Phish's Mike Gordon Primes Fans for Solo Disc With Double Live LP

After wrapping up a tour with Phish in December, Mike Gordon is taking time to do things his own way for the next few months. On Friday, the Phish bassist will head back on the road with his five-piece band for an eight-date club tour, which kicks off with a sold-out show in Troy, New York. To get fans pumped for the shows, Gordon has just released a live recording from his 2009 tour. The two-disc set (which is also available at LivePhish.com) captures Gordon and his band at an October gig in Buffalo, New York, and features pitch-perfect covers of Radiohead's "15 Step" and the Talking Heads' "Cities," along with Phish tunes like "Meat." For the upcoming tour, expect plenty of spirited improvisation and some surprise covers. "I like to experience musical moments that aren't planned," Gordon tells Rolling Stone.

After wrapping up the tour, Gordon will finish up his next solo album, the follow-up to 2008's The Green Sparrow. Gordon says the new record will be more groove-oriented, with an emphasis on drums and bass. "With my last album, the focus was on the electric guitar. I want this one to be a more pared down than before with less sounds per second," he says. "It's more introspective."

As for Phish, Gordon says it's likely that the jam-band kings will head out for a tour this summer. "It's looking like that kind of thing is in the talks," he says. "We knew we wanted to wait until summer to do something. Nothing's set in stone yet but I think it's a promising thing."

Mike Gordon Tour Dates:
March 5 - Troy, NY @ Revolution Hall
March 6 - New Haven, CT @ Toad's Place
March 7 - Stroudsburg, PA @ Sherman Theatre
March 9 - Baltimore, MD @ Rams Head Live!
March 11 - Charlottesville, VA @ Jefferson Theatre
March 12 - Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of the Living Arts
March 13 - Northampton, MA @ Pearl Street
March 14 - Lebanon, NH @ Lebanon Opera House

• 
  MUSIC 100 Greatest Debut Albums
• 
  MOVIES 'Star Trek' Is Crazy Good
• 
  TV 10 Shows to Watch This Summer
• 
  POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix

Song Stories

“Too Close”

Next | 1998

Next was formed in Minneapolis when the uncle of Terry "T-Low" and Raphael "Tweety" Brown, who was a gospel choir director, introduced the brothers to Robert Lavelle "R.L." Huggar. Sounds of Blackness singer Ann Nesby groomed the R&B group before handing them over to Naughty by Nature's KayGee, who wrote and produced "Too Close." The idea for the song was sparked "from a conversation we had with several girls at a nightclub," explained T-Low. "It's talking about the club scene, with guys getting out of hand and the female telling him to back up, asking, 'What are you doing?'" 

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter