Welcome to my weekly mixtape, a podcast that
takes the classic mixtape approach to building
a modern playlist. I'm your host, Brian Colburn.
Joining me tonight once again as guest curator
is the one and only Sean Faust. Welcome back,
my friend. Dude, I'm psyched to finally be back
on this show that you never invite me to. I'm
really heartbroken about it. But now here we
are talking about one of my favorite bands ever,
Dream Theater. Wait, that's not it. Here we are
talking about one of my favorite bands ever,
Pink Floyd. That's not it. Wait, hold on. Here
we are talking about one of my favorite bands
ever, The Fish from Vermont. Did I get it right
that time? You got it right that time. I won't
have to edit it. All right. Now, look, I got
to be honest here. Fish is going to be a tough
musical road to go down because depending on
Where you are in terms of your fandom and that's
pH in fandom. If I'm doing this correctly, there
are a lot of fish fans out there that would build
their ultimate fish mixtape using specific live
recordings from various tours over the years.
But tonight you and I are taking on the challenge
of creating the ultimate fish one -on -one mixtape,
meaning. This is a nice introduction to the band,
their vibe, and their sound. If you've only heard
of Phish but have never heard them play a single
note, did you find any aspect of that challenging
when you were pulling your songs for this? Not
really, because I just thought about before.
I've got my life that's BP and then PP. and don't
be crude but there's vp of course before fish
uh i guess before fandom and then um i guess
well i mean pp could be dp it could be during
fandom or ap whatever whatever we're calling
it now i'm a fan i'm a huge fan but i'm gonna
go with like a lot of what i was introduced to
along with stuff that i just kind of you know
as new albums come out or just stuff i discovered
on my own just from listening to countless amounts
of bootlegs and then Hearing the album. And then
do you think there's going to be any stigma with
the hardcore fish fans that we are doing a studio
mix here? Because at the end of the day, there
are some fans that will always steer people to
the live albums before any of the studio albums.
And I kind of disagree with that because I think
at least through the songs I'm bringing to the
bank tonight, there's actually a lot of magic
happening on the studio renditions. A lot of
the diehards I know are going to be like, wait,
you guys are talking studio? And you want me
to listen to this? And I'm like, yeah, I want
you to listen to this. Because if you don't,
you're not a real fan if you don't listen to
everything that says Fish, man. You're not a
real fan. You're not a real fan if you don't
like it. No, I mean, I'm even one of those people.
I can throw on some albums and be like, oh, I
love this so much. But I'm a live guy, too. But
also, my intro to Fish. Was studio stuff as we'll
get into. Well, there's always a part two where
we can do a live. renditions episode. But before
that, let's get down to business on tonight's
topic, where tonight, Sean and I will be curating
the ultimate fish mixtape, and we'll use the
old cassette deck approach. Sean, as my special
guest, will begin side A with his first song
choice, and then I'll add a song that I feel
best follows up that choice. We'll then flip
-flop choosing songs until we've mapped out 10
tracks for side A. We'll then give our mixtape
a proverbial flip and we'll map outside. Be only
this time I'll kick things off with Sean choosing
second. Our overall goal for the episode is to
craft the best fish mixtape possible through
only 20 songs. At the end of the show, you can
take our conversation to the next level by visiting
the episode page at myweeklymixtape .com to give
our final mixtape a listen via the embedded playlist.
And if you like what you're hearing on the show,
you can help me out by either telling a friend,
leaving the show a five -star review wherever
you're tuning in, or becoming a part of the Patreon
mixtaper community at patreon .com forward slash
myweeklymixtape. There you'll find ad -free episodes
of the show, gain immediate access to future
My Weekly Mixtape episodes, hear exclusive bonus
banter clips, chime in on upcoming show topics,
become a future guest, and so much more. And
a few of the Patreon mixtapers chimed in with
the songs they would use to kick things off tonight.
And I want to give a quick shout out to a few
of those. Brandon from Virginia chimed in saying
he's got to go old school with Chalk Dust Torture,
saying Trey knocks it out of the park with his
solo. Tom Hutchinson chimed in saying that he
knows that I'm a sucker for covers. So he went
with the band's take. on the Beastie Boys' Sabotage.
And Jason Donchus chimed in, saying that the
team over at the R4 podcast is recording their
Billy Breeze episode. So since he's primed on
that album at the moment, free, opening that
record is fantastic. So that's what he'd start
the mixtape with. And I'm looking forward to
hearing that R4 episode on Billy Breeze when
it drops. Now, Sean, along with the Patreon mixtapers,
I tried something new for this episode tonight.
A few weeks back, I posted an album dive episode
on Moe's brand new studio album, Circle of Giants,
which is an incredible record, I should add.
But Jim Laughlin from the band joined me, and
when we were done with the episode, I decided
to ask him what he'd start his Ultimate Fish
playlist with, and here's what he had to say.
I would pick Maze off a riff. It's probably the
first song, like, I'm not the biggest. fish fan
but they were really big obviously when i was
in college it was right when they started hitting
their stride and rift and picture and nectar
are probably the my two most familiar fish records
and i had went to see them at the riviera theater
in buffalo or just outside of buffalo with vin
and a couple other guys back in the day and this
was before i'd never seen him before i wasn't
familiar with them at all And that particular
song, just again, it was a song that just hit
me like, wow, like these guys are extremely talented.
To see and watch the song live is you really,
if you're a player, you don't even have to, but
you can really, it points out their internal
clocks, the time and how much they know each
other on a stage. Like that was the stuff that
just got me like, holy cow. They're so solid
and they clearly know exactly what the other
one is going to do at any given point in time.
You know, the vocal harmonies on at the end,
like everything about that song really gave me
a just tremendous amount of respect for them
as players, you know, as musicians, as songwriters
is just like, wow, that's, I wasn't sure you
could do that, but apparently people can. Now,
once again, if you'd like to chime in for future
My Weekly Mixtape episodes, join the Mixtaper
community at patreon .com forward slash My Weekly
Mixtape. And now, Sean, I'm officially pressing
the record button on our mixtape tonight, and
you are free to talk about your first tube song
choice of the evening. I got to tell you, man,
these jokes are just not on fuego. Including
that one that I just made. So to kick off this
tape, I thought of the first song that I knew
for a fact was Fish. And the funny thing about
it is I thought it was the Red Hot Chili Peppers
the first time I heard it on the radio. Because
of the stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop.
