Question 1

The 2000 single "Heavy Things" comes from which Phish studio album?

Accepted Answer

Farmhouse. "Heavy Things" was Farmhouse's lead single and the band's only song to reach a mainstream pop radio chart (No. 29 on Billboard's Adult Top 40). It also hit No. 2 on the Adult Alternative chart.

Question 2

The radio hit "Free" was released as a single from which album?

Accepted Answer

Billy Breathes. "Free" came out in 1996 from Billy Breathes and reached No. 11 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart, one of the band's biggest radio moments.

Question 3

The six-disc live box Hampton Comes Alive takes its title from a play on which classic live album?

Accepted Answer

Frampton Comes Alive!. Hampton Comes Alive riffs on Peter Frampton's famous live record, and it captures two complete November 1998 shows at Virginia's Hampton Coliseum.

Question 4

Where did the title of Phish's 1995 live album A Live One come from?

Accepted Answer

A question fans kept asking the band. Fans constantly asked when Phish would put out "a live one," so the band obliged. It became their first RIAA-certified album and eventually went platinum.

Question 5

The 1997 live album Slip Stitch and Pass was recorded at the Markthalle in which city?

Accepted Answer

Hamburg. Slip Stitch and Pass captures March 1, 1997 in Hamburg, Germany, and was the first official release to include Mike's Song and Weekapaug Groove.

Question 6

Which producer worked on both Billy Breathes (1996) and Joy (2009)?

Accepted Answer

Steve Lillywhite. Steve Lillywhite joined the Billy Breathes sessions at Bearsville in 1996 and returned 13 years later to produce the reunion album Joy in New York City.

Question 7

Which Phish song traditionally closed with a wordless whistled section?

Accepted Answer

Reba. "Reba" ends with the band whistling the first verse melody, a part of the song since its 1989 debut. Trey wrote it under his mentor, composer Ernie Stires.

Question 8

Who wrote the opening verses of "Fluffhead" and gets a co-writing credit alongside Trey?

Accepted Answer

The Dude of Life (Steve Pollak). Trey's friend The Dude of Life penned Fluffhead's first three verses and sang at its 1984 debut at Nectar's. The song's sections include Clod, Bundle of Joy, and Arrival.

Question 9

Who produced Hoist, recorded in late 1993 in Woodland Hills, California?

Accepted Answer

Paul Fox. Paul Fox produced Hoist at American Recording Co. It peaked at No. 34 and is described as Phish's best-selling studio album.

Question 10

How did Phish earn the studio time to record Lawn Boy at Archer Studios?

Accepted Answer

Winning a Rock Rumble battle-of-the-bands at The Front. The band took first place at a Rock Rumble at Burlington's The Front in April 1989, and the prize was the studio time that became Lawn Boy.

Question 11

In which city did "Ghost" make its live debut in June 1997?

Accepted Answer

Dublin. "Ghost" first appeared on June 13, 1997, in Dublin, Ireland, kicking off a summer European tour remembered as the birthplace of Phish funk.

Question 12

A 1993 live fragment of which song was tacked onto the end of "Demand" to close Hoist?

Accepted Answer

Split Open and Melt. A piece of the April 21, 1993 "Split Open and Melt" serves as Hoist's finale. Melt's studio version on Lawn Boy was the first Phish album track with outside musicians.

Question 13

The roughly 50-minute, set-swallowing 'Tweezer' of June 14, 1995 is nicknamed after the venue's location. What is that nickname?

Accepted Answer

The Mud Island Tweezer. Played in Memphis, the Mud Island 'Tweezer' ate up most of the second set, and phish.net lists it as the longest 'Tweezer' on its jam chart.

Question 14

Fans call the 45-minute 'Tweezer' from June 22, 1995 in Canandaigua, New York the 'FLeezer.' What does the 'FL' stand for?

Accepted Answer

Finger Lakes. Canandaigua sits in New York's Finger Lakes region. That night the jam ran about 45 minutes, included a 'My Generation' jam, and had Fish on vacuum.

Question 15

The legendary 'Tweezerfest' of May 7, 1994, where 'Tweezer' was woven through the whole second set, took place at which Dallas venue?

