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Trey Anastasio, born September 30, 1964, is an American guitarist, composer and vocalist most noted for his work with the jam band, Phish, between 1983 and 2004. Among music critics and historians, Anastasio is considered to be one of the most accomplished guitarists and composers alive today, rated as number 73 on Rolling Stone's List of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.

Life

Trey Anastasio was born in Fort Worth, Texas, but moved with his family to New Jersey at a young age. He began playing the drums as a youth, turning to guitar while a teenager. He attended Princeton Day School for junior high school, where he began to write music with some of his classmates. Some of these songs (e.g. "Guelah Papyrus" and "Runaway Jim") would find their ways into the Phish repertoire, and many other Anastasio compositions refer to these early experiences. For senior high school, Anastasio attended Taft Preparatory, where he founded his first two bands, Red Tide and Space Antelope, respectively.

After Anastasio completed high school, he enrolled in the University of Vermont, attending from fall of 1983 to spring of 1986. It was here that he met Jon Fishman, Mike Gordon, and Jeff Holdsworth, who founded Phish in 1983 (though Jeff Holdsworth dropped out). Through the University of Vermont, Anastasio also began a lifelong association with composer Ernie Stires, who taught him techniques for composition and arranging. While at the University of Vermont, Anastasio hosted an early morning radio program, Ambient Alarm Clock.

Anastasio was eventually suspended from college for an entire semester after he broke into the science building and stole a human hand and a goat's heart. During his suspension, Anastasio traveled through Europe with friends before returning to Vermont to continue work with Phish. After meeting pianist Page McConnell, who soon joined Phish, Anastasio attended Goddard College from fall of 1986 to spring of 1988. While at Goddard, Anastasio assembled the song cycle The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday as his senior thesis. These songs would also become mainstays of the Phish catalog. Anastasio graduated from Goddard College in 1988 with a major in philosophy.

Anastasio married Susan Eliza Stateser on August 13th, 1994. He now has two daughters, Eliza Jean and Isabella. The family resides in Essex Junction, Vermont. He also had a dog, Marley, but she has since deceased.

Projects

Both before and after the dissolution of Phish in August of 2004, Anastasio has fronted and participated in a variety of different ensembles, including:

• Bad Hat in 1994, which included fellow Vermonter Jamie Masefield on mandolin, played jazz for a few months. They billed themselves as "the quietest band around."
• Surrender To The Air in 1995 and 1996 was also jazz-oriented, but a much more loose, "colorful exploration" of sound. The group was very experimental, including long sections of improvisation all connected by segments conducted by Anastasio. The group released a self-titled album in March of 1996. It featured several members of the late Sun Ra's big band, the Arkestra, which was (among other modes) an archetypical free jazz ensemble.
• New York! in 1997 was one performance with Anastasio, Mike Gordon of Phish, James Harvey, and a local punk band. Several Phish songs were debuted by New York!, including "Dirt" and "Saw It Again".
• Eight Foot Flourescent Tubes in 1998 was a local band in Vermont fronted by Anastasio on April 17 of that year. The band debuted a number of songs heard in Anastasio's live performances today, including "First Tube", "Last Tube", and "Mozambique."
• The Trio in 1999 was an evolution of Eight Foot Flourescent Tubes. Anastasio's first solo tour was with The Trio, which included himself, Russ Lawton, and Tony Markellis.
• Vermont Youth Orchestra was conducted by Trey on an number of occasions from the year 2000 until today. Trey's attraction to complex compositions was apparent on his 2004 release, Seis De Mayo, which included some of his work with the Vermont Youth Orchestra, as well as other, smaller ensembles.
• The Sextet in 2000 was an evolution of The Trio with three horns added to the band. Some of the music originally performed by The Sextet was later seen on his 2002 release, Trey Anastasio.
• Oysterhead in 2000 was a trio which included Primus bassist Les Claypool and The Police percussionist, Stewart Copeland. The "supergroup", as it was called, released an album in 2001 named The Grand Pecking Order.
• The Octet in 2001 was an evolved version of The Sextet, which added keyboards, a tenor saxophone, and a flute.
• The Dectet in 2002 through 2004 explored complex arrangements and changes of some songs included on Trey Anastasio, and was an evolved version of The Octet, now a ten-piece band.
• 70 Volt Parade is Anastasio's current project, which is more of a stereotypical-form rock band than The Trio, The Sextet, The Octet, and The Dectet. Only six members are included, two of which are backup vocalists. 70 Volt Parade was formed in early 2005, and has continued since then.

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