So it kind of weirded me out when I was like,
wait, that's not the Chili Peppers? which I guess
that worked out to my benefit anyway. But Down
With Disease is that song that hooked me immediately.
It's also the first time I saw Fish was years
later. It was 2003 at The Burn or whatever it
was called at the time. And B .B. King sat in.
But the only tune, as far as I recalled, that
I knew was Down With Disease. And they opened
with it. What a way to just let's introduce me
to the live aspect of Phish and let's introduce
people that don't know Phish to Phish. From 1994's
Hoist, written by Trey Anastasio and Tom Marshall,
a songwriting duo you might hear about as much
tonight as Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller mentioned
during the My Weekly Mixtape Oldies episodes.
The song reached number 33. on the Billboard
U .S. Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. And I'm going
to say this now, we're not going to be talking
a lot of Billboard charts tonight because Phish
is a band that, and I'll use quote unquote here,
made it in a very untraditional sense. They had
no label machine really behind them. Yes, they
were signed to Elektra. Yes, they were on a major
label. But at the end of the day, They were not
known as a radio MTV band. They made a name for
themselves via their live shows, the tapers,
and the word of mouth that truly drove this band
to the levels that they're at now. I love the
fact that you started this with something a little
funky, a little fun, a little upbeat. It is a
perfect set opener. Usually I think when they
do it live, it's your second set opener, but
I have seen them set one at a few times, which
is surprising. It's always fun to hear it, whatever
point of the show they play it. And it's the
only fish music video in their entire career,
except. For Esther, which was a quote -unquote
semi -official 1991 fan -made video. So if you
were to be exposed to any Phish music video,
this is pretty much it, besides live content.
And you saw it through a Phish eye lens. You
did. Well, I am going to follow up your sentiment,
Sean, with the exact same story, believe it or
not. This is one of the songs that... got me
to fall in love with Phish, and coincidentally,
it's the first song I ever saw Phish play live.
So I am going to follow up Down With Disease
with Heavy Things from 2000's Farmhouse, written
by Trey and Tom along with Scott Herman. It's
the band's fifth most streamed song on Spotify
with 11 .6 million streams. So technically, if
you want to call it a quote unquote hit, it's
one of the band's more known songs. It's the
first Phish song that I truly fell in love with.
And it was my personal musical gateway drug to
this band, because what made me fall in love
with this song is the yin and yang situation
that's playing out. The song itself is. Very
light and breezy, I guess you want to call it,
but the lyrics kind of paint a different picture.
And that's something that happens a lot in music.
And for some reason, it always piques my interest
because it could either really set a song to
new levels or it could actually backfire and
make the song almost too much to digest. Trey's
guitar work on the song is perfect because this
type of song doesn't require Anything stratospheric.
So he never overplays in this song. He just kind
of doodles for the guitar solo, if you want to
call it that. But it feels very breezy and airy
of a jam on his part. So there's something in
this song. I don't know. It's hypnotic. It's
like the Pied Piper of Hamlet on guitar. And
Trey is just kind of bouncing down the street.
Wow, you missed a good pun there where you could
have said he's bouncing around. Oh, you already
said Pipe Piper. I like that song. We've jammed
that many a times. That's the song that we didn't
overplay that I loved playing with you. Not that
I don't love the other song, which maybe we'll
get to that. Maybe we won't. We'll find out.
All right. So what are you following up heavy
things with? Okay. So I know I said Down With
Disease is like the first Phish tune for me.
It's the first tune that got me into Phish. However.
The year before, I remember Rift coming out and
my good friend Eric made a mixtape for me. Pretty
cool, right? Here we go. Old school. It's a mixtape.
And I remember a lot of the stuff that was on
it too. And some of that stuff I wish they would
bring back into their repertoire. But I didn't
really like start listening to the tape on a
regular basis until after I got into Down With
The Z's. And the funny thing about this mixtape
of Phish is that... The Blues Traveler album
had just come out. I don't remember what album
it was, so forgive me. But the B -side, after
the Blues Traveler album was copied for me, sorry
guys, was a mix of Phish stuff. And the first
tune that was on it that really grabbed me was
My Friend, My Friend. Nice. I love arrangements
like that. I love composition like that. You
know me, I'm a prog rock guy, so I'm into stuff
like that with the long instrumental intros and
all that stuff. And man, just even how the beat
gets flipped, how Fishman flips the beat once
it kicks in. I love My Friend, My Friend. That's
a driving tune. And I love the fact that they've
been jamming a lot lately. Yeah, they've been
definitely opening that one up from 1993's Rift.
Three in a row for Trey and Tom for our first
three songs, which obviously it's your main songwriting
duo and Fish. So don't be too shocked if that
happens a lot tonight. Like you mentioned, I
have to agree. The opening of My Friend, My Friend
is very whimsical. I'll almost say it gives me
a Jethro Tull -ish type vibe. I'm not saying
it's Jethro Tull, but I'm saying I catch vibes
of it, at least in the first two and a half minutes
before, like you said, Fishman just flips the
song on its side and you transition into this
darker groove. Rift was the first concept album
for Phish, not counting Trey's 1988 album, The
Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday, which was his
senior thesis over at Goddard College. And believe
it or not, I'm actually surprised the band hasn't
released like an archive of it to like at least
Nugs or something, considering songs like Wilson,
The Lizard and Possum are all. live staples this
would have been their quote unquote studio versions
but i digress it's out there yeah and i'll tell
you what's funny you bring up the uh more it's
not a concept as much as a theme it shares a
theme of sleep and dreams so i'm gonna i mentioned
dream theater earlier their album that just came
out parasomnia when i first heard the description
of it the theme is like dreams and nightmares
and stuff like that i'm like wait So the theme
of this prog rock band's album is dreams. Didn't
Phish already do that in 1993? So, I mean, and
trust me, like I'm very happy with the new Dream
Theater album. And, you know, I'm talking apples
and walnuts right now, so I can't even compare
them. But it's cool that like two of my favorite
bands have done an album about dreams. Well,
following that up, there's a small part of me
that wants to think in a live sense here. Because
at the end of the song, you've got the repetition
of my friend, my friend, he's got a knife to
close the song. And for some reason in my head,
if they were doing this live, I can almost hear
the panning and swirling opening to ghost underneath
those lyrics in repetition. And as soon as they
hit the last, my friend, my friend, he's got
a knife. Mike and Fishman kick in with the beat
from 1998's The Story of the Ghost and tonight's
first album opening track. The song is perfect
for that musical gateway drug into the band because
the studio version clocks in at three minutes
and 52 seconds. However, pretty much any time
this song is played live, it's always opened
up and explored in some facet with. a lot of
the live versions clocking in well over 20 minutes.