Accepted Answer

The Bomb Factory. Mike chose the show as one of his 'Mike's Picks' in 2003, and it came out as Live Phish 18.

Question 16

Phish.net's 'Tweezer' jam chart calls one 1998 European version 'among the greatest in Phish history.' In which city was it played on July 9, 1998?

Accepted Answer

Barcelona. The Barcelona 'Tweezer' includes a 'Things That Make You Go Hmmm' tease, and late in the jam the band drifts toward the 'Wolfman's Brother' chord changes.

Question 17

The Trey Anastasio/Tom Marshall funk song "Ghost" is the opening track of which album?

Accepted Answer

The Story of the Ghost. "Ghost" opens The Story of the Ghost (1998). It was born during the 1997 European tour, the era fans tie to the band's "cow funk."

Question 18

In what year did Phish release its first studio album, Junta?

Accepted Answer

1989. Junta was a self-released cassette that hit stores in May 1989; Elektra reissued it on CD in 1992 and it eventually went platinum.

Question 19

A Picture of Nectar, Phish's 1992 major-label debut, is dedicated to whom?

Accepted Answer

The owner of the Burlington bar Nectar's. The album honors the proprietor of Nectar's in Burlington, where Phish played its first bar gig and regular multi-night stands that the band said taught them how to play.

Question 20

Phish's rollicking cover of "Loving Cup" comes from which band's catalog?

Accepted Answer

The Rolling Stones. It's a Jagger/Richards tune from the Stones' 1972 double LP Exile on Main St., and Phish first opened a show with it in Portland, Maine, in February 1993.

Question 21

Phish has famously performed a fully a cappella version of which Southern rock anthem, vocal guitar solo and all?

Accepted Answer

"Free Bird" (Lynyrd Skynyrd). The band first went fully voice-only on Lynyrd Skynyrd's epic in July 1993 in Weedsport, NY, recreating the guitar heroics with nothing but their mouths.

Question 22

"Cities" and "Crosseyed and Painless" were both originally recorded by which band?

Accepted Answer

Talking Heads. Both are Talking Heads songs; "Cities" comes from Fear of Music (1979) and Phish first played it way back in 1984 at Nectar's.

Question 23

At which university did Phish first come together in 1983?

Accepted Answer

University of Vermont. Phish was born in the dorms of UVM in Burlington, where Trey, Mike, Fish and guitarist Jeff Holdsworth first started jamming in 1983.

Question 24

Which Burlington bar hosted Phish's regular residencies from late 1984 through March 1989?

Accepted Answer

Nectar's. The band played dozens of nights at Nectar's, and they later thanked owner Nectar Rorris by naming their 1992 album A Picture of Nectar after him.

Question 25

Which member of Phish's classic four-piece lineup was the last to join the band?

Accepted Answer

Page McConnell. Page is the only member of the long-running quartet who was not there at the start; he played his first show with the band in May 1985.

Question 26

Who has been Phish's lighting director since late 1989, earning the fan nickname "CK5"?

Accepted Answer

Chris Kuroda. Fans call Chris Kuroda the unofficial fifth member of Phish, which is where the "CK5" nickname comes from.

Question 27

Which Ben & Jerry's flavor, launched in 1997, sends its proceeds to Phish's WaterWheel Foundation?

Accepted Answer

Phish Food. Phish Food royalties go toward protecting Lake Champlain, the big lake right next to the band's Burlington hometown.

Question 28

In March 2009, Phish ended its breakup with three reunion shows at which Virginia arena?

Accepted Answer

Hampton Coliseum. The "Mothership" in Hampton was a fitting place for the comeback: the band's beloved 1998 shows there had already been released as the Hampton Comes Alive box set.

Question 29

Trey Anastasio teamed with Primus bassist Les Claypool and Police drummer Stewart Copeland in which trio?

Accepted Answer

Oysterhead. Oysterhead was originally planned as a one-off concert in May 2000, but it grew into an album, The Grand Pecking Order, in 2001.

Question 30

Which major label signed Phish in 1991?

Accepted Answer

Elektra Records. Phish stayed with Elektra until 2005, and A Picture of Nectar (1992) was their first release for the label.

Phish 1.0 Era Trivia