‘Inside Out With Turner & Seth’ Welcomes Jon Fishman

The latest episode of the podcast Inside Out With Turner & Seth features a lengthy interview with Phish drummer Jon Fishman. Hosts Rob Turner and Seth Weiner spoke with Fish ahead of the Hampton 70 concert at Atlanta’s Fox Theater on May 1. Fish talked about a variety of topics with the pair.

After Turner & Seth chat about the Baker’s Dozen residency and their upcoming event at City Winery Atlanta, the Fishman interview begins around the 18-minute mark. Fish talks about interacting with fans and why he started being nicer to fans he interacts with, the origins of the name “Phish” and why his wearing a dress forces him to work even harder to impress concertgoers. The drummer also discusses the dynamics of his relationships with the other members of Phish. Jon goes on to answer Rob’s question about how hard it was to re-learn some of the songs in the quartet’s repertoire once the band returned in 2009 following a five-year breakup.

Another topic the Syracuse native goes into detail about is his listening skills and Phish’s infamous “hey hole” rehearsal process. One of the many interesting subjects Fish addressed is why Phish stopped having support acts open their concerts. “The reason we stopped having opening bands is that we realized audiences have a certain fatigue level. You can only hear so much music before your ears start to get tired.” He added, “We would notice when we had opening bands, mid-way through the second set the room would start to clear out.” Fishman additionally revealed Santana called Phish and asked if he could open for the band in the Northeast though that never wound up happening. The whole interview is well worth a listen as it contains many fascinating anecdotes and responses from Fish.

Listen to the latest installment of Inside Out wTnS:

https://soundcloud.com/insideoutwtns/fishman