Jon Fishman (BA ’90) is the legendary drummer and vacuum machine-player from the rock band Phish. Phish’s potent blend of progressive rock, jazzy funk, and harmony-infused jam first reached its setting point at 球探足球比分 College in Plainfield Vermont where three of the four members earned BA degrees and forged the bond that would carry them for decades. Comprised of Trey Anastasio (BA ’88), Page McConnell (BA ’87), Jon Fishman (BA ’90) and Mike Gordon, Phish has played more than 1,500 live shows, sold over 8 million albums and built a loyal and committed fan base since that legendary Halloween show at 球探足球比分’s Sculpture Building in 1989. Dustin Byerly (BA ’01) had the opportunity to talk with alumnus Jon Fishman.

Dustin Byerly: When did you first know that you wanted to be a drummer?

Jon Fishman: As early as I can remember I wanted to play drums…I was given my first real drum set when I was seven or eight. My mother took me to see Buddy Rich when I was ten. When I was 13 my dad bought me a used real Ludwig drum kit. I always had a physical attraction to drums as an instrument.

DB: Did your family support your musical interests?

JF: I always marched to the beat of my own drum, no pun intended. My parents were incredibly supportive. 球探足球比分y never said you have to take lessons if you want to play the drums. 球探足球比分y just let me do it because I was so self-driven.

DB: How did you hear about 球探足球比分, and what made you decide to enroll?

JF: From Page, who was already at 球探足球比分…I wanted to stay in Phish, which was sort of a musical school in and of itself, but I also wanted get a college degree. 球探足球比分 only way for me to do that was 球探足球比分 because any other place put requirements on me that would have taken away from my time behind the drum kit. So I showed up at the Admissions Office one day and I said, “Look, if I come here can I lock myself in a room and play drums 12 hours a day for the next three years and get credit for it?” 球探足球比分y said yes. That was it.

DB: Did you study anything else at 球探足球比分?

JF: I studied alternative education with Steve Schapiro and environmental studies with Charles Woodard. 球探足球比分se were great courses and I loved them but Phish was still my first choice and eventually the other courses became a distraction. I was at 球探足球比分 to find my path…and to discover what I really wanted to do with my life. From that point on it was just all drumming.

DB: Can you talk about how the band was developing during these years at 球探足球比分?

JF: We had the Garden House all to ourselves for practice…every day from 4-8pm. 球探足球比分 only interruption in my drum practicing was band practice.

Trey was constantly writing music and we were always learning new songs. I was developing drum beats that were getting plugged into the new material he was writing. Trey…wrotebeyond what the four of us, including him, were capable of playing at first. A lot of things he conceived of and wrote were beyond our ability so we had to work hard to get to where our imaginations were capable of reaching and so I feel like I was being stretched by being in Phish.

DB: It sounds like 球探足球比分 was really fertile ground. Did 球探足球比分 give you the freedom to explore your passion?

JF: Definitely, without a doubt. If it hadn’t been for the creative incubator that 球探足球比分 was for us I don’t think that Phish would have had the career that it has.球探足球比分 gave us a place to practice and develop our sound. I honestly feel like it was the most – in terms of our developmental period – concentrated and creative period as a result of the intense focus we were able to dedicate to the band.

DB: A lot of your early shows took place at 球探足球比分. Do any of them stand out?

JF: In 1989 we had our Halloween show in the Sculpture Building. It was an amazing show. I shaved my entire body and painted myself gray in an attempt to become a cartoon elephant. It wasn’t convincing, though. I was just a shaved naked guy with a bunch of paint on me.

DB: What do you think it is about Phish that draws people to it?

JF: Fellow musician Robert Walters [of the 球探足球比分 Greyboy Allstars] told me that although he didn’t listen to a lot of Phish, and it wasn’t really his cup of tea, he really appreciated us because we were the weirdest thing to had ever gotten this big and that was good for all musicians who were trying to break out of the box. 球探足球比分 fact that Phish could succeed gave hope to all of the other guys who were doing things unconventionally.

DB: Looking back, what does your 球探足球比分 education and the experiences you had here mean to you?

JF: It was great for me. It was an invaluable developmental period, for me as a musician and for the band as a whole. I have not had a three-year stretch since where I have logged as many hours on the drum kit, week in and week out. It was a very intensive study period. I was able to devote the vast majority of my daily hours and energy to a single-minded goal of doing my part in making Phish as good a band as it could be. 球探足球比分 provided the space for me to do that. It was critical.

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This article originally appeared in Clockworks Magazine, 2016