Phish Caricature

Phish Caricature, illustrated here in September, 1990. With Page McConnell age 27, Jon Fishman age 25, Mike Gordon age 25 and Trey Anastasio age 26.

Phish is an American rock band that formed in Burlington, Vermont, in 1983. The band is known for musical improvisation, extended jams, blending of genres, and a dedicated fan base.
The origin of the band’s name is given as a variation on phshhhh, an onomatopoeia of the sound of a brush on a snare drum or a jet plane taking off; also the nickname of Jon Fishman (FISH).

The driving force behind Phish is the popularity of their concerts and the fan culture surrounding the event. Each a production unto itself, the band is known to consistently change set lists and details, as well as the addition of their own antics to ensure that no two shows are ever the same.
Several regularly performed songs in Phish’s repertoire have never appeared on one of their studio albums; these include “Possum”, “Mike’s Song”, “I Am Hydrogen”, “Weekapaug Groove”, “Harry Hood”, “Runaway Jim”, “Suzy Greenberg”, “AC/DC Bag” and “The Lizards”, all of which date to 1990 or earlier and have been played by Phish over 300 times in concert.

On September 20, 1990 during the first night of a two-night Lawn Boy release party at the Somerville Theater in Massachusetts, Jon Fishman officially renounced the name Henrietta, which he had been introduced as since April 21, 1990, and officially changed his name to Zero Man – “a step into the future.” Zero Man, also called “Red Doughnut Man” by Trey during I Didn’t Know on September 14 and “Captain Zero” on October 12, appears to be a super hero, as evidenced by the tight spandex suit and cape:
Zero Man’s powers include super-human musical abilities in the realms of drumming, trombone, vacuum cleaner, screaming/singing, and forgetting song lyrics. While it’s not clear when he stopped wearing the suit, among circulating recordings, the last time in 1990 (and possibly ever) that Fish is introduced as Zero Man is during I Didn’t Know on November 2; for the rest of the year, he is introduced primarily as “The Hardest Working Man in Show Business, Henrietta,” and sometimes just “The Hardest Man in Show Business.”
The Zero Man suit debuted, along with many new songs and the first secret language, on September 13, 1990.

Phish invented musical Secret Language, which they debuted during the jam of “The Possum” that ended their first set at the celebratory September 13, 1990 show at The Wetlands in New York City.

Unlike later on in their career, in 1990, Phish never explained Secret Language to the crowd, they just started doing it. Here’s how it worked: one band member, usually Trey, played the “Charlie Chan signal,” which clued the band in to listen for a secret language signal that was about to happen, which would then indicate the band would all do something unique in the middle of a jam.

The “Charlie Chan signal”, immediately followed by the “Popeye signal,” which tells the band to play an “ambient b#”. Or the “Oom Pa Pa” signal, after which the band plays a noticeable waltz riff. The band has over 20 Musical Language signals.

Phish has recorded 15 studio albums.

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