Phish (42 page)

He was the perfect manager for us right up until the end, and it was a great run. But we just couldn’t go on with a management company that we had to shoulder the financial burden for. It was way too much pressure by the end. I know on a personal level it was keeping me up at night. And Page was clearly not psyched about the situation, either.

But again, that is not a personal statement about any of the wonderful people who worked in that office. As you know, it was very much a family affair. They put on all those wonderful festivals. But it was—again, I use the word
naïve—
we were a little bit naïve putting together what was our vision as eighteen- or twenty-year-olds: “Oh, we’ll just hire all our friends and everything will go perfectly forever and we’ll make tons and tons of money every month and cover all the overhead, never take a break and never slow down.”

And that’s not the way it went.

ME: Have you noticed any changes in the jamming? Has it taken on any different characteristics or new directions since the re union?

ANASTASIO: The first thing I noticed at Hampton, and especially as the tour went on, was a little bit more of an emotional weight based on life coming into the picture. Anybody our age, once you’ve had divorces and deaths and arrests. . . . It’s funny, because it makes me appreciate young bands even more. I can’t stop listening to this record
Oracular Spectacular
by the band MGMT, because it’s so full of this attitude of, “I’m twenty-one and the world’s my oyster.” It’s part of rock and roll. But I like music by people who have lived a little. Hopefully you don’t have to live
too
much! [
laughs
] In any case, I hear an element of humility, an extra added element of humility, in our music now.