Drunken Trey

[Gordo]

anything in moderation is ok, right? not gonna lie, in the initial stages of \'new\' drug use i have played some of the craziest shit i dont think i was capable of playing previously. the good thing was that after the fact i knew i could pull off some runs and different rhythms when i was sober. i think the key is moderation, honestly. small doses and experimentation can unlock hidden doors in your head, but yes too much will eat away at your brain.

[Jim Cobb]

in my experience, anything musically i could achieve on drugs, i could also achieve (and then some) without drugs.  my personal experience was that drugs were kind of a cheat for me.  not just music.  anything i thought i did better with drugs, i\'ve found that i can achieve much more without drugs, and being able to do so is a much more fulfilling feeling.  this is only my experience, i am not knocking anyone else\'s lifestyle.

[SlimPickens]

Does anyone have any written proof that Trey has a drug problem?  I\'ve been hearing and reading peoples speculation for years, but I can\'t say that I 100% agree.  I always thought that people were projecting their own drug use on their God.

[Spacey]

Does anyone have any written proof that Trey has a drug problem?  I\'ve been hearing and reading peoples speculation for years, but I can\'t say that I 100% agree.  I always thought that people were projecting their own drug use on their God.

I remember as far back as 98/99, people saying Trey had a cocaine problem. There has not been any documented proof, that I am aware of.

[Me!]

Does anyone have any written proof that Trey has a drug problem?  I\'ve been hearing and reading peoples speculation for years, but I can\'t say that I 100% agree.  I always thought that people were projecting their own drug use on their God.

I remember as far back as 98/99, people saying Trey had a cocaine problem. There has not been any documented proof, that I am aware of.

Maybe not documented proof but do you want to count the close ups of his face @ Coventry where you could see himn grinding his teeth jaw working back and forth

[SlimPickens]

i think I read a guitarworld article a few years ago that he talked about being cleaner @ Coventry than he had ever been in his life.  That he even stopped drinking coffee.

[freddiewaht]

trey=a jedi
jerry>trey>tpalms.confirmed

[Me!]

^^^^^^ :lol:

[Spacey]

I count those moments for sure.

Actually Slim, I believe Trey was cleanest at IT. He siad he took a seperate tour bus just so he could be by himself and not influenced. I think I have that guitarworld. Said he was meditating and doing yoga.

[Gordo]

i read that spacey.. that whole summer tour he said that he knew the purpose was the music, and that tour did pull out some really good shows. 7.18.03 @alpine was a damn good time to be at, they played really well. \'04 leading up to coventry, not so much as far as what i saw.

[Spacey]

I think Trey gave up on the final tour. I know Gordon was playing some of the best bass that I had seen him play or hear him play. At the Tweeter Center in Mansfield the second night after an unfinished Antelope>2001, I thought we were going to be wowed and I was but in a different way. As Fishman came up to the mic to do his vaccum solo all hell broke loose. It was the first time I had ever seen Phish lose their composure on stage in such a vivid way.

[SlimPickens]

you\'re absolutely right Space.

[Spacey]

I found a very interesting article/interview with Trey. It covers some of the questions we have raised in this thread. I will post the drug comment and link the site for you to read the entire article/interview if you choose.

J: “Anyway, you know how people talk a lot of shit? Well, you can tell me to fuck off for asking, but I have to ask since I’m on the phone with you. And because I’ve always tried to… I don’t know… stick up for you since I try not to believe things unless you see it happen or hear it from the person. So I just want to ask about the drugs, the rumors, how drugs played into the breakup of Phish.”

T: “Ok. Here’s what happens with drugs, as most people know. Drugs are the tip of the ice berg of an unhealthy situation. There’s no other way to look at it. There’s no question that after many, many years of chess and Tetris and work-a-holic-ness being our drugs of choice, that the scene started to rear its ugly head around Phish. At which point it was an easy decision: Well, I’m not living that life. There was definitely an aspect of that…. Everyone is fine, though.”

There’s a semi-long pause and I wonder if he’s pissed at me for bringing it up. Then he starts speaking again. And let me just say, when he gets going on a subject, it’s like a faucet. So much material, matter, information, anything and everything coming out. It sounds like informed stream of consciousness.

T: “Here’s how I’ll answer that question. What was going on out in the audience always seemed to line up pretty well with what was going on back stage. We had a big scene around Phish. That became a serious problem. Our backstage scene was huge. There were so many friends, so many characters. We had parties backstage, at least one or two that were ongoing parties from show to show. It was fun for awhile, then it just kind of took a turn for the worse. Right at the end it needed to end. You know what I mean? There’s no question about that. It couldn’t go on like that. When that started happening, the people who had been around forever… I remember having a conversation with Paul. In the beginning there were five people who traveled with Phish: The four of us, and Paul. He used to do everything. Paul Languedoc. I remember one day he came up to me backstage and said, ‘This doesn’t fit.’ There were all these people around and this darkness had come over the whole thing. It was seedy and depressing. I remember looking at him and saying, ‘God that’s the realest thing anyone has said to me in a long time.’”

J: “It was like that in the crowd, too.”

T: “Exactly. Well, I’m gonna guess that that was right around ’99? That’s what the hiatus was about. The whole thing was like one big gang. I think our guest list at Coventry was like, three thousand people. Everyone on our crew was taking care of this ongoing scene, and it was becoming more and more difficult to do what we were supposed to be doing, which was concentrating on the music and practicing. I always think about what was to me one of the great Phish shows. I just look at it as an amazing night, symbolic of everything good about Phish: the 1996 Atlanta Halloween show when we did the Talking Heads album. It was because we spent months practicing for that thing. All the way up until four o’clock in the morning we were practicing for that show. And then we played the music once. That’s always what it was like with Phish. That’s the way I like to work. I love writing. I love practicing. I love working towards that experience on stage. Discipline towards that ecstatic release. It became harder and harder because we were dragging this giant circus around with us wherever we went. Even the guys on the crew were complaining… ‘I can’t do my job because I’m spending so much time parking the back stage scene at the venue.’ It was completely out of control.

“So I can just about guarantee that I don’t need to answer that question. Everyone knows because they saw it out in the audience. I’m going to tell you the truth. We tried the hiatus and nothing was working. It had to stop. I know that was the right thing. I have so much hope. I want to continue to play for a long time, have that feeling of lighting people up. I really love that so much.”

Trey Anastasio Interview

[SlimPickens]

now that\'s the kinda stuff I was looking for.  Thanks for doing the legwork Spacey.

[Spacey]

Very welcome my kind sir.