It’s that time of year again… In nine short days, Phish will return to New York’s Madison Square Garden for their annual four-night New Year’s run. Each year, we like to celebrate the season in the days leading up to Phish at MSG with the 12 Days of Phishmas, a daily series that gives you your Phish fix and helps stoke your excitement in the days leading up to the run. In 2016, we took you back to 12 historic Phish performances at The Garden. In 2017, with the Baker’s Dozen barely out of sight in the rearview, we relived the magic and mystery of the band’s historic residency.
For years, we’ve been earmarking some of our favorite Phish interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, and other cool content that we haven’t found the right occasion to share with you…until now. For 2018, we’ve made you a very special Phishmas Advent calendar to help spice up your countdown to showtime. As we approach the start of the run on the 28th, we’ll open up one panel a day and reveal a fun surprise inside—a little something sweet and Phishy once a day until the Garden party begins. No peeking! By the time we’re finished with the calendar, it will finally be time for the gift we’ve all been waiting for: Four nights of Phish on their home court at the World’s Most Famous Arena.
9 Days Til’ Phish: Mike Gordon’s Hoist ‘Tracking’ Documentary
On the fourth day of Phishmas… Mike Gordon directs and edits a stream-of-conscious, behind-the-scenes studio documentary, Tracking. In late 1993, Gordon captured an assortment of clips of Phish during the recording of what would become Phish’s fifth studio record, 1994’s Hoist. The resulting 25-minute documentary was edited and released on VHS by Gordon’s Cactus Films. As Mike explained in his blurb from the VHS jacket,
While in the studio recording the album ‘Hoister’ [sic] I sported a video camera. Sometimes I pushed the record button. Others, the stop. Alas, I edited. Using machines small yet sweet, I assembled Tracking. This isn’t about railroad tracks or stuffing things up the tender nostril. It’s about 48 tracks of sound, adjacent on strips of plastic. Like mixing lilac petals, coriander, chunks of butter, and fennel into a soup. Tracking is the recording of different sounds, adjacent on strips of plastic…The sounds are adjacent on strips of plastic. (Am I confusing you? What are you an ape child?) Anway, I hope you enjoy this special new item.
From the whole group snapping their fingers (with gusto) to the album’s many guests (including Alison Krauss, Béla Fleck, Rose Stone, actor Jonathan Frakes, and the Tower of Power horns) to the sounds of stepping on rocks, a glass mason jar, and a toilet flushing (for real), Tracking gives fans a whimsical peek at the complex process of putting together a Phish album.
Partway through the film, news hits that a wildfire is sweeping toward the studio, and we see Trey Anastasio instruct the studio staff to evacuate everything irreplaceable—guitars, amps—you know, the important stuff. The short piece also offers some amusingly candid shots of the band members between takes: Page McConnell watching a polar bear video in awe. Jon Fishman playing chess. Trey laughing hysterically at a picture of an owl. Mike trying to perfect his unhinged howl in “Axilla”. The band and crew attempting to capture their levitating horse album cover photo at Amy’s farm. The list goes on…
Tracking is less an informative historical document about the recording of an album and more a characteristically strange snapshot of a moment in time through the peculiar lens of Mr. Michael Gordon. Check it out below.
Phish – Tracking Documentary (1994)
We’ll be back tomorrow to open the fifth panel on our Phishmas 2018 Advent calendar. What other Phishmas surprises are in store? You’ll just have to wait and see…
In the meantime, you can go back through the previous Phishmas surprises:
On the first day of Phishmas… The Big Daddy Show
On the second day of Phishmas… David Byrne Interviews Phish
On the third day of Phishmas… Trey Anastasio Reflects on Fare Thee Well at The New Yorker Festival
On the fourth day of Phishmas… A Look Inside The Hoist Sessions From Cactus Films