Then you kind of hone in on the song, even on
the studio version, Mike's slap bass during the
breakdown kind of seals the deal on this track
for me as it brings out the funkiness in the
band, but it's not in such a manic red hot chili
pepper sense, like down with disease was. So
anytime I'm trying to introduce someone to fish,
I like to keep ghost. pretty close to the front
because it's a fun, easily digestible song from
a studio length standpoint. But it also gives
you teases of what you can expect from them in
a live setting. Well, you know, that album was
recorded from jam sessions where they took parts
of the jam and wrote around that. And now that
might not be a million percent accurate, but
I'm 99 % sure that that's exactly. how the album
is. So you, you are kind of still getting that
live vibe from fish. What an awesome choice.
What an awesome album. And I actually hear what
you're telling my friend, my friend, he's got
knife. Boom, boom, boom, boom. Exactly. That's,
that's awesome. That's awesome. Well, when you're
listening to ghost and you're coming out of ghost
in this jam. You reach into your pocket, right?
And you pull out a big doobie and you blaze on.
You see what I did there? You see what I did
there? I made a pun. I made a pun. But yeah,
you know, I'm going to follow it up with blaze
on. I remember the first time I heard that, that
was 2015. And I was listening to the show on
the drive out to Pittsburgh for a gig with the
Pittsburgh Browncoats for I Can't Stop the Serenity
event. I do have to give my browncoats some love.
And Blazon came on. And Robert Fulton, who I've
played with in several facets, was telling me
like, oh, yeah, you're going to dig this new
tune. You're going to dig this new tune. And
not even a minute in, I'm like, my God, Blazon
is an instant classic. Of course, I'm not going
from that show. I'm going from the album Big
Boat. But Blazon just, that's, it's just instant
classic fish. Absolutely right. 2016's Big Boat.
Once again, Trey and Tom, the writers on this
one. It is my favorite song from Big Boat. So
I'm glad you picked it because it was in my bank.
I will say this as a spoiler, it was the only
song in my bank, although there are other ones.
I feel like when you get into songs like Petrichor
that might be a little too much for that 101
vibe, Blazon definitely is closer to the, I don't
know if you want to call it radio -friendly side
of Phish, but it's definitely a digestible track
where Petrichor is definitely a lot more experimental.
And I think we're going to get to some of that
tonight. but we're not quite there yet. Petrichor
is prog rock. It's straight up. It's total prog
rock, yeah. But the funny thing is, too, is like,
all right, so it's not rain, but I mean, Petrichor,
the word itself, a pleasant smell because of
the rain. And like, well, Blazon is also a pleasant
smell. So we could say either of these songs,
but I'm going with Blazon. All right, all right.
Well, we're now at track six on Side A, and I'm
thinking again, even though we're putting studio
songs out there, I'm thinking, okay, if this
was a set, What would happen in this point of
the set? And I think this is the point where
we'd bring it down a notch, or at least in this
case, several notches. And I said, bring it down.
Thank you. No, we're not going with guar sick
of you. Oh, sorry. All right. My bad. From 1996
is Billy breathes, which the whole album actually
peaked at number seven on the billboard 200 chart.
And it's the highest the band has ever charted.
So from there, I guess, biggest album, I am going
to go with Waste, which is the fourth highest
streamed song on Spotify at 11 .9 million streams.
And for the sixth song in a row, Trey and Tom
are the writers for this one. But, you know,
like I said, that's going to happen a lot tonight.
And I got a kind of a fun story about this song.
How you scooped me on it. That's yeah, that's
a really fun story. Yeah, I scooped Sean on Waste.
Also. Back when I took the family to Disney,
I want to say this is, I don't know, a good 10,
15 years ago for the first time. Are you allowed
to say that word without getting sued? Yeah,
it's a place. Okay. It's a location. Okay, cool.
Yeah. So my folks said, if you and the missus
want a night out, go to the boardwalk and have
some fun. So we did. And we went to a place called
Jelly Rolls. And Jelly Rolls is a dueling piano
bar in Disney. And you sit at tables, you have
drinks. There's a stack of napkins on your table
with a pen next to it. And you throw a tip into
the napkin. You write a song title, you crumple
it up and you throw it to the stage. So I literally
put my tip in and just wrote P H I S H period,
crumpled it up and threw it in about five or
six songs. Later, the guy opens it up and he
looks in the crowd. He goes, all right, which
one he asked for fish. And I, and I raised my
hand and he's like, I can only do one that I
think I could do justice. And he started the
opening piano for Waste. And I literally sat
back in the chair. And as he was singing it,
the other piano player didn't play, just started
harmonizing them. And they did the whole song.
And it was frigging perfect. And there's something
about this song that is just so beautiful. And
this is a side of Fish that I think a lot of
people that picture the band, Don't go here.
And they should, because this is a place in the
band's sound that I think is truly underrated.
I love pages playing on this a lot. He's like
the standout. You scooped me. I love your story.
You scooped me. And I'm sure this is an original.
We're not the first people. We're the first people
I know of that did this, but it was my wedding
song. Well, now I feel really bad for scooping
you on it. You had to scoop my wedding song.
Well, you know, I don't know who's got the better
story, you or me. I mean, I'd say you. I mean,
like I said, it's probably not the most original
idea, but I've never been to a wedding of Phish
fans until mine, and then until after that, and
not everybody did Waste. I've seen Waste, and
I haven't seen Waste, and I think it's just that
song. It's a sweet song. And my poor wife is
completely wasting her time with me. So it's,
wow, good choice, bro. Good choice. All right.
So you know how I said I love prog rock? I do.
And yeah, I was kind of surprised to hear that,
but yeah. I know. I never talk about my love
for prog rock or Floyd or Dream Theater, right?
And I do call, I mean, Phish is a jam band, but
there's a lot of prog rock influence there. There's
an everything. They're a melting pot of awesome.
Yes. And this song. has this middle section that
is like the jam band equivalent of dream theaters
metropolis where it just here's the song here's
the song here's the song here's this what the
hell is this i think i know where you're going
from the album lawn boy i'm gonna go with reba
yeah jazzy proggy fusion prowess all at play
here i mean you think about the song kind of
fools you sean you got the whole bag it tag it
Sell it to the butcher in the store. And you
just get all caught up in that. But buckle up
because there's 12 minutes and 27 seconds in
this song. And I think this is the first time
tonight we're truly testing the Fish 101 crowd
with a studio track that starts to bridge us
into the live aspect of the band, which makes
sense because Lawn Boy was recorded mostly live
to tape when they won. studio time after the
junta album was out and about so if you're lucky
enough to have the original absolute a go -go
pressing of this cd which was prior to electro
remastering and re -releasing it you actually
get a bonus track of fee but anyway i digress
love the pick love the exploration in this one
but from a 101 perspective this definitely is
going to test new listeners to see if they really
get fish well here's the thing though man like
if they're gonna listen to this mixtape right
and then you're like oh that's a band i would
definitely go see live well let's prep them sooner
than later right yes well to follow that up i
think i'm gonna palate cleanse from a 101 perspective
because the other part of me wants to go And
just go nuts into some epic long jams here. But
we're thinking 101. And the song I'm going to
go with, I have to kind of preface with the fact
that after Trey's Shine solo album, there's a
definite blurring of Trey's solo sound and Phish's
sound. However, there's this gray area in the
middle that I think post -Joy. the band started
sitting in very comfortably. And I am going to
go to 2020's Sigma Oasis. Now, the entire album
was already familiar with Phish fans as most
of the songs were previewed live before the studio
album dropped. And I think it was Mercury and
Shade were both leftovers from Big Boat. Now,
once again. And in the case of Sigma Oasis, the
entire album was written by Trey and Tom, with
Scott Herman contributing to two songs, Evening
Song, as well as my pick, the title track, Sigma
Oasis. This album was very memorable to me in
a positive way because during the 2020 COVID
lockdowns, Phish was doing the Tuesday night
dinner and a movie series on YouTube. the March
31st edition, they announced that the next night
they were hosting a listening party on Live Fish,
Sirius XM, and YouTube. And I was quick to look
at the date, March 31st. What's tomorrow's date?
April 1st. So I honestly thought they were setting
up everybody for a virtual New Year's Eve gag.
And I had no idea what to expect, but sure enough,
they weren't bluffing. And they premiered the
Sigma Oasis album in its entirety. And as soon
as the album ended, it premiered on all the streaming
sites. It was a really fun way to debut an album
in a dark period in time. And that opening song
just had such a fun, uplifting spirit and vibe.
And Farmhouse, like I mentioned with Heavy Things,
is my favorite Phish album. So hearing Sigma
Oasis' opening, I really did catch a lot of that
farmhouse sound in the song. So I think the combination
of those two things is why it resonates with
me as much as it does. Dude, that's an awesome
pick. That's one of my, like of the newer stuff
from Phish, that's one of my favorite newer songs.
So what a nice choice there. I'm actually still,
I'm hearing that D right there. I don't know
if you got to watch the Tiny Desk concert, but
they did it at that and it was really awesome.
Yeah. Yeah. Wow. What a great choice. What a
great, how do I follow this up, bro? Hmm. We
keep talking about Trey and Trey and Trey and
Trey. And like, you know, we mentioned, you know,
Mike and Fishman and Page briefly, but how about
Mike, Page and Fishman completely owning it?
Now, Trey is awesome on this track too, but there's
some killer organ. There's that awesome boop,
boop, boop, boop. And as the gentleman from Moe,
Jim Laughlin said, maze, bro, maze. Maze. I mean,
dude, first of all, I mean, Fishman's drumming
on the entire Rift album is just otherworldly
and no human being should be able to play that.
Yet there he is just simply like, oh, yeah, yeah,
I got this. No problem. And if you listen to
the drumming on that album, it's out of this
world. Not only that, I still haven't gotten
the song Riffed Live, but I digress. Maze is
always just a pleasure to get. I believe we got
it the same night that you got the Heavy Things
opening. And man, Paige just tears it up. Yeah,
I'm going with Maze. Dude, I just love this album
so much. It's our first revisit of the night.
First time we're going back to an album. Once
again, a Trey and Tom song. Clocking in at 8
minutes and 13 seconds. We're not quite at the
Reba level here. But you're certainly testing
those Fish 101 lines in terms of drawing a musical
line in the sand. But I think between the two
longer songs that you've chosen, these are songs
to me that even on the album itself, they don't
feel as long as their runtimes might allude to.
