News

Dan Kanter Admits Teasing "Almost 25" Phish Songs at Justin Bieber Shows

“Sand” can be heard at 4:32, with “First Tube” at 5:35

Hollywood Reporter music editor Shirley Halperin is also a longstanding friend and fan of Phish. As we noted in August when she wrote about Justin Bieber and girlfriend Selena Gomez attending a Phish show, Halperin once told executive editor Dean Budnick, “When they were making the Hoist record they wanted to put the song ‘Jerusalem City of Gold’ on in it at the end but they didn’t know the words. So while I was still living with my parents, I got a random call at midnight on a weeknight from Mike Gordon. They were literally in the studio recording Hoist and he asked me if I could transliterate the song and speak it out for him so that they’d sing it properly.”

Halperin continues to explore the Bieber-Phish connection. Earlier today, the Hollywood Reporter published her conversation with Bieber guitarist Dan Kanter. In the interview Kanter explains that he continues to tease Phish songs during the show, acknowledging that the total has reached “almost 25 songs now — we’re just sneaking them in here and there. There’s one song called “She Don’t Like the Light” where we have a very James Bond-esque chase video starting and Justin is offstage doing a costume change, then he pops out of a trap door. So during that video, I played the Phish pieces. Really, I was doing it to make Kuroda laugh.”

The Kuroda he references is Phish lighting director Chris Kuroda, who is the currently fulfilling the same role on Justin Bieber tour. Kanter notes that Phish fans don’t have to worry about losing Kuroda because, “We worked it out so if there is a conflict, Chris does Phish and there is a sub for Justin. When Chris is done, he comes right back to Justin. That was the only way I would recommend Chris — is if he never missed a Phish show.”

The complete interview can be found here.

Click here for the jambands.com conversation with Kanter from earlier this year.