The Haunted House Set and Phish Instrumentals

One of the most common reactions to Phish’s already legendary second set on 10/31/14 was: “what was that??” In other words, how do we categorize that music in the long storied history their music? Was it a bunch of jams? Were they composed songs? Was it something like The Siket Disc (or even Fuego) were the songs themselves emerged from jams somehow?

Well, this got me thinking: How can we “categorize” Phish’s original instrumental music? And, how does the Haunted House set fit in within these categories? Of course, much of what we love about Phish is improvisation which is usually (but not always) instrumental (save a few Fish yelps or spontaneous Trey singing). But, another important part of Phish’s music is written (in a broad sense) instrumental music. I’m going to start from the premise that much of the Haunted House set was composed music. Yes, many of the songs had jams (usually based around the chord/melodic structure of the songs), but many of Phish’s other written composed songs have jams based on their structures. I also realize the category of “instrumental” music is somewhat debatable here because there was substantial narration and sampled voice overs throughout the set. But, I think we can agree this was not a set of music that featured “lyrics” in any normal sense of the term and certainly not “vocals” from the band itself.

Category 1: Scored Music

This is what makes Phish, Phish. What other jam band (what other band??) has a sizable portion of the catalog that is literally written or scored instrumental music? Trey’s compositional study with Ernie Stires laid the basis for tunes like “Fluffhead”, “Reba”, “You Enjoy Myself,” and even later numbers like “All Things Reconsidered.” These have intricate, composed “parts” for guitar, piano and bass. This is not music that you could just figure out in the practice room (although I’m sure some parts were figured out in person apart from the page). A fugal section like the one in “Reba” has to be precisely learned via written music on the page.

I think it is safe to say that none of the Haunted House set fits into this category. In fact, it is pretty undeniable that the last example of this in the Phish canon is 1994's masterpiece, “Guyute”. Trey has not stopped composing (see his orchestral work), but it appears he has stopped composing for Phish.

Category 2 — Rock Instrumentals

Lets face it: Most rock bands do not score instrumental music. They figure out some cool riffs and chord progressions and they learn their parts either together , or apart and then come together in rehearsal to put the parts together. Most of what is called “Progressive Rock” fits into this category. I would argue the overwhelming majority of Phish’s instrumental music is this kind. While early Phish music is known for its “epic” scored compositions, just as much early Phish instrumental music was probably never scored on a page. Instrumental sections in songs like “Harry Hood”, and even I would guess “The Divided Sky” and “The Curtain”, are simple enough (often based on a series of chords or melodies coming from the guitar) that I would guess Trey brought these songs to practice and Page, Mike, and Fish added parts to the guitar “on the fly.” Since “Guyute” is the last “scored” composition, Phish continues to write this kind of instrumental music — songs like “Scents and Subtle Sounds”, “Pebbles and Marbles” and more recently, “Time Turns Elastic”, have sizable written instrumental sections that are often based around cool riffs and chord changes and sometimes odd time signatures— but not intricate enough to need to be scored on a page.

The entirety of the Haunted House set fits into this category. Almost every song features a funky/rocking melody or chord progression that you can tell Phish worked out together in the practice room. The melodies or changes created vamps that could be jammed over, but the structure of the song was definitely written and rehearsed beforehand.

Category 3 — Jam Compositions

Jam compositions? You might say, “You’re crazy no such thing exists!?!?” Some might argue that what makes Phish unique is their scored original compositions, but I’m sure some other band has done that. I’m not sure any other bands have written actual songs out of the process of jamming. While much of The Story of the Ghost album are songs that emerged from many hours of jamming in the Farmhouse in Vermont, those songs included lyrics. However, The Siket Disc is a full album of instrumental songs — with real structures — that emerged from Phish jams.

Many initially thought the Haunted House set was some kind of version of this. Indeed, parts of “Shipwreck” sound very much like “What’s the Use”. All the songs have a jam or groove feel to them. But, unlike The Siket Disc, my guess(and it is only that) is that these songs did not emerge from a long, patient process of many hours of jamming. I would guess there was some urgency to writing these quick grooves, melodies and vamps that more came from spontaneous ideas the band members had about how to express the themes of Dogs, Birds, and Bridges (or whatever) musically. Of course, we don’t really yet know how these songs were written, and it is possibly, maybe even likely, that some songs in the set emerged from longer jam exercises.

Category 4 — Blues or Jazz Numbers

Traditional jazz is often framed by a “head” melody, a series of solos on the chord changes underlying that “head”, and a return to the head at the end. Blues numbers that do not feature vocals also follow this pattern. Phish knows and appreciates this formula with such songs as “Buried Alive” (blues), “Magilla” (jazz), and (in the way back machines) “Flat Fee” (jazz).

Although none of the Haunted House set could be said to be strictly “jazz” or “blues”, many have pointed out that “Head->Jam->Head” formula that really has its roots in American blues and jazz instrumental music.

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Overall, these songs sound very Phish-y — which is what makes them so great. But, I would argue they are not Phish-y in the early 1990s sense — where much of Phish instrumental featured intricate, scored, and often chromatic and angular/difficult music. The Haunted House set is the kind of instrumental music Phish has been writing since 1997 — it is based around rock riffs/chords and primarily centers upon grooves and rhythmic vamps. Indeed, perhaps the progenitor of the Haunted House set is none other than “Black Eyed Katy”! Just listen to the opening chords to the first song “The Haunted House” (this is an odd rhythmic vamp if there ever was one). Songs like “Your Pet Cat” and “Martian Monster” are glorified groove-funk vamps. Rhythm and groove is the most important feature of these songs and melody and harmony play a secondary role.

The real question is of course what is the future of these songs? In Halloween shows past based on an album (and this set still fits into that category) only one or two songs usually “survived” to remain in rotation. I am pretty confident that will hold true (in fact, it held true last night!) But, will all 10 survive? Will they be played as stand alone songs? What about the voice over samples? Should be interesting to see what happens.