Phish’s Page McConnell & Trey Anastasio Talk ‘January’ Album In Their Own Words For Phish Radio Special

SiriusXM’s Phish Radio turned over the airwaves to Phish keyboardist Page McConnell and guitarist Trey Anastasio for a special about the pair’s recently released January album. The special premiered on Wednesday with encore airings broadcast throughout the coming days and is available to hear on-demand via the SXM App.

McConnell and Anastasio went sans host as they discussed the creation of the 30-minute LP in their own words. “The intent seemed so purely about you and I just being together,” Trey said of the follow-up to 2020's December. “It’s very mysterious to me how it kind of emerged from the ether but that we were both just interested in spending time together first and foremost.”

“I had wanted to do a project like this for so long with you,” Page added. “The process [for January] was much different for me,” McConnell noted of the eight-track January. “I started in with some synthesizer parts and found these little one or two-minute vignettes that were one or two chords and sent them your way and you wrote some really nice answers to those parts and b-sections and choruses and things that fit right together. It was like one foot in front of the other the whole process.”

After the pair worked on lyrics at their own houses, they entered Trout Studios with longtime collaborator Bryce Goggin. “When we went in we didn’t know what was going on or how long each section was and we were kind of still doing a lot of improvising,” Anastasio said. “When I hear the album now the lifetime of friendship is what I hear.” He gave the example of “I Strolled” as a January track that feels like a Phish jam to him and one which developed naturally based on his chemistry with McConnell.

Friendship was a major theme of what the pair discussed on the special. Anastasio shared memories of band practices, which he called his favorite part of the Phish experience. “This project encompassed all the things that I love about being in a band, my friendship with you, that we’re laughing and making stuff up and we’re just seeing where it goes,” Trey explained. He went on to note Goggin is part of that equation and has been friends with the band since 1996. “He was such an important part of this project,” Page said of what Bryce brought to the table.

Page McConnell and Trey Anastasio also dug into individual tracks, the songwriting process, special tunings the guitarist used and additional elements of the January experience. Encore airings of the special are scheduled for Friday, March 24 at 4 p.m. ET, Saturday, March 25 at 6 p.m. ET and Sunday, March 26 at 8 a.m. ET. Fire up the SXM App to listen on-demand.