When a band is together for a long time, it is natural that individual musicians in the group will want to branch out. Whether it’s to start a full-fledged solo career or to have a band on the side—much to the chagrin of fans of any band that has had this happen—side projects exist. To top that off, most of the time they are terrible.
A few weeks ago, Mike Gordon (the band) came to Madison. For the uninitiated, Gordon is the bass player from Phish. Naturally, I had to go as the chance to see someone from Phish here in Madison seemed like too great an opportunity to pass up since, as those of you who know me can attest, just hearing the word Phish gets my ears to perk up.
This is not my first experience with a Phish side project. I have seen the Trey Anastasio Band, led by the lead singer and guitar player of Phish, twice. The first time was about two months after I saw Phish for the first time and I lapped up everything Anastasio had to offer. When they played “Alaska,” I was excited that he was playing something I knew. I should have been irritated, as “Alaska” is arguably the worst song in Phish’s repertoire, a song so bad it gets crowds across the country to sigh so audibly it shows up on the recording.
But maybe I’m just jaded and I should continue on with the point of this column as opposed to rehashing a concert I attended four years ago. The next time I saw Anastasio, he played a set of acoustic Phish songs and then a set of electric songs from his own band with a couple covers and Phish songs littered in throughout.
While people will see Phish a dozen or more times in a year due to the whole scene that comes with a show as well as their varied set lists and everything else, you will be looked at cross-eyed if you see Anastasio’s side project more than once per year. Indeed, seeing many bands more than once during your lifetime will get you funny looks from people outside of certain circles—though that is for another column—in the jam community, seeing Phish more than 50 times is met with a high-five, not a puzzled look as it would if it was a Foreigner show.
To digress briefly, if you have seen Foreigner 50 or more times, please send me an email as that is fascinating.
With all of that being said, seeing Anastasio’s side project is mostly not worth your time other than to say you saw a member of Phish in a venue that holds 10 percent of the size that Phish plays. Seeing Gordon’s band was a totally different experience.
Gordon and writing partner Scott Murawski have developed a very defined sound that breaks away from the Phish mold. Gordon and his band jam, but not in the same style as a Phish jam which builds within the form of the song and then, occasionally, will break free and change keys, taking the song in a completely different direction. Not being totally familiar with Gordon’s catalog, and that is to say I listened to his latest release once before the show if that, everything felt fresh—both with the wide-eyed enthusiasm of the veteran musicians on stage in playing this material and the audience’s appreciation that he is doing something unique with his side project.
But herein lies the catch. If a side project, and it can be Phish or any band of your choosing, play songs from the original band, as both Gordon and Anastasio’s bands have been known to do on more than one occasion, they can pander to the crowd too much. In Anastasio’s case, if he’s going to play Phish songs, I’d rather see Phish than his band. With Gordon, he played mostly his own material with a Talking Heads cover that Phish has played hundreds of times in the encore to go along with a rarely played Phish song. This works for both myself, as a fan, and for him, as the reason why he is playing with his solo band is to play songs that may not fit in a Phish context.
There are countless examples of this, with musicians setting out on their own. Sometimes it works, as in the examples of Jim James, the lead singer and guitarist of My Morning Jacket who released an amazing solo album while still touring with the band.
But on the other side of the coin, while both Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins set out on illustrious solo careers, their talents were better used, in my opinion, in Genesis. Steve Winwood has a nice solo career, but it pales in comparison to his work with Traffic. Justin Vernon can do all he wants with Volcano Choir, but it will never be Bon Iver.
When I saw Volcano Choir in September, I kept waiting for them to play “Still,” because it’s virtually identical to “Woods.” While I have since gained a greater appreciation for Volcano Choir’s albums on their own, because I had never seen Bon Iver I used seeing Volcano Choir as a surrogate to that experience.
There is no problem with musicians setting out on their own be it as a solo act or with a new band, but just realize you are not listening to their original band, that this is a break from what they were doing and they are turning over a new leaf. The problem is, when they attempt to sound like their original band, you will walk away disappointed.
Do you like side projects? Tell Brian about it at weidy@wisc.edu
