Mike Gordon Talks Phish New Year’s Run, New Album With Leo Kottke & More

Bassist Mike Gordon recently finished an incredible 2017 for both Phish and his own project. Mike will return to the stage this weekend for two Sunshine Music Festival performances in Florida. Gordon spoke with Tampabay.com about Phish, the Allman Brothers Band, Leo Kottke and more.

Gordon shared his excitement about getting back to Florida and revealed more writing lies ahead. “It’s all just happening at once,” Mike told writer Jay Cridlin. “What a great part of the country to go to at a time like this, to jam a little bit, before getting back to holing up and writing.” The bassist revealed that while some fans felt he laid down some of his best playing during the Phish NYE run, he “didn’t feel that it was any different than normal.”

Mike was also asked about whether Phish opening with “Mike’s Song” on December 30 meant anything special to him:

Nope. (laughs) It’s just a song. I mean, for me, what’s special is harder to put into words. I have friends who are fans who are 3,000 miles away, and they look at the setlist and say, “The show looks good.” But for me, it doesn’t matter how it looks, because the same setlist can feel one way or another way. The sets tend to get tinged with a certain vibe and flow, and some are good, some are bad, some are medium. But the 30th tends to be good. We’ve gotten a couple under our belt, and maybe caught up on sleep, and it’s not yet the big, hyped, extra stuff for New Year’s, and so that all makes sense. But I don’t know. (laughs)

Gordon also confirmed he is working on a new album with Leo Kottke, “I haven’t really talked about this because it’s just a work in progress, but I’ve been taking some of his more intense compositions and spending a long time composing basslines, rather than just getting in and learning the chord progression and getting in and jamming it. It’s been years in the making. So we’re working on it, and we’re excited, but it’s slow motion.”

Other topics covered include his love of the Allman Brothers Band, his cover of Tom Petty’s “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” how much his quintet has gelled and why Phish hasn’t played the Tampa market. Here’s Gordon’s response to the lack of Phish gigs in Tampa, “Oh, people say that all over the country. The simple fact of the matter is, Phish just doesn’t play as much. We play for more people and less time, and it’s mostly major markets. We just can’t go everywhere. People have their other lives, their other creative work and families. We’re able to do Phish in less time and have as much fun with it. So we just don’t hit a lot of places. But that gives me a chance to do it with my band and not be doing the same thing that Phish is doing. But otherwise, I don’t know. I have nothing to do with the booking and the routing. I usually don’t know until they take me.”

Head to TampaBay.com for the full article.

[Leo & Mike 2005 Concert]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTh7DHIeJCM