A few notes from Trey’s interview on Charlie Rose, for those who didn’t see it:
–Trey has been struggling with this decision for about the last four years, ever since NYE 2000 at Big Cypress. He says that they finished the all-night set, and as they came off the stage, he looked at Fishman and said, “We should stop.” He considers Big Cypress to be their pinnacle.
He says that his friends and family, including the other guys in the band (especially Page), have been very concerned about the way this has torn him apart for the last few years.
–It’s obvious that he has gone over in his mind a few million times how he would explain this to the fans. The main thing is that the success of Phish depended on it being the focal point of their lives, leaving them without time or energy for anyone or anything else, and they just aren’t willing to do that anymore. It isn’t just that they all have kids and families, or that they want to do side projects, though that is part of it. There is just an overall sense of vitality and focus that isn’t there anymore, and Trey doesn’t feel like Phish can go on if it’s less than what it has been, or what it could be.
–Trey was the one who called the meeting and brought up the split, but it was not a surprise to anyone. He says that “within a couple of minutes” Page and Fishman were completely in agreement with him, but that Mike said he was “not completely on the same page” as the rest of the guys.
–He mentioned repeatedly that they have a big organization, and he didn’t want to get to the point that they were touring just to sustain that organization. I remember him mentioning that in an interview years ago, saying that someone in the Grateful Dead’s organization had warned him about that. So the quip about Trey catching a recent Dead show may not be that far off.
He compared it (in his usual roundabout way) to being on a huge boat with a bunch of people rowing, and how difficult that boat would be to steer. He describes a meeting of twenty people in which they were trying to decide whether or not to put a box around the text on the new album cover, whereas for his most recent solo disc (Seis de Mayo), he just did it himself.
–One interesting point that he made was that among the people he’s spoken to and the fans he’s heard from, the ones over thirty tend to understand why they’re doing this, and the ones under thirty tend not to. I don’t think that’s about different eras of the band and when people became fans, but rather their comfort with and understanding of the idea that if you’ve done something for a long time, you might not want to do it anymore.
–Charlie tried his best to get Trey to say that they might change their minds, but Trey says he’s never been more sure of anything in his life.