Mike Gordon appeared on SiriusXM’s Jam On channel on Friday afternoon for a conversation with host Ari Fink, and the Phish bassist discussed the genesis of the band’s mysterious Halloween set, where they “covered” fictional Scandinavian band Kasvot Växt’s seminal album, í rokk.

“It was supposed to be a creation based on misinterpretation, so the wronger the better,” Gordon jokes when Fink asks him exactly how “Kasvot Växt” should be pronounced. The bassist also says that the original idea was to recycle some of the music that Phish had originally recorded for “a special surprise” at their canceled Curveball festival, along with some of the props they planned on using, but the group ended up going a different way.

As Gordon explains, Trey Anastasio presented his bandmates with an album cover, saying that they should cover the record, which was “from 1981,” before admitting that the album “doesn’t really exist.” Getting into some of the inspirations for what became Kasvot Växt, Gordon says that Anastasio was recording some of the funky music he heard in Nashville clubs, which led to drummer Jon Fishman imitating those beats, providing a base for the other members to build on. According to Gordon, all the new Halloween songs were brought together in just a day, with two more days spent on lyrics. Using a stream-of-consciousness technique, the band came up with words that ended up, in Gordon’s words, being “halfway between whimsical and meaningful.”

Gordon also mentions how the full gag came together, noting that Anastasio offered the idea of having articles online for fans to discover when they Googled Kasvot Växt after receiving the “Phishbill” on Halloween. “It got hilarious, instantly,” Gordon says of the ideas that started flowing concerning the fake band members and their backstory (it was Fishman’s idea that they would be scientists, by the way).

Today, SiriusXM and Jam On bring Phish Radio back to the channel, with more “Ask Trey” segments, live streams from the band’s upcoming New Year’s Eve run at New York’s Madison Square Garden and more.