Tao of Pauly

Trey and Mike Talk About the Break Up


Trey & Mike in Nassau, NY (Nov. 2003)

Trey, Mike Talk Phish Split is an article that recently appeared in Rolling Stone. Here's a bit:

"I'd like to revisit that stuff one more time," Anastasio says of the upcoming tour. "But I just can't play that shit anymore. If that makes somebody angry, I'm sorry. I gotta do something new. I cannot spend my entire life going around the country playing 'You Enjoy Myself.'"

According to bassist Mike Gordon, his bandmates came to his Vermont home for a meeting on Friday, May 21st, and sat around the kitchen table to discuss band business. After some joking around, "Trey simply announced, 'I can't do this anymore,' and started to cry," Gordon says. By the end of the three-hour meeting, the bass player was the only one arguing for a reconciliation. "It's pretty weird to have the plug pulled on your career just like that," he says. "But it's a totally classy thing we're doing, leaving on our own terms. The only thing I disagree with is that longevity pays."

As disappointed as Gordon may be with Anastasio's decision, he says there is no bitterness. "Trey is one of my biggest influences," he says. "I have huge admiration for the way he sets goals. They are not too big and not too small. And then he follows through. One of the reasons he's able to do that is he cuts out the extraneous stuff. He doesn't use e-mail. Last year, he threw out his CD collection and burned his television. I have to see this as one of those things."

Interesting for sure. I never knew Trey burned his TV! Good read.