After finishing most of the rough tracks for their album Billy Breathes in early spring (see TMIPH February 1996 and TMIPH April 1996), Phish returned to Bearsville Studios in May to complete the album. By June, most of the songs for Billy Breathes were tracked and ready for overdubbing and mixing. At Bearsville, the band,

Following their traditional January break, Phish began work on their sixth studio album, Billy Breathes (released by Elektra on October 20th, 1996). Many of the ideas that the band brought to the Billy Breathes sessions flowed from work lyricist Tom Marshall and Trey did while on a diving trip in late January in the Cayman

After a summer tour supporting their June 1995 live release “A Live One” (double CD recorded live, the Clifford Ball, 1994) and their second appearance on network television’s Late Show With David Letterman, Phish went back on the road. The fall tour began on the west coast with mail order tickets available for both tapers’

Phish began their fall tour on September 27th in California (see TMIPH September 1995). The band notified fans that they would accept votes by mail for their second Halloween musical costume, renewing their commitment to cover an entire album by another artist at the fans’ behest. Audience excitement was high, as many people vividly recalled

Phish began their 1995 summer tour in Boise, Idaho on June 7, played 2 shows at Colorado’s scenic Red Rocks Amphitheatre, and continued on from there, playing shows in outdoor amphitheatres across the country. Many new tunes had been premiered at Lowell Memorial Auditorium the previous May 15th during a Voters for Choice benefit, and

After trying out a lot of new material at events the previous month (see TMIPH May 1995), Phish began June with practice and preparation for their summer tour. They had been recording their live performances on digital multi-track tape for all of the preceding year and had compiled and mixed their first live album, a

After finishing 1994 with their traditional run of holiday shows, Phish spent the next few months compiling and mixing their first live album, a double CD entitled A Live One, which was released on June 27, 1995. Most of the songs from the band’s upcoming studio album Billy Breathes (see TMIPH October 1996) would not

By the beginning of December, 1994, Phish had completed thirty-seven shows on a tour that began in early October with a transit from Pennsylvania to New York via an extended stay in the south. In November, the marathon continued through the northeast, midwest and west, finishing the month in Washington state. During that time a

Phish began their 1994 fall tour in Pennsylvania and throughout October proceeded through the South and East, culminating with the Halloween celebration in Glens Falls, New York. At the opening show in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on October 7th, the band debuted Guyute and donned acoustic instruments (Fish sported the "female" washboard) for their reworking of the

November was a high point of Phish’s 1994 Fall Tour, which began in October and continued into December. All of the shows were being recorded (multi-tracked) for the forthcoming project “A Live One”. Hoist had been released the previous spring, and the band donned their first Halloween “musical costume” on October 31st, 1994 in Glens

The months preceding April, 1994 were relatively quiet for Phish. After finishing up the Holiday run of shows (see TMIPH December 1993) the band members took some personal time and availed themselves of the chance to play with side projects. Trey and Fish joined friends Jamie Masefield and Stacy Starkweather for Bad Hat performances in

Following the release of Hoist on Elektra records in March, Phish undertook an ambitious tour across the country, which lasted most of spring and summer. The tour featured mail order tickets for tapers at a number of venues (see TMIPH April 1994) and the formation of the concert site cleanup group Green Crew or G-crew