The Influences that created Phish

[Uncle_Ebeneezer]

I'm not sure about you guys but I love seeing how newer artists can take soundscapes or concepts that they dig and then incorporate them into their own music, whether it's the sick covers or just some lick that reminds you of something else. For a lot of bands this can be really cut and dried but Phish always makes for an interesting subject matter in this respect. The Zappa influence is very pronounced, so I'm referring to more subtle ones... I know PYITE always make me think of Song Remains the Same, and YEM at parts seems like a cool mix of a whole bunch of artists styles... I guess Phish is one of those bands who can play any genre so talking about their roots is always interesting. What do you think?

[manicstarseed]

I agree with the Zappa influence. Song composition, transitions, humor, there is a lot of "similarities"... I want to think on this more and see what other artists I hear....

[MomaDan]

I know of four bands that they have had a heavy influence on them, hint... Phish covered their albums on Halloween (not counting the newer 2 performances). The funk phase came not coincidentally after the Talking Heads costume show. End of Sleeping Monkey is a Let it Be jam. beginning of Scents & Subtle Sounds is similar to Sparks by The Who, at least to me. Meatstick is Fire on the Mountain in a different key. Theres a bunch of other examples.
Then theres the jazz influences, songs like Manteca Magilla and Landlady as well as the composed parts in a few others.

[ColForbin]

I wouldn't go right out and discount the newer performances either, in terms of Halloween.  I didn't even know who Little Feat was before Phish covered Waiting for Columbus.  In fact, I went out the next day and bought the album.  But as someone mentioned in the "influence of little feat" thread, there is definitely some inspiration there.  Exile on Main Street is also a pretty obvious influence for them as well.  Torn and Frayed is particular I found fitting in right at home with the Phish style, which I guess is why they continued to cover it throughout 2010.

[patrickstefanski]

which I guess is why they continued to cover it throughout 2010.

and 2011

[Walker done done]

I agree that the obvious influences are the Halloween album covers.  You can take something from all of them and say "see, there's the influence" or say "here's what Phish took from this artist/album".  But it isn't just limited to that, for sure.  One of the things I find amazing about this band is the very vast amount of artists I've discovered as a result of Phish.  I can single handedly thank them for a good chunk of my musical accumen - they've opened doors to artists directly related to them, who in turn have turned me onto other artists I never would've known about as a result.  They've covered a ton of ground when it comes to styles or genres, and the diversity that they show in their music is nothing short of amazing.  Jazz, rock, bluegrass, jamband, reggae, funk, country, and a ton of others come to mind. 

[MomaDan]

I just included the first 4 Halloween shows because I have heard those shows way more times than the 2 recent ones.  They have been playing Loving Cup as an encore pretty much every third or fourth show this year. Songs like SOAMule have a much more traditional influence. Phish covers all genres and styles.

[Uncle_Ebeneezer]

One of the things I find amazing about this band is the very vast amount of artists I've discovered as a result of Phish. 

So true. Phish was a gateway band for me to all kinds of music, and just a broader interest in music as a whole. I stopped playing guitar for like two years and then got into phish... been 5 years since then and there's no going back at all.

[fulltone1989]

They covered a lot of Jazz Standards in the earlier years 83-89 quite often comparatively, and Trey has stated that he's a huge Pat Metheny fan.