‘Undermine’ Phish Podcast Profiles International Fans

Phish fans from around the world are interviewed for “Phish Without Borders,” the latest episode of JamBase partner Osiris Media’s Undermine podcast. Lee Farber, Mark Lewis, Jason Tully and Dylan Behan are among the quartet’s followers who discuss how they discovered Phish and the limited opportunities they’ve had to see the band perform live.

Not only do fans from Japan, Australia and the UK share their experiences, listeners also hear from Americans living abroad as well as U.S. fans who saw Phish during the band’s rare trips to Europe. “The furthest I’ve traveled for a Phish show is 10,019 miles,” Dylan Behan revealed. Dylan is a native of Australia who traveled from Sydney to Coventry, Vermont in 2004 to see the four-piece’s final shows before a five-year breakup. Behan first caught Phish at New York City’s Madison Square Garden in 1997 after learning about the band through collecting live tapes. He was helped along in the Phish journey by fans on the internet, especially on the rec.music.phish newsgroup.

British Phish fan Mark Lewis has yet to attend one of the band’s concerts in person. “My first experience was I bought A Live One in the late ’90s,” Lewis explained. “If I was going to talk to somebody and say, ‘how do I think I’m going to get them into Phish’ and give them a selection of highlights, I might go straight to Island Tour ’98,” Mark added. “It’s a really great selection of everything that’s good about Phish.” A pair of English brothers who are musicians that cover Phish also weighed in on the Vermont-based quartet.

Undermine goes on to explore the role technology played in spreading the Phish gospel worldwide. “Just as emerging technology in the early-90s helped create and support the band’s first fanbase here in America, the later evolution of that very same technology — which gave rise to the LivePhish app, the Relisten app, the ‘Dinner & A Movie’ YouTube series, Trey Anastasio’s ‘Beacon Jams’ on Twitch and the band’s real-time livestreams on their own platform — is now bringing an International Phish community together,” Phish lyricist and Undermine narrator Tom Marshall noted.

Japanese fan Satoshi Sakuraba has seen over 100 Phish concerts, all of which took place in the U.S. Sakuraba detailed how he first heard of the band and weighed in on Phish’s “Meatstick” Japanese lyrics. “Phish Without Borders” continues with thoughts shared by American fans who moved overseas. Additionally, a few fans who caught Phish live in Europe during their five treks to the continent shared memories from the runs.

Listen to the Undermine episode “Phish Without Borders” below: