For many years, Phish delighted fans with musical costumes on Halloween shows, playing covers of full albums by bands like The Beatles, The Who, Talking Heads, and so many more. Though the tradition carried into the new Phish era with Rolling Stones and Little Feat albums in 2009 and 2010 respectively, the band famously broke from tradition in 2013, ultimately deciding to debut what would become the Fuego album. They continued the trend of new music on Halloween in 2014, when the band playing their Chilling, Thrilling set complete with all-original instrumentals.
In a new interview that was published in the WSJ today, Trey Anastasio may have dropped a huge clue into the band’s plans for 2016. In a segment about the band’s strong ability to work together, the guitarist mentions that the band is practicing a “Halloween album.”
The full quote: “It’s just a nice time with the four of us. I’m nervous about saying it too much, but there’s just a lot of love and respect among the four band members. We played all day today, rehearsing for the Halloween album, and had so much fun. It’s really something marvelous; the hair on the back of the neck is standing up talking about it.”
Of course, an album doesn’t necessarily mean a musical costume, as Fuego was an album, and so was Chilling, Thrilling Sounds Of The Haunted House. For all we know, it could be another brand new album of new music. However, that phrasing of “Halloween album” certainly is an eyebrow raiser.
Halloween aside, the article is a nice, in-depth look at the songwriting on Big Boat, and should definitely be read by any fans of the band. You can find it here.