MM: And with Trey‚ well it seems like to me that the critics of it all are the people that actually love it. I think they're the hardest critics. But I just got to the point where I have nothing to criticize (laughter). If you're willing to do that‚ then you're willing to attempt to make music beyond...I guess that's the point‚ but he went back to the Phish thing and they came out and played and it was funny as it went back to kids bitching that they did play a certain song and all this stuff (laughs)...
JH: It's horrible‚ that would piss me off so much (laughs) I just couldn't deal with that. Like jeez...
MM: But at the same time when you're there everybody's raging to it and loving it (laughs).
JH: I don't understand it at all how they have such an amazing time and then they get home and they're like‚ "Dude‚ the fucking Piper was blah‚ blah." It's like first of all‚ shut up! And secondly‚ you seemed to be having a pretty damn good time at the show. (Laughter)
MM: Well that must have been interesting for you seeing that when Trey put the band together; I know a lot of kids were nasty about Trey doing something different‚ but at the same time I have a lot of friends who lost interest in Phish‚ who heard the Trey band and just absolutely loved it. They thought it was sick‚ incredible music with all the horns and heavy percussion‚ there's just so much happening and the music is just so thick…
JH: Yeah‚ I think it's really fun music and a lot of it is much more accessible to people of all ages and for all genres. I think Phish is something that a forty year old man who works in an office listening to the Bee Gees all day wouldn't necessarily enjoy (laughs). I think this band is accessible to everybody. It's taken a little time‚ but I think we have our own following. When we first started it was all Phish fans who were bitching that it wasn't Phish (laughs). Well‚ yeah really? You take a fourth of Phish and stick nine other people in there do you think it's going to sound like Phish? (Laughter) We started losing those people who were really pissed that it wasn't Phish and we started gaining the people that really loved it for what it was. It's so much more enjoyable now because the people who really want to be there are there.
MM: Yeah‚ people who are really getting off on the music. But in a way I think that's what the Phish experience is about - it's not supposed to sound the same all the time‚ you're not supposed to know what's going to happen. That's exciting‚ and I would stop going if they played the same jam over and over again or whatever…
JH: (In a funny voice) In bar 347 we modulate to E flat (Laughter)...
MM: Right‚ like we did in 1987...
JH: Exactly‚ remember when that happened? It's very well documented.
MM: (Laughing) Right‚ exactly. That's funny because you're a part of this real geeky documentation.
JH: That freaks me out (laughs). I'm the first one to tell Trey that it freaks me out. I was out at a party on the 4th of July with a friend of mine who's a huge Phish fan and all of her friends are really into Phish and all the questions about set lists. I was just like listen‚ "I don't care! I don't understand why you guys care how many times we've opened with 'Simple Twist Up Dave' in the last three years‚ why do you care?" (Laughter) I don't know the answers to these questions. I'm just in the band‚ man. So‚ I don't have any idea why people are so into that (laughs)...
MM: Yeah‚ I think it's really interesting that people talk about that and I guess‚ I can't even explain‚ it's just the bigness of it all and how that becomes relevant in some way. I guess I was one of those people when I first got into it where I had tapes and I would always be looking at what they played. People started putting out books with serious statistical data (laughs) and I would read it and be like‚ "Wow‚ this is fascinating information‚ I had no idea they played 'You Enjoy Myself' 387 times in their career." (Laughter) But it got to the point where I started taking it for what it is; it's a musical experience‚ it's a musical journey. I'm just happy to be hearing music...
JH: Yeah‚ that's exactly it. I mean‚ yeah that's cool that I'm part of that documentation‚ and if people come hear me play music because they know me through that - that's great. If people come see me play because they know me from Burlington - that's great too. I mean‚ shit‚ even if the nursing home from down the road comes to hear me play and they dig it - that's great. I think it's about keeping yourself in perspective‚ and that's the same thing with Ray‚ no matter how many hundreds of thousands of people come to see him play - he's still Ray‚ milk and cows Ray at the end of day - it doesn't change him. He plays in his trio because he absolutely loves it and he does was he wants to do. That's how I feel; I'm playing my music because I love it. I put this band together because I want to play music and I want to have a good time doing it.
Originally published on www.LiveMusicBeth.com, July 2003
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