gentlemonkey Posted May 12, 2001 Report Share Posted May 12, 2001 This might have seemed almost possible, until the quotes.. have a laugh.. so silly.Speculation continues to escalate around Vermont Jam-band Phish as to whether or not they will ever again claim he title of rock's road warriors together again or not. In the latest news, sources close to the band say that a long running dispute over something as simple as one song may be to blame for the current 'hiatus'. The source, which spoke on a condition of amenity, indicated that the song at the center of the dispute is an obscure song called "Destiny Unbound".The song occupies an obscure but unique spot in the Burlington-based band's repertoire. Penned by bass player Mike Gordon in the early 1990's, it was played in concert a handful of times and then it seemed to be forgotten about by the band. It has yet to appear on any official release by the band. The lore of the song, however, goes far beyond that of a 'forgotten song'. It is not just a song that the band didn't like and decided to stop playing for one reason or another. One rumor that circulates among fans of the band is that the band retired Destiny because it sounds too much like a Grateful Dead song (Phish has long fought to separate themselves from the legacy left to them n the wake of Jerry Garcia death).Apparently, the real reason behind the song's "retirement" is because Trey Anastasio (the bands guitar player and de facto leader) cannot stand the song and has even gone so far as to threaten to quit the group over playing it. Anastasio routinely lambastes the song as the worst song that Gordon has ever written and if there was one song he wishes he could have taken back in all their years, it is Destiny Unbound. Privately, Anastasio is quoted as saying that he cannot believe that he lead the segue from Landlady (an Anastasio-penned ditty) into it (Destiny). He believes Landlady to be far superior musically and felt that when the band performed the songs back-to-back, it severely limited the potential "The Landlady" could have had, forcing Anastasio and the band to return Landlady to where it started, as part of another Phish number, "Punch You In The Eye." It was then that Anastasio began his strong stance AGAINST recording or playing the song live at anytime. "If I have to put Landlay back into Punch, I will never play that worthless excuse for a Dead song EVER", Anastasio is known to say.Recent fighting over the song occurred while the band rehearsed its last tour. Again Gordon brought up the subject of the song. One that he is very proud of and very much has wanted to play on a number of occasions in the past. Anastasio became enraged at the idea and stormed out of the practice. Screaming something uniteligible, something to the effect of: "I'm gonna send all of the Multibeasts in Wilson's Kingdom to eat you where you sleep!" Later, when he had calmed down, the band met and decided that a break is maybe what was necessary. One last tour and then a long, maybe permanent, break.That not the first time that Anastasio and Gordon have disagreed with the song and it's place in the bands song list. On at least three other occasions in the past Gordon and Anastasio have clashed over the song while rehearing. One of these heated exchanges occurred backstage at the bands then-annual summer ending festival/concert in Limestone, Maine at the end of the summer of 1998. The band had started a new concert tradition that summer of playing odd cover songs in concert, opening or closing nearly every night with some strange cover they learned hastily before the show. Artist such as Jane's Addiction and Van Halen were immortalized. Something else Phish began to do was bring many of their older songs back into limited rotation. One song that had yet to return however was "Destiny Unbound". While back stage at the concert, dubbed, "The Lemonwheel", as the band rehearsed another obscure member of the Phish playbook, "Sanity", Gordon again expressed interest in possible reviving "Destiny". Again he was met by hostility by Anastasio. Anastasio, reportedly threaten to beat Gordon "with Fish's electro-lux" (a vacuum that Jon Fishman, the bands drummer, occasional attempts to play like a trumpet, to mixed results at best).On another occasion, in the fall of 1997, as the band commenced on a two-night run at Hampton Coliseum (concerts that would later be released by Elektra as a box set), Anastasio and Gordon nearly came to blows over the subject of the song again. As the band traveled overnight on their tour bus, Gordon pointed out that Hampton coliseum was the venue that the Dead often choose to bring back classic, if forgotten about songs. In 1989, the Grateful Dead played a show at the same arena, billed under their original name of The Warlocks. At that show they choose to revive a longtime concert favorite, "Dark Star", a staple that had not been played in over 5 years by the band. Later in that same show, they choose to break out an even more obscure song that had not been played in over twenty years, a song called "Attics Of My Life." Gordon suggests to the band that they play Destiny Unbound in a sort of quiet nod to the Dead and their fallen leader. (Phish has slowly grown to embrace their legacy and it's attachment to the Dead). Anastasio reacted as he had in the past. He ordered the bus driver to pull over, and got off of the bus. The last thing he was heard as saying was that there was no way that he would play that "horrible death march cannibal music, if you want to play it, do it without me!" Eventually Anastasio cooled off in time from the show and made it to the Coliseum in time for the band's soundcheck, but the damage was done, and the events that transpired on that bus in rural Virginia very well might have been the seed that grew the weeds that are threatened to choke the life out of a band that drew the largest crowd to a concert on the Millennia's Eve.The Final straw came in late February when Gordon sat in for a set with his band mate Anastasio's side project. After the show, Gordon joked that it would have been the perfect time to "fuck with the fans and bring back "Destiny." Anastasio reportedly grunted and walked out of the room and is still refusing to return calls to Gordon about a possible return to the road this summer. Anastasio has since planned his own tour of the country, using the member of his side project.It is not clear that this is in fact the reason behind the possible breakup, but what is know is that Gordon has decided that he play on, with or without Anastasio. Gordon chose the concert of a friend to reintroduce "Destiny" live. At a recent concert by Col. Bruce Hampton (no relation to the arena) and movie screening of Gordon's first independent movie, the bass player joined the Hampton and his band in a rousing rendition of the song, much to the delight of the fans in attendace who have long hoped the song would return. Undeterred by Anastasio, Gordon was quoted backstage as saying "I don't care what he (Anastasio) and (John) Paluska say, I think it is a great fucking song and I am going to play it!"None of the band member or their management was available for official comment, but band manager John Paluska was heard screaming from his office at Dionysian Production, "I don't give a shit if Gordon has to spend his summer lighting Trey's crack pipe and mowing his lawn, he better fucking apologize and make amends for this Destiny shit"While Phish Phans wait for official word from the band on this hiatus, the speculation and rumors will continue. If this disagreement is any indication, it could be a long time before anyone sees the original four members on stage together again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bouche Posted May 12, 2001 Report Share Posted May 12, 2001 very onionish indeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booche Posted May 13, 2001 Report Share Posted May 13, 2001 GoHereIfYouWantToDownloadDestiny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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