‘Love At First Sight’: About The Day Trey Anastasio Met Jon Fishman

The roots of Phish trace back to a 1983 encounter between fellow University of Vermont freshman Trey Anastasio and Jon Fishman. Anastasio told the story of spotting the drummer and eventual namesake of a band still going strong all these years later during an August 2018 episode of “Ask Trey” on SiriusXM’s Phish Radio. The guitarist mentioned the fateful meeting took place on his first day at UVM, which makes it likely today is the 40th anniversary of the encounter.

Trey Anastasio specifically said the encounter came on “his first day post-orientation.” According to the Academic Calendar for the University of Vermont’s 1983 – 1984 school year found within the catalogue (thanks for the link, R.G. Erskine), registration was held on August 29, 1983 before classes began on August 30, 1983.

Phish Radio listener Alex asked Trey “What was your first impression of Jon Fishman?” Anastasio pointed out it was a great question and then started telling the story of his first day at the school in Burlington, Vermont. “I saw this guy walk by…oh my god, I’ll never forget it,” the guitarist said. “It was kinda like love at first sight,” Trey added before diving into a description of an 18-year-old Jon Fishman.

“This guy walks by with a tie-dye down to his knees, this oversized big huge hair and these ill-fitting coke bottle glasses and this ridiculous look on his face,” Anastasio recalled of singling out Fishman near the UVM library. “I remember it as crystally burned in my memory. I was standing right here on the grass ::points down:: He was over there ::points left:: And I was just like ‘oh my god, who is that guy?”

Trey Anastasio went on to tell host Ari Fink about their next meeting. “Sometime later — I don’t know if I talked to him right then — sometime later it ended up he was in my dorm compound, the dorm next to mine. I ended up knocking — I think it was the same day or maybe one day later — knocking on the door and opening it up and there he was,” Anastasio remembered of hearing drums coming from a dorm room. “I was like ‘Oh my god, it’s you. It’s that guy!’ He had his drums in his room. I ran and got my amp and we wound up playing together.”

Watch Trey tell the story on “Ask Phish” below:

Phish biographer Parke Puterbaugh went into more detail on the initial jam session in his 2009 book Phish: The Biography. Puterbaugh pegs the month when Trey heard Fish playing drums in his dorm room and knocked on the door as October 1983. Anastasio lived on the fourth floor of Wing Dorm, while Fishman resided in Room 210 of Patterson Dorm. According to Puterbaugh’s book, Trey was with old pal Steve “The Dude Of Life” Pollak when he spotted Fish on the first day of school. “They pegged me from a hundred yards away in a crowd of people, going, ‘He doesn’t look like he belongs here,'” Fishman told Puterbaugh.

Trey Anastasio brought another UVM student, guitarist Jeff Holdsworth, to Fish’s room to jam. The three musicians went in search of a bassist. Anastasio hung signs around the dorm that read, “Looking for a bass player with a P.A.,” while Mike Gordon circulated handbills of his own. Mike responded and Phish was formed. “The first time Mike and I played together was pretty groundbreaking,” Anastasio told Charlie Rose during his infamous 2004 appearance on the interviewer’s eponymous talk show. “I remember it, every note of it. We were in a little room and we were playing, and we just connected.”

Phish made their live debut on December 2, 1983 at UVM’s Harris/Millis Cafeteria. Mike met Goddard College student Page McConnell days before Phish played the school’s SpringFest in April 1985 marking the first time the keybordist saw Phish perform. “Wow these guys are good. I should jam with them,” McConnell told pal Nat Woodward as per Phish.com’s show notes.

On May 3, 1985 Page McConnell sat-in with Phish at UVM. McConnell first official gig was a performance on UVM radio station WRUV’s “Exposure” on September 26, 1985. One night later the keyboardist played his first complete live show as a member of Phish at Slade Hall on UVM’s Redstone Campus. Jeff Holdsworth left Phish after a show at Goddard College’s Haybarn on May 17, 1986 cementing the four-piece lineup that is still in place.

Phish completes Summer Tour 2023 with their annual Labor Day Weekend run at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado. Livestreams of the four-night stand starting this Thursday, August 31 and ending on Sunday, September 3 are available for purchase via LivePhish.com.