in a dangerous spiral that culminated on December 15, 2006 when he was arrested for heroin possession and driving while intoxicated. He was sentenced to rehab and community service, which got him sober. As for the drug use Phish fans and other members of the band sometimes indulge in, Trey doesn't judge. He knows they affect people different ways, and wants addicts to know they can get help. He even opened up a
recovery center in Vermont in 2023 called Divided Sky, appointed his former caseworker as program director.
Phish released just one music video. It was for their 1994 song "
Down With Disease," and MTV largely ignored it (although it did make
Beavis and Butt-Head). Videos for their songs are typically live performances, which is just fine with the band.
Phish won the fan vote for the Rock Hall Hall Of Fame in 2025 but were denied entry. The same thing happened to the Dave Matthews Band, which won the vote in 2020 but weren't allowed in until 2024.