And the thing I love so much about Maze is this
is the kind of song that I have to put on headphones
and listen to because there's so much. separation
happening in this song it is so well mixed when
you listen on a good set of headphones the band
is really surrounding you and it's almost theatrical
in the way the song was produced you almost feel
the tension and anxiety in the music and in the
playing and the way it's mixed in a good set
of headphones It's almost like the band is circling
you the entire time the song is playing. And
that is such a difficult thing to achieve on
a studio track that I feel like this is an example
that if there was an argument for why you should
listen to Phish studio albums, it's moments like
this. That's a very fair assessment. Dude, I
mean, the production on that album, like you
said, the space is just... There you are in that
world. It's immersive entirely. What are you
going to follow that up with, though, bro? Well,
we got to go with a side closer here. So my mind
started thinking, what's a good set closer coming
out of Maze? And I feel like we've touched on
the whole spectrum of albums from the band. Well,
not the whole spectrum, but a big swath of their
musical spectrum. But we haven't gone back. to
1989 and the album junta so we have to go there
oh dude are you gonna scoop me well let's find
out written by trey and tom along with brian
sutzer and aaron wolf sean maybe you can help
me out with the lyrics here i looked into the
finance box just to check my status status look
it's no surprise to anybody listening that i
am a huge ska punk fan and while no ska's not
breaking out the real big fish in this song oh
i see what you did there there are some ska elements
to trace playing over the gogi oh woe is me sections
and every time i hear that song it always puts
a smile on my face so if you want to hear a fish
crowd erupt at the end of the set gogi apparatus
i saw you with a ticket stub in your hand it's
game over The whole crowd is going crazy. Even
the people that are singing. I saw you with a
chicken sub in your hand. It's one of those songs
that found its home closing out fish sets. So
I thought what a perfect way to close out side
a and channel that end of set energy in a studio
song. You know, what's weird, man. The last time
I saw them at MSG set one was. All early stuff,
man. And they closed the set with Golgi. And
there you have it, mixtapers. Side A of the ultimate
fish mixtape, which consists of Down With Disease
from Hoist, Heavy Things from Farmhouse, My Friend,
My Friend from Rift, Ghost from The Story of
the Ghost, Blaze On from Big Boat, Waste from
Billy Breathes, Reba from Longboy, Sigma Oasis
from the album of the same name, Maze from Rift,
and Golgi Apparatus from Junta. Head over to
myweeklymixtape .com to hear all the songs we've
discussed in this mix through the playlist embedded
on the episode page. Now, Sean, you have a new
tune out that you've been promoting as of late
on all of the socials. The song is called Status
Quo Radio. So let's take a quick listen to a
clip from that. Where do we go from here? Must
it always be the same songs? There's more to
be heard and more to be seen if we open our eyes.
So Sean, why don't you talk about the story behind
Status Quo Radio? So I've been in tributes and
cover bands and still doing the original thing.
And it's just this whole addiction to things
we're familiar with. just looking at our screens
or just, I saw on social media that everybody
was doing this and I need to fit in. And I saw
on social media that this, and I saw on social
media that, and I was looking at my screen the
whole time I should have been watching a movie
because I was in the theater and people just
get addicted to doing things. Like some people
like go to the concert just to say that they
were there, but they don't even like the band
and they've learned everything they know. on
status quo radio and that's it's social media
is just people out there that just need to be
seen even though they're doing nothing pick you
know let me post pictures of my food oh my food
looks better than yours let me post a clip of
this concert i'm at while people are asking me
to like put my phone down so yeah i mean i'm
angry you can tell and and i'm angry in some
really mellow ways and i mean that song is sarcastic
but it's just an observation like just Be yourself.
Think for yourself. Stop trying to fit in on
everything because your Uncle Milt posted something
on Facebook and you read the headline and assumed
the rest of the story. Just go out and do things
for yourself. And, you know, while I'm at it
with my anger, be yourself. Buy yourself. But
come to my shows, please. Well, Sean, since this
is a fish episode, I want to talk about one other
song from your back catalog. I guess we'll call
it that. And that is the title track from your
Inside Again EP. Oh, wow. OK. Seeing all this
distance traveled. Just killing time until the
show. Well, the facts remain inside us. 15 miles,
20 hours to go. This is a song I think a lot
of Phish fans can relate to, maybe exactly like
you did or in one way or another. I mean, I was
inspired by the people that, I guess, wrote the
chorus. I mean, I saw that and I was like, wow.
So we drove up to Coventry and, you know, we
left about 15 hours before the gates opened or
something like that. And it's a three hour drive.
But, you know, Debbie is an expert. at these
festivals and knew like, it's going to be a long
line to get in. So we left and we were on the
side of the road and it's just this big holdup.
And we were about 20 or 30 miles away. I mean,
yeah, I mean, I changed the lyric a bit to just
flow better, 15 miles, 20 hours to go, but it
was more like 20 miles, maybe 24 miles and like
36 hours to go. until we heard Mike come on the
radio. If you were not within, I think it was
five miles, you're not going to get in and we're
sorry because the grounds got flooded and nobody
saw that coming. The Farmer's Almanac did not
see it coming. Like they just weren't prepared
for the amount of mud. And actually funny thing
about the mud is that the song Mud City from
Bar 17 is about that. But I was just getting
so frustrated and so upset and angry. Like what's
going on? What's going on? And of course, you
know, you're listening to the bunny. And they're
talking about people just completely going in
the left lane to cut in a few miles in. And I
don't shame them. I do whatever they want. But
then I got home and I saw online that people
moved their cars up more and parked on the side
of the road and walked to Coventry to be there
for Fish's last show. And had it not been a 20
-something mile walk and we prepared better,
we might have done that. But I was so moved that
everybody... was just so dedicated to being there
at that moment that I wish I could have thought
of that at the time or just done that. So that
song is for those people. All right. Now I get
to kick things off for side B and I know exactly
how I'm going to kick this side off. You started
with down with disease on side a, and that's
that upbeat, crazy set opening energy. And I'm
going to follow that up with upbeat. Crazy set
opening energy with Chalk Dust Torture from 1992's
A Picture of Nectar. And that comes along with
a shout out to Patreon mixtaper Brandon from
Virginia, who also chimed in with this one. The
first promotional single released by Elektra
Records for the band. It actually peaked at number
53 on the radio and records album oriented rock
chart. Like I said, not a lot of charts to talk
about, but when they happen, I'm going to mention
them. One of the band's biggest live staples,
it actually hit its longest version ever, February
3rd, 2024, at their Riviera Maya event in Cancun,
Mexico. Now, if you're a Phish 101er and you
want to explore... What a truly lengthy and epic
fish jam is like. I'll embed the pro shot live
version of this monster over on the episode page
at myweeklymixtape .com. Chalk Dust Torture was
my ringtone for years. However, at one point
I just had to change it because anytime it came
on shuffle in my car, I actually would start
trying to answer the phone. And I knew at that
point it was time. But kicking off Side B, Chalk
Dust Torture. You scooped me on the jam. That's
a great tune. And I actually like how that was
recorded with the vocals sped up. So when it
came back, Oh, wow. What a great tune. Oh man.
So where do I, you know, I kind of want to go
mellow sooner because you know how I say Pink
Floyd is my favorite band, right? Yes. So. It's
the early 2010s, and I see that Bob Ezrin is
producing the next Phish album, and my head explodes.
The album Fuego comes out. I think, yeah, so
the first single released was Waiting All Night,
and I remember listening to that in headphones
like, oh my God, this is, wow, this is a Bob
Ezrin production, all right? And I was so into
it. And then, of course, we knew most of this
album when it was originally called Wingsuit.
They debuted it for Halloween the year before.
And I'm going with the song wingsuit. Now I was
going to say five 55 for my buddy, Mike, that
I used to work with. Cause we're five 55 to this
day. We're always like reaching out to each other.
Cause we just, Hey, another song with horns,
by the way, bro. Yeah. And, but wingsuit just,
it's got that beauty, like this mellow Floydy
thing. But when it kicks in, it's, it's almost
like that Gilmore guitar tone that he gets. And
it's just here, here comes the adventure. And
Wingsuit just has always done it for me since
day one. And the production on Fuego is just
so outstanding. And it feels good because it
feels good. For the first time tonight, songwriting
credits go to Phish. Well, Trey, John, Mike and
Paige respectively on a song. So I thought I
had to point that out. And I love that you mentioned
the Halloween 2013 show because. I am trying
to think of another band that could walk out
on stage and say, hey, everybody, here's a brand
new album for you, and we're going to play it
in its entirety. Like bands will debut a song
here and there, maybe two in a set if they're
really being adventurous. But Fish just walks
out and says, no, we're going to play an entire
set of music you have never heard before. In
most musical spaces, I think it's safe to say
that a lot of audiences would be confused and
baffled at that notion. But Phish fans embrace
and welcome this. I mean, I think about the fact
that they also did the Cosvot Vox album. I have
no idea if that's how you're supposed to. pronounce
it but i digress i think that's how it's pronounced
and you know what you're talking about how like
fish does that i thought that one was great because
for those of you that are fish 101 when you go
into a halloween show you get a playbill and
that's how you find out what they're doing for
their halloween set and it was funny to troll
that because for the cosmod voc set like people
like oh yeah i kind of remember this album because
like the playbill was like all 80s looking so
it was just like there's always that like no
at all like that just they need to be like oh
yes i know everything and like just to troll
people like that and give them like yes i know
everything uh kazvat vox i remember i had that
record when i was younger no you didn't and they
just trolled you and that was freaking awesome
the 1981 fictional album i rock what a great
way to debut songs and they still incorporate
a lot of those songs in their sets to this day.
So it wasn't just a one -off thing. It's part
of the fish. No, no. And if there was a studio
album, say to me, Santos would be all over this
list, but there's no studio album. Well, these
are songs we'll have to save for the live fish
episode. We do to follow this one up. Love the
fact that you picked wingsuit. Love the approach.
And I'm thinking about the ending of Wingsuit
because it ends on that crescendo at the end
of the song. The crescendo happens. And as it's
ringing out, there's a four count into stealing
time from the faulty plan from 2009's Joy. I'm
not going to outright call this a blues song,
but the way that Trey attacks the lead guitar.
I would say it's definitely blues rock adjacent
as only fish could pull off. And the lyrics got
a blank space where my mind should be written
by Trey, Tom and Scott Herman. Again, joy starts
off just so perfect. The one, two punch of backwards
down the number line into stealing time to open
an album. But coming out of wingsuit, I felt
like backwards down the number line might feel
a little jarring. And I feel like that crescendo
into stealing time tells a better musical story,
at least for this side so far. So stealing time
from the faulty plan. I do, in fact, have a blank
space where my mind should be. Do you have a
Clif Bar and some Earl Grey tea then? I've got
a blank space where my mind should be. I love
that song. I really like that album. I know a
lot of fans were like, eh, they're like, eh,
bad. I really like that album a lot. But I heard
some of those tunes debuted at the Camden show
when they came back. I mean, not all of them,
just some of them. But I didn't hear that one
until later, I don't think. But, I mean, I digress.
Great A minor to D to that E7. I would put that
in the blues. It's a 1 -4 -5 in a minor. Right.
So how are you following that up then? I got
a question for you. because I think I know what
I want to follow it up with, because I guess
I'm feeling the mellow mellowness now. I'm feeling
the mellow mellowness, but spacious, but still
with a big ending. Okay. Kind of like Wingsuit,
but this song I want to choose has an intro that
is another track, but the intro is short enough
that I want to make it one track, if you'll allow
me. And when I say what it is, you might just...
Dude, we make up the rules as we go along here.
Have at it. The horse into silent in the morning.
I don't, I don't want to do, I mean, I've, I've,
I've played silent in the morning live without
the horse, but this is just something that like
they blend so well that I don't want to take
the horse away from silent in the morning. Fair.
And this, this is another favorite fish tune
of mine. This song just blows me away every time.
Just, it's so beautiful. The way it starts, how
everything just kind of comes in together slowly
and it builds. Like I said, I love this album
a lot. And what a way to close it out. Going
back to Rift for a third time. And if you're
talking about both tracks here, it's a twofer
for Trey and Tom writing. Although, one thing
you forgot to mention for the first time tonight.
We have lead vocals from someone other than Trey
as Paige takes the lead for this album closing
track. So as silent in the morning does build
in a similar fashion to wingsuit, like you mentioned,
there's that crescendo at the end of silent in
the morning as well. I sort of ease this out
of wingsuit. I'm not doing that again. Come on,
man. You got to ease on down, ease on down the
road. Well, I like. Where you're thinking with
that song, because the song that you just said
that from is very funky. So let's go with something
funky and 180 out of silent in the morning and
use the second single from 2024 is evolve, which
was my favorite album of 2024. And I'm going
to go with, you mentioned it earlier during our
little pun session at the top of the show, oblivion.
