Phish ‘Farmhouse’ Era Interviews & Promo: A ‘Cluster Flies’ Companion

JamBase’s celebration of the release of Cluster Flies, a covers compilation reimagining Phish’s album Farmhouse, continues with another installment of Sunday Cinema. This week presents videos of Farmhouse-era interviews with members of Phish as well as other promotional materials from the time.

The limited-edition Cluster Flies 3LP, featuring custom artwork and a poster designed by Phish collaborator Jim Pollock, can be pre-ordered through tomorrow, Monday, May 3. Phish covers were recorded by Umphrey’s McGee’s Brendan Bayliss, Club d’Elf, Daniel Donato, Chris Forsyth, Neal Francis, Jennifer Hartswick, Amy Helm, Lindsay Lou, Reed Mathis, White Denim’s James Petralli, Strand Of Oaks, Sylvan Esso, William Tyler, Sadler Vaden, Vetiver, Ryley Walker, and a supergroup led by Tim Palmieri. A true reimagining of Farmhouse, the songs on Cluster Flies are presented in an entirely new sequence with five bonus tracks alongside the 12 others on the original album and mastered by engineer Joe Lambert.

Coinciding with Cluster Flies, JamBase prepared a History Of Phish’s Album Farmhouse that compiled interviews and quotes from band members and additional people affiliated with the album. Those interviews were also among the key sources, along with Phish.net and others, for the deep dives into each of the 17 songs on Cluster Flies that were published on daily episodes of The JamBase Podcast.

Promotional material from the Farmhouse era also helped inform both the podcast episodes and the history of the making of the album. Scroll down to see a sampling of Phish interviews and promotional content from around the time when Farmhouse was released in May 2000.

.article-summary-wrap {
margin-top:25px;
}

.panel-article .list-posts > li {
border-style: dotted;
}
.panel-article .list-posts > li:last-of-type {
border-bottom-width:0;
}
.panel-article .list-posts .excerpt {
margin: 3px 0 0;
}
.panel-article .list-posts .btn-sm {
margin-top: 10px;
padding: 3px 10px;
}

First is a Farmhouse promotional video showcasing the band’s success over their career to that point. Keep an eye out for a glimpse at JamBase co-founder Andy Gadiel’s influential Phish website.
Next is a May 2000 interview Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio and keyboardist Page McConnell gave to film critic Anthony DeCurtis for his at-the-time weekly online interview series The A List.

An animated video featuring an abridged version of the Farmhouse track “First Tube” follows. Showcasing the cutting-edge Shockwave technology of the time, the animation was created by Bullseye Art who also created a video for Phish’s recording of “You Enjoy Myself” from The White Tape. The penultimate video below features an MTV interview Trey and bassist Mike Gordon held in June 2000. The Q&A session was largely based on fan-submitted inquiries.

The final video in the set is a screen capture of the official Phish.com website that told an animated “Brief History of The Barn.” Phish recorded Farmhouse at The Barn, Anastasio’s recording studio in Vermont where every Phish album through 2020’s Sigma Oasis has also been made. Watch the set of Cluster Flies companion videos below:

!function ($) {

$(function(){ // document ready

$(‘.video-sticky’).stickybits(
{
stickyBitStickyOffset: getNavbarsHeight()
}
);

});

}(window.jQuery);

.video-content .panel-body {
padding-top:40px;
padding-bottom:40px;
}
.video-sticky {
z-index: 999;
background-color: #fcfcfc;
}
.honorable-mentions {
padding-left: 0;
margin-left: 1.375em;
}
.honorable-mentions li {
margin-bottom:5px;
}
.honorable-mentions .fa-li {
margin-top:-2px;
}

.video-summary-wrap table.glance-table.jambase-videos-songs-table{
background-color: #e2e8ef;
}

!function ($) {

$(function(){ // document ready

$(‘.video-sticky’).stickybits(
{
stickyBitStickyOffset: getNavbarsHeight()
}
);

});

}(window.jQuery);

.video-content .panel-body {
padding-top:40px;
padding-bottom:40px;
}
.video-sticky {
z-index: 999;
background-color: #fcfcfc;
}
.honorable-mentions {
padding-left: 0;
margin-left: 1.375em;
}
.honorable-mentions li {
margin-bottom:5px;
}
.honorable-mentions .fa-li {
margin-top:-2px;
}

.video-summary-wrap table.glance-table.jambase-videos-songs-table{
background-color: #e2e8ef;
}

!function ($) {

$(function(){ // document ready

$(‘.video-sticky’).stickybits(
{
stickyBitStickyOffset: getNavbarsHeight()
}
);

});

}(window.jQuery);

.video-content .panel-body {
padding-top:40px;
padding-bottom:40px;
}
.video-sticky {
z-index: 999;
background-color: #fcfcfc;
}
.honorable-mentions {
padding-left: 0;
margin-left: 1.375em;
}
.honorable-mentions li {
margin-bottom:5px;
}
.honorable-mentions .fa-li {
margin-top:-2px;
}

.video-summary-wrap table.glance-table.jambase-videos-songs-table{
background-color: #e2e8ef;
}

!function ($) {

$(function(){ // document ready

$(‘.video-sticky’).stickybits(
{
stickyBitStickyOffset: getNavbarsHeight()
}
);

});

}(window.jQuery);

.video-content .panel-body {
padding-top:40px;
padding-bottom:40px;
}
.video-sticky {
z-index: 999;
background-color: #fcfcfc;
}
.honorable-mentions {
padding-left: 0;
margin-left: 1.375em;
}
.honorable-mentions li {
margin-bottom:5px;
}
.honorable-mentions .fa-li {
margin-top:-2px;
}

.video-summary-wrap table.glance-table.jambase-videos-songs-table{
background-color: #e2e8ef;
}

!function ($) {

$(function(){ // document ready

$(‘.video-sticky’).stickybits(
{
stickyBitStickyOffset: getNavbarsHeight()
}
);

});

}(window.jQuery);

.video-content .panel-body {
padding-top:40px;
padding-bottom:40px;
}
.video-sticky {
z-index: 999;
background-color: #fcfcfc;
}
.honorable-mentions {
padding-left: 0;
margin-left: 1.375em;
}
.honorable-mentions li {
margin-bottom:5px;
}
.honorable-mentions .fa-li {
margin-top:-2px;
}

.video-summary-wrap table.glance-table.jambase-videos-songs-table{
background-color: #e2e8ef;
}

Source: JamBase.com