Photo: Getty

Phish are back! After a five year hiatus, the jam-giants have booked three shows at the Hampton Coliseum in Virginia (on sale October 18), and the band plans on gigging more in 2009.

Brian Stoltz (guitar) on Moodoo and the Vermont show:

We were thinking about releasing something around Jazz Fest, but we didn't have any studio stuff ready. We probably could've done it, but we would've been real pressed and we wanted to take our time. So we said, "Let's start digging through some live stuff and put out something live." We immediately thought of the night in Burlington.

Page McConnell on the Vermont show:

I got a call from Russell Batiste (drums) when they were on the highway riding up to Vermont from wherever the last show was. It was the night of the show and he was like, "What are you doing tonight? Come on down." I was going to go anyway, but then they asked me, "Do you want to play?" So we brought some keyboards over and I sat in for most of one of the sets. It was all very loose, not a lot of forethought.

George Porter (bass) on the Vermont show:

It was a sold out night. Vermont has always been down with the Funky Meters and us being three members of the original Funky Meters, I kind of knew we'd get a good reaction.

Stoltz on the title of the album, Moodoo:

Obviously, if it would've been left up to us we would've just said, "OK, let's name it Porter Batiste Stoltz with Page McConnell Live, but nobody would've bought it. We got some crafty people in the office and they were looking for a way to promote it, get some sort of hook to it to catch people's attention and we thought: Vermont-Louisiana, Vermont-Louisiana, and we came up with the cows and hoodoo...Moodoo!

It worked out. We got really great artwork and a cool website. The kids in the office created a site that's a splash page and we got cool little videos you can link to. People love it.

Porter (bass) on the jam scene and collaboration:

There are definite ups and downs in some cases with collaboration. Probably more downs than ups because functioning bands seem to get less attention these days because so many promoters are now picking pieces from here, picking pieces from there and making these superbands. Now these functioning bands are waiting outside saying, "Hey, man, I'd really like to get on that festival." But the promoters are like, "Well, I already got one of your guys playing that festival with a superband." That's been hurting a lot of bands that work hard to become an actual band.

I've been a part of a bunch of these superbands and I enjoy it. I have fun playing in them and stuff like that, but I'd like to see those guys, if they're going to do those things, at least get the actual band a gig too. I think they lose sight of the fact that we are actually a working band trying to play.

At one time it was musicians calling up other musicians, "Why don't you come over and jam tonight?" Now it's different. 

Stoltz on collaboration:

In some instances, promoters figured out that they can get musicians individually and make it less expensive.

McConnell on collaboration:

On the positive side, the first time I got to play with these guys it was a benefit for the New Orleans Musician's Clinic, and we put together a combo and it was George, Russell, Mike Gordon, Bill Summers and me. This was in '99 and we got to meet them and we did a track for this benefit album and then a year or two later I put together Vida Blue (with Batiste). So through collaboration a lot of good stuff can come, a lot of lasting relationships. It's got both sides to it.

Porter on festivals vs. club shows:

It's a double-edged sword. Festivals seems like they're a quick energy thing whereas in a club scene, you get a chance to build up that energy. You get to know your audience.

Stoltz on festivals vs. club shows:

You get to do a sound check at club shows. In a festival you walk up cold and it's just like, "whatever." If you can't hear something, you've got to do it anyway.

Stoltz on tour travel:

We usually fly to the first gig and then we hit up one of those Sprinter buses. We ride around in that and then we fly home. As long as the DVD works and Russell can watch Columbo, then we're good. He watches the same one, over and over again. 

Russell Batiste on Columbo:

Shit, man, as long as I have Columbo, I'm straight.

Porter on songwriting:

We come up with a lot of new stuff through our jams because there are songs in our jams. We stretch out and find things here and there. Brian is someone who sits down and writes things, and I'm more of a piece person. I make bass lines up all the time, thousands of them. We get together are start bringing different pieces to the table, trying to write around it.

Russell is also a serious arranger. He does a lot of writing. He comes up with all the things that have a bunch of chords in them. His other band has 14 musicians in it! Two bass players, three guitar players, two keyboard players, a bunch of horns...

Batiste on songwriting:

I write all kinds of shit, man.

Page on Phish and the wedding they played together a few weeks ago:

It was just one of those things. A friend got married and just like so many other weddings, we got up and played some music with some friends. Have we been hanging out? Nope...not really.