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A "Carefree" Mike Gordon Preps for Tour

This Saturday, Phish bassist Mike Gordon and his band return to the road for the first of five select Northeastern dates taking place before the year’s end. With Phish taking a break from touring this fall, the bassist has been working on a new batch of songs and a few “secret” recording projects, while also finding a balance between his musical and family lives.

Balance was a common theme when I spoke with Gordon, who revealed that he has begun to shed the meticulous regimen he is famously known for, and has opted for a more “carefree” existence in life. While he explains that fans are unlikely to hear any of the songs from this current writing phase at the upcoming shows—his songs often take years before they see the light of the stage—he admits that this may change with his new life approach. “I’ve got all the first born attributes of being a list maker and a goal setter and a perfectionist,” says Gordon. “I’m trying to get rid of all that—change my personality so that if I’m working on something musical, maybe it does creep right in.”

Last year, Gordon hinted at this new songwriting direction when he revealed that he was moving toward a more traditional approach, using only a guitar and a pad of paper to flesh out new songs. “Part of my ebbing and flowing with my creative work and my existence, I think, is going to be to not necessarily have a specific goal, but just to be able to follow my view and inspiration as it comes. If that’s to make a funky song, then I’ll just see that through and not know what it’s going to be for…I don’t know, and that’s what I’m trying to do—I’m trying to know less more often.”

Gordon sounds excited about the possibility of these simpler songs, which he says allow the band to do more within the context of the structure. While the bassist mentions that he does have some more intricate writing projects based on ideas from the past, he is finding that simpler is often better. “The simpler the framework for the music is, whether it’s a song or a jam or even a composition, the more we can do with it where it’s not just reproducing the notes. It’s more being able to pour our whole soul into the passage of what’s happening.”

Catch Mike Gordon and his band featuring Scott Murawski, Todd Isler, Craig Myers, and Tom Cleary this Saturday at the Portsmouth Music Hall in Portsmouth, NH and then on Sunday at the Opera House in Lebanon, NH. Ticket information is available via Mike Gordon’s website.