‘Hamilton’ Drummer Shares Exciting Details On New Phish Album

A few weeks back Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio discussed the band’s new studio album which he said the foursome was currently working on with producer Bob Ezrin. Trey only shared a few details about what the album holds musically, but drummer/percussionist Andrés Forero of Broadway musical Hamilton revealed more in a new interview with the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle.

Forero explains that he met Trey when Phish came to see Hamilton with their wives just after wrapping up a four-night New Year’s Run at Madison Square Garden in January. Anastasio enlisted Andrés to contribute percussion to three songs on the new LP, but Forero wound up “on every song of the next Phish album” according to the Democrat & Chronicle. The pair had an auspicious start as Forero didn’t recognize Anastasio when the guitarist introduced himself after a Hamilton performance:

Andrés was working the chaotic Ham4Ham crowd when a guy pulled him aside and said he was a big fan of the musical. “He was so sweet,” Forero says. “He said, ‘My name is Trey, this is my wife and this is the rest of my band Phish.’” Forero was busy — “Lin was waving at me to get over there” — and it hit him later: Trey Anastasio is the lead singer and guitarist of Phish, whose fans are as passionate about the rock band as Hamilton’s fans are about the musical. “I have three of their albums, but I didn’t know what they looked like,” Forero says.

The drummer sent Trey a note and received one back from Anastasio. “That night I sent an email and apologized. He sent one back and said, ‘I’m glad you didn’t know who I was,’ and invited me to play on three tunes on their new album. One was a 15-minute piece with classical percussion. Even though I double majored in college in classical and jazz, it’s been a while for me. Of course, I agreed to do it,” Forero told the Democrat & Chronicle. Andrés went on to explain he broke out “cowbells and shakers” for the recording session as well. “We had such a synergy between us, near the end Trey said, ‘There’s only one song you haven’t played on.’” The paper’s article goes on to report, “Forero’s on every song of the next Phish album.” Outside of Forero’s participation, the big news here is that Phish recorded “a 15-minute piece with classical percussion.” The longest song on the band’s last album was just over nine minutes long.

In the recent Trey Anastasio interview the guitarist revealed Phish will be debuting new material this summer. Andrés might find himself on stage with the quartet at some point as Trey quipped to Forero, “You know, we’re gonna have to play this stuff live sometime.” Considering the success and ridiculous Hamilton schedule, we’ll see if and when that happens. As of now there’s no word on when Phish will release their follow-up to 2014’s Fuego however Forero may not be the only guest as Snarky Puppy’s Chris Bullock shared a photo with a caption mentioning he was working in the studio with Trey:

Phish kicks off Summer Tour on June 22 in St. Paul, Minnesota.