Steve “The Dude of Life” Pollak has been friends with Trey Anastasio since they played together in the band Space Antelope as high school students. Early on, Pollak wrote the lyrics to Phish classics like “Fluffhead,” “Suzy Greenberg,” “Run Like An Antelope,” “Slave to the Traffic Light,” “Sanity” and “Dinner and a Movie” and the band backed him on the album Crimes of the Mind. In the ‘80s and ‘90s, Pollak was a visible presence at Phish shows as well, often joining the group onstage in crazy costumes with a fake chicken. Though Pollak’s last sit in with the band was in 2003, he remains involved with Anastasio creatively and recently contributed to the new songs “Show of Life” and “Dr. Gabel.” A few days before Super Ball, Pollak brought us up to date on all things Dude.
It has been a few years since you released an album. I heard you were teaching these days. Can you start by giving us some background on your current career and how it ties into your music?
Over the last eight years I have taught elementary education at various schools. This year I taught at a private school working as a S.E.I.T. (Special Education Itinerant Teacher) with kids diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). It gave me tremendous satisfaction to play a role in helping these children turn their lives around and watch them flourish. An added benefit of being in the field of education is that it gives me ample time to work on my songwriting.
The last time I saw you play was with Mike Gordon Band at Brooklyn Bowl this past March. How often is the Dude of Life playing these days?
The Mike Gordon Band is phenomenal by the way. Until recently, doing gigs was on the back burner for me while life was hectic yet fun having and raising my three young children. But now, thank God, my youngest is finally out of diapers and I have begun playing once again and I’m loving it. I’ve recently been doing gigs with The Fluid Druids with my pals Charlie De Saint Phalle, Dave Coats and Mo Haroche. We’re working on some fantastic new tunes. Time to raise the gear shift!!!
Do you have any plans to release a new studio album or live record?
Over the past six months [fellow Phish songwriter] Tom Marshall and I have been collaborating, for the first time, on a new project. We have been having a blast while coming up with some great material. We are looking forward to getting into the studio and laying down tracks.
In 2010 Phish introduced two new Dude of Life/Trey Anastasio originals, “Show of Life” and “Dr. Gabel.” Can you talk a little bit about the sessions that yielded those two songs specifically? I heard you wrote “Show of Life” over sushi with Trey.
Once in a while Trey and I get together for sushi in New York City. Trey was showing me a new app on his phone that served as a four track machine. This is going back two years but it was an awesome new app at the time, and we started messing around with it. “Show of Life” was born in that sushi restaurant. We were singing at the table but we felt we were making a little too much noise in there so we decided to go out onto the sidewalk. We started belting out the song into a tiny microphone and then a crowd began to gather. It was one for the books.
“Dr. Gabel” was a song that Trey and I first worked on almost two years ago. The ultimate goal of the tune is to enable the listener to experience an emotional catharsis by its conclusion. Imagine a song in a single listen that could have the similar impact as months of therapy—without shelling out thousands of dollars! It’s a work in progress. It had a rough first run out of the gate which means it might not get a second chance. It would be interesting if Henrietta [Jon Fishman] were to sing a couple of the lead vocal sections because I feel that would completely transform the song’s dynamic.
You met Trey in high school. Who were some of the bands you first bonded over? At that time, did you share a common love of jambands and the Grateful Dead?
We went to a lot of amazing concerts together in high school. We went to many Dead shows and had some…uh…some very enlightening experiences at that time. We also loved seeing bands like Talking Heads, Pat Metheny, Lou Reed and The B52s to name a few. We also loved listening to old albums together. One afternoon we were at his mom’s apartment in New York City listening to the Beatles’ “White Album.” We played the song “Because” about four or five times in a row, and we were laughing hysterically. (You had to be there.) About an hour later I wound up regurgitating on his mom’s new white rug. I was attempting to clean it up and that’s the exact moment when she decided to return home. Suffice it to say she was not happy. It’s been over thirty years since that episode occurred and I’m still not sure if she’s forgiven me.
You played one of the first Phish shows at Nectar’s in 1984. Besides less people there, how would you describe the audience? I have always heard there was an artsy crowd back then…
It’s funny –I was talking about this the other day. The crowds back then, in my opinion, felt very similar compared to the crowds of today. It has always been a congregation of fun, wacky, intelligent, music loving people who truly understand the meaning of having a good time. It’s just that today the party has expanded…exponentially!!!!
Was music always a passion you hoped to pursue? If not, at what point did you decide to follow that path?
Music has been a passion of mine as far back as I can remember. I feel it’s what I’m meant to do. That’s not to say there have never been occasions when I’ve temporarily thrown in the towel during brief times of disappointment or disillusionment. But when that has happened, I get over whatever I need to get over and then go in and grab the towel out again.
Would you say being a professional musician was always one of Trey’s goals?
Trey has always taken his music very seriously. He was a drummer first before he played guitar. I recall when he first took up the guitar when he was 15 years old in boarding school. He practiced his scales incessantly and 75% of the time his guitar wasn’t even plugged in. It was awe inspiring to see how quickly he learned and progressed and it quickly became apparent that something special was happening.
In late 2009, Phish played “Crimes of the Mind” for the first time without you. When did you find out they were planning to play that song?
I found out when I checked out the set-list on YEMblog that evening. I thought it was fabulous that they played it and with Trey singing lead, it blew me out of the water! Fantastic really!
Portions of the song “Self” from the Dude of Life/Phish album Crimes of the Mind developed into “Chalk Dust Torture.” How did that transformation take place?
Ha! That’s an interesting question. Just for the record, the song “Self” was created before “Chalk Dust” and I believe it was written in 1990 when I was going through my Iggy Pop phase. In retrospect, it’s pretty easy to understand why the lyrics to “Self” really just don’t fit into the Phish repertoire while the fabulous lyrics to “Chalk Dust” fit much better.
How many Phish festivals have you attended and do you have a favorite moment from one of them?
I’ve attended all of them except for The Went. I never went to The Went and I’ve been kicking myself ever since! It’s impossible to mention a single favorite moment because I have so many favorite moments at Phish festivals and, by the way, some of those favorite moments I would not necessarily wish to put down in ink. ;-)
Do the other members of Space Antelope still play music?
Well there was a guitarist named Trey in our band and I’m pretty sure that he is still playing music. Other than that guy, the only member of Space Antelope who I’ve kept in touch with is Dudley Taft. He is a fantastic blues/rocker and lives in Seattle these days. He started the Dudley Taft Band in 2007 and it’s getting pretty big.
You wrote the lyrics to “Fluffhead,” one of the most coveted Phish songs of all time, about your brother. Did you write that song for Phish especially?
At the time I wrote it I didn’t even realize that it was about my bro, Dick, who passed away in July of 1983 from an insidious form of cancer called Ewing’s Sarcoma. I was so stricken with grief and it served as a form of therapy for me. He was such an amazing person and I believe that one of the reasons “Fluffhead” is so potent is that I feel his soul is somewhere in that song. I didn’t write it for Phish; I wrote it for him.
