Features

H.O.R.D.E. Stories: Mike Gordon and Page McConnell

Photo by Steve Eichner

On selecting the name H.O.R.D.E.

Page McConnell: In a lot of ways Popper was driving the boat in terms of arranging the meeting, putting it together and even the name H.O.R.D.E. Mike [Gordon] came up with a slew of hilarious names and he read out some of them at the meeting. He’s got a knack for funny names and I can remember a couple off the top of my head from 20 years ago: Rock Donkey Dunkle and East Coast Rock-a-Sooey…I don’t think we wanted to take it so seriously and Horizons of Rock Developing Everywhere…But it was fine. We weren’t up for a fight. We were happy to be part of it and we enjoyed hanging with all those guys.

Mike Gordon: We had brought a list of potential names which I had made. I was the name list person. They were all weird names and the Clifford Ball was one of them which we then ended up using for our own purposes. Click here to read Mike’s list of suggested names.

The first night in Portland

Mike Gordon: I think that was our first arena gig, which was sort of a nice way to do it. With Phish we always cruised slowly. So even though we normally didn’t team up with other bands to do tours, getting our feet wet in an arena and seeing what it was like without having to carry the show by ourselves, that was a good opportunity for us.

Sweet inspiration

I remember running into my friend Dan up in the bleachers maybe while ARU was playing and sharing a pot brownie which made a great for a great gig for me. I remember that was one of the first times I realized not only that I could play one note for a half hour but that I should play one note for a half hour and really focus hard on each plucking of that note with great intensity. The pot brownie kind of aided that and it was a great jam.

The legacy

Page McConnell: I did sense from the audience perspective that by putting all these bands together there was this commonality a lot of crossover and a lot of people that appreciated it all. It would continue with bands that followed afterwards and fill into that category in people’s minds like the Disco Biscuits or Umphrey’s McGee. I don’t know if the term jamband was really thrown around much before then but it did somehow solidify the genre in people’s minds—if not in my mind, then at least in people’s minds. And in my mind it was recognizing that yes, there’s something going on out there that’s bigger than us.

Mike Gordon: The legacy? A group of bands and friends and gigs and maybe a certain philosophy that happened to be given a name by John.