MI: Speaking of recording, did you ever go up and spend time with Phish while they recorded at Bearsville? If so, what was the process like? What was the feeling around the studio and control room?
TM: Yes — I went there three separate weekends. It was a really laid-back kind of feel. Everyone seemed to be having a great time. Steve Lillywhite was a cool person to meet and hang with, and to watch work. I’d never really been to a serious session like this before, and I thought it would be much more formal in a way I guess — I was pleasantly surprised.
MI: If you decided to travel with Amfibian, would you consider taking time off of your computer career? Have you thought about the fact that if the band really takes off, you may have to leave the computer job? Or, that you may have three things going at once?
TM: I am always thinking about that!
MI: Tom, someone signed your website’s guestbook and commented, “I am excitingly awaiting a chance to see what Tom can do with his own songs after I have been raised on Phish’s interpretations.” Will this happen? Will you present your words with new music, that you and the rest of Amfibian have created, that is different from the music that Trey has written for those songs?
TM: Although that’s a bit sacrilegious, we’ve done that with one song already. It’s a song that I don’t think has been played as a Phish song, but I know Trey presented it to them — I’m not sure if it was played once or twice. I don’t want to draw attention to it so I’ll just whisper it to you now… For the most part, my feeling is once a song is a song, it’s done — time to move on. Rarely do I look back and say, let’s change that. This one just didn’t work because of a whole section of lyrics that were cut-and-pasted into the song and crushed the feel.
MI: You mention in The Phish Book that when Trey wrote the music for Sparkle and Horn, it was completely different from what you had envisioned. I can see that happening, but has Trey ever added music to your words that you disapproved of? Or, do you let him make those decisions on his own without question?
TM: I don’t think I’ve ever disapproved — in fact, I think that’s part of why we work well together — no preconceived notions. They can spoil the spirit of collaboration which, at its best, is unbridled and free.
MI: I understand that in addition to being a songwriter, you are a computer programmer. Does it feel as though you are living two lives having two completely different careers?
TM: Yes — I often consider one life to be my Phish-life, and everything else is part of my other life — the unnamed “life” part of my life. The Phish life is a rare treat I try to find myself in as much as I can — but when I pop back into my other reality, I’m glad I’m not totally immersed in the Phish side. The touring aspect is fun if you can do it on your own terms.
MI: If you had to choose one or the other, which would it be and why?
TM: I’m pleased at the way things have turned out — of course the draw is to leave everything else behind, and it puts pressure on me and those around me, but I’ve lived this way for a long time now and for the most part it’s working. I’m pulled in several directions by my desires, by practicality, and sometimes I feel like maybe I’m missing an obvious signal to change because I’m distracted — like the “walk sign” has been blinking and I’m just standing on the curb. It will all work out — now I’m adding Amfibian to the mix — what changes will that bring? Will it create waves or cancel them?
MI: Have you ever considered being a lyricist as your “full time” career?
TM: In many ways I feel I’m close to wrapping up my computer career, but like I said, I’m hesitant to just jump for many reasons — perhaps I could alter the computer side of my life slightly — to doing something more involved with music for example. I’d entertain a solution like that.
MI: What kind of ideas do you have?
TM: Not really any specific ones. I wouldn’t mind learning how to use some of the amazing software like some of the add-ons to Pro Tools, as well as Pro-Tools itself. I’ve seen some of it in use and I thought — “cool, now that’s a fun way to use a computer!”. I would love to work with someone who’s doing that kind of stuff just to learn it myself.
MI: Would you consider getting into running music websites. For example, ones that offer streaming music?
TM: I like some websites, and I like the way that stereos and TV are merging into the PC, but I think working on that kind of stuff would be too dry for me – I want to be using the tool on the computer, rather than writing the tool for someone else to use.
MI: Tom, In The Phish Book, you say that you “get a lot of songwriting done when you should be working”. Having a day job, how do you find time to write?
TM: Part of that was true — at my job at AT&T for instance, our whole group of 60 people didn’t have any work for several months. I wrote a lot of poetry — using the term loosely.
No Comments comments associated with this post