It awaits. I mean, this song is fish's youthful
spirit. shining through the 3 .0 era sound. This
song is all sorts of funky. Mike's bass is off
the rails. This is a track that just makes you
want to get up and dance. And I don't know, there's
a part of me that maybe wonders if some longtime
Phish fans might question the fact that we're
kind of spreading out. so much across the catalog.
But again, we're thinking 101 here. And to give
the full story of what Fish is about, I think
we need to talk about these newer tracks. And
honestly, I feel like Oblivion goes over as well
as over the last year as some of the older tracks.
I think there's something about this one that
just has that it factor that slays every time
they play it. I mean, you chose one of my favorite
tunes on the album. I think I was at the debut
of Life Saving Gun, which is just another killer
track from this album. But Oblivion, it's fish,
and it sounds like fish. It doesn't sound like
fish in their Rolling Stones phase of just like,
hey, let's just keep doing what we do. This is
fish just being fish. And how do they not be
fish? I love this album. What a great, great
pick. And now you get to follow it up. I do.
You know, okay, I'm tired. I keep hearing written
by Trey and Tom and everybody else and Trey and
Tom. And I just mentioned the Camden show with
the debuts. Now, I know a lot of fans are going
to give me crap for this, but at the Camden show,
Trey played the middle of this right. But let's
go with a song that Mike wrote. Also from the
Joy album, I want to go with Sugar Shack. Nice.
It's a fun tune. It's boppy. It's a Mike song.
Like, you know, boppy, upy, boppy. Like, it's
just fun. And it's also, you know, let's throw
some variety in here so people also know that,
you know, hey, Mike also writes songs. Run through
the pale, dark woods to that Sugar Shack. We're
continuing to widen the spectrum of what Fish
is about. Because we're bringing Paige's vocals
and Mike's vocals into the mix. So I love that.
What I love about Sugar Shack is if you listen
to this song again with headphones, Mike's bass
is kind of forward in this mix. And he's doing
some ridiculous runs alongside of those lead
vocals. So I love the fact that you pulled this
part of Mike's studio side because the mix definitely
sits out. When you listen to Joy from front to
back. And I think they purposely brought Mike's
bass up just a little bit. And I don't know if
that was intentional or not, but it really drives
this song. And as a bassist, I have to kind of
applaud that. All right. To follow this song
up, I have to go with a song that is very, very
special to me. Because when my wife and I started
dating, we were doing the... long distance relationship
from New Hampshire to New Jersey. And we would
do one of two things. I would burn mixed CDs
for her and she would do the same for me. Or
we would give each other CDs to listen to when
we were traveling back and forth. And while I
was familiar with Fish's music in the 90s, the
first time I sat down and listened to an entire
Fish album was when my now wife handed me her
copy of Fish's Farmhouse. Oh, dude, that's so
sweet. And as I was driving back, I put the album
in and I spent the next five and a half hours
listening to the album over and over and over
again. And I've said it a million times in this
show. I am a sucker for album openers and Farmhouse.
The song just grabs me. I know I'm going back
to Trey and Tom once again, but there's just
something about this song. That immediately grabs
your attention. And I know I'm not alone because
I've talked about twice tonight with heavy things
in waste that there are the top five streamed
fish songs on Spotify. There were three other
songs on that list bouncing around the room sample
in a jar, which was the second most stream song
at 13 ,456 ,126 streams. And coming in at number
one for Phish, their most streamed song by almost
double, 26 ,660 ,390 streams is Farmhouse. Two
of those songs I mentioned there, Bouncing Around
the Room and Sample in a Jar, we haven't gotten
to as of yet. But I'll say both of them are in
my bank of songs tonight. Believe it or not,
according to Spotify, I am going with Phish.
the band's biggest hit. But I don't care. It's
just that great of a song. It was my first ever
encore at my first ever Phish show. And the next
morning when I got up, I immediately looked for
this song and had my guitar out within seconds
just to learn it. And thank God, it's one of
the easier songs to learn, especially when you're
getting into Phish. But dude, what a perfect
choice. I love this song so much. I don't know
if you scooped me because I had enough mellow
mellowness. So I never really heard of cluster
flies. But alas, what will I follow that up with?
Okay. All right. I'm going to go back sometime
to another song that I didn't realize was fish
until I saw them in Camden in 2003. And I was
like, oh, wow, this is a fish tune. Funny enough,
I thought it was Train back when Train was a
blues rock band. And obviously, like, they have
a song with the same title. But I still thought
this was also them. And I didn't realize it was
the same title. But I'm going with Free from
Billy Breathes. I love this tune. What a great
song. And once again, like, this is before fandom.
So I didn't know that it was Phish until I was
watching Phish and they played it. And I was
like, ooh, hey, I know this song. Cool. From
1996's Billy Breeze, written by Trey and Tom,
and also chimed in by Patreon mixtaper Jason
Donchus, the song hit number seven on the Billboard
Adult Alternative Airplay chart, their first
and only time cracking the top ten. I think our
friend and fellow Pantheon podcast member Jason
Whistle of the It's Not That Bad and There Can
Only Be One podcast will be happy to also learn.
That Free is the band's first song to chart in
Canada, hitting number 68. Well, Jason, prepare
yourself. We're going to do Fish. Love the track.
It's definitely a live staple. And it's one of
those songs that, at least in the 3 .0 era, they've
been opening up a lot more. Dude, that opener
over the summer was amazing. I can't remember
where it was. But it was one of those things,
you know, you can watch the set openers on YouTube.
I wish I remember the date, but I remember like
loving that free a lot. Well, we talked about
horns earlier, so let's bring some horns into
this. And I'm going to go with the album opening
track from 1994 is hoist written by once again,
Trey and Tom. No kidding. We are going with Julius,
but in what I think. Is a first for tonight.
And correct me if I'm wrong Sean. We actually
have guests. Performing on the studio version.
Because you've got Rose Stone. Gene McClain.
And Ricky Grundy Corral. Providing the gospel
backup vocals. And then you've got. The Tower
of Power horn section. Adding their awesomeness.
To the fold. I might be a minority here. But
I freaking love. Horn sections in jam bands.
I mean, Trey's solo album. I talked about it
earlier. I love it for that reason, but the tower
of power horn section in Julius elevates a great
fish song into an epic fish song. To me, this
is fish taking the fans to church. And I'm all
there with my hand up in the air waiting for
them to preach the gospel of jam. Dude, you're
right. They do take us to church with this one.
Man, Julius is such a great song. Did you even
say the title or did you just get so excited?
Oh, yeah, I said the title. Okay, all right.
Because, I mean, I was just hearing it in my
head as you started talking about the gospel
and the... The horns. And I'm just hearing my
head like, oh my God, I need to see them do it
live that way. Yeah. I feel like the live versions
when it's just the members of fish and this is
no knock on it. I feel like this is an instance
where you can make an argument where the studio
version is better than a lot of the live versions
because of the fact that you've got the tower
of power horn section and the gospel choir in
it. I've seen them do it live. I wholeheartedly
disagree. Okay. I have never seen it live. However,
if I saw them do it live with horns, I would,
oh. Anyway, yeah, it is epic. It takes us to
church. That's a perfect choice there, right?
Oh, my God. I should have chosen that as the
tape opener. Because, I mean, wow. Well, now
you have the easy. Job of taking us home for
the night. What is the exclamation point? The
set closer, the encore, whatever you want to
call it for our fish one -on -one mixtape. Now
you're lucky that the song, like the second night
in Vegas in 2004, if you, if you weren't there.
Yeah. I mean, I get it. I know you hate the show,
but during strange design, I stood up like, Oh
my God, I get it. This is the greatest band ever.
But Strange Design is not an album track. It
is only on the single for free. So you said Epic
before. And I want to say Epic, Frog Rock, You
Enjoy Myself from Hunter does that. It gives
me the Frog Rock and it gives me like, you know,
like a 2 -5 blues jam later on. And then, of
course, you know, the vocal jam. Oh, yeah. I'm
going with You Enjoy Myself from Hunter. Closing
both side A and side B with songs off of Junta
written by Trey alone. This time it's the band's
most frequently played song. So coming from a
one -on -one perspective, I feel like we'd be
doing a disservice, not including this song.
Rolling stone magazine actually ranked you enjoy
myself. Number 85 in their list of the 100 greatest
guitar solos of all time. Wow. Really? Yes. That's.
Wow. Well, I hate to say this and you can bleep
me if you want to, but they're not relevant anymore.
Rolling Stone, not fish. I was about to say you
had a lot of angry fish fans there for a second.
Now, Sean, I have to wonder here. Entertain this
notion for me here for a moment. You enjoy myself
creates a live experience because you get Mike
and Trey on the trampolines. So I want to ask
you. As somebody who's seen them live, who knows
the studio albums, as a Phish fan, do you feel
like You Enjoy Myself is as popular as it is
because of the song itself, the visual aspect
of the live performance, similar to the dance
that's done during Cavern, or is it a combination
of both? I mean, they're theatrics. I mean, there's
also the dance and punch you in the eye. So I
think the song just is that strong that it stands
on its own, that the second you hear that first
doo -doo -doo -doo, everybody knows what it is
and they're going nuts because they love the
song. They love how they jam it out live. Yeah,
the trampolines are awesome, especially that
really wide twist, not to be confused with the
song, but the really wide twist that Trey does.
It's just dangerous. My back hurts watching it.
Yeah. Oh, my God. Although at the same time,
I just really want to get up there, but not with
a guitar. But yeah, I mean, I'm sure that for
people that haven't seen Fish Live, A, go and
change that. Chris Carota is the fifth member
of the band. The light show is phenomenal. And
of course, they do these little stage theatrics.
Little. Yeah, right. They do stage theatrics
that are just so much fun, i .e. trampolines
and You Enjoy Myself. But I think the song is
strong enough that it stands on its own, and
that's why it's popular. Well, there you have
it, mixtapers. Side B of our ultimate fish mixtape,
which consists of Chalk Dust Torture from A Picture
of Nectar, Wingsuit from Fuego, Stealing Time
from The Faulty Plan from Joy, The Horse and
Silent in the Morning from Rift, Oblivion from
Evolve, Sugar Shack from Joy, Farmhouse from
the album of the same name, Free from Billy Breathes,
Julius from Hoist, and You Enjoy Myself from
Junta. Head over to myweeklymixtape .com to hear
all the songs we've discussed in this mix through
the playlist embedded on the episode page. Sean,
why don't you remind listeners where to connect
with you on social and where they can find your
music? So you can find me, of course, at seanfaustmusic
.com where there's links to my music, show dates,
stuff like that. But of course, you know, there's
the band camp where you can buy the music. I
mean, of course, I'm streaming everywhere that
music is streaming, but I'm also available to
purchase everywhere you purchase. And my song,
Gin Asylum, I need a million sales of that. I
want to help animals. I know I say this on every
show I do, but this is my goal. I want to have
that cushion. So when somebody needs help with
an animal, whether it's a vet bill, whether it's
trapping and putting them somewhere, I want to
be able to just be like, hey, here, here you
go. So one million sales of that song. And let's
go with 10 million streams on Spotify. So please,
Gin Asylum. And of course, Brian, you were so
gracious enough to talk about Status Quo Radio
earlier. I'm kind of proud with how that came
out. I'm not patting myself on the back. It's
just a song that I'm very proud with the outcome
of. So just go buy some music and support indie
artists. Buy their music. Don't just stream it.
Buy the music of indie artists. They need your
support because we're the ones in the trenches.
That you are. And it's always a pleasure to have
you come out of the trenches for an hour to talk
music with me, dude. Thank you so much for joining
me on my weekly mixtape. Look forward to the
next one. Thanks brother. Remember you can find
my weekly mixtape on almost all the social media
haunts at. My Weekly Mixtape. You can also head
to myweeklymixtape .com to check out the full
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guest, and so much more. That's all for this
week. Thanks again for listening, and until next
time, enjoy the tunes.