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Trey Anastasio, Guitarist, vocals, everything else

Trey Anastasio

   This is the part of the page about Trey, the guitarist of Phish. In my mind, he is the mirror image of his "father"... Jerry Garcia himself. For all of those who have been in a cave for the past 30 years, with their eyes shut and thier fingers in their ears, Jerry is the guitarist of the Grateful Dead, who revolutionized the way we look at guitar playing.



   Born Ernest Guiseppie Anastasio III, Trey was born in Fort Worth, Texas on September 30, 1964. He was raised by father Ernest Anastasio Jr., and by mother Diane Anastasio. His mother wrote books for youthful audiences, and hit it big when she coedited the Sesame Street Magazine. Trey's father is the Executive V.P. of the E.T.S. (Educational Testing Services) in New Jersey.

Trey has enjoyed the many aspects of his life. Beyond music, which we all now know he is good at, he has played many sports, and has been good at school. This is Trey, singing in front of his school mates, parents, and others at Princeton Day School, performing Gilbert adn Sullivan's Ruddigore.

   This is one of the many talents that Trey has been given. He has always taken an interest in music, playing drums as a kid into High School, along with singing, playing the piano, and picking up the guitar after later in High school. "Picking up the guitar seemed like the most natural thing in the world... it was only a matter of teaching my fingers to move." When he finally did take up the guitar, he had to go through a series of different lessons by various teachers to master the arts of the guitar. "I took a couple of classical guitar lessons from a guy in Princeton... I also took a few lessons from Paul Asbell in Burlington." (after he took up the electric guitar)

   This next excerpt, for the "Phish Book," completely cover's Trey's determination as a band member, going over his junior experiences, and his recent ones:

      Trey: "When I was twelve, I played right wing on the Lawrence junior hockey team. My dad was our coach, he took it very seriously, and almost carried us to the nationals. It was frustrating at time because he expected a lot from me. He was in that awkward position of coaching his son but not wanting to show favoritism, so he had to be extra hard on me. My mother is very creative and non-traditional... I've learned a lot from each of them. I picked up my organizational skills and so-called leadership qualites from my father. I used to plan all our band practiced days in advance and model them on hockey practice. I knew if we didn't have an agenda, our tendency would be to drink beers, smoke a joint, and sit around noodling and flipping channels for hours. Instead, rehearsal became both focused and loose--which epitomizes Phish to a certain degree. The band is greater than the sum of its parts because we've always worked hard at maximizing our talents."

   After going to the Taft School, Trey went to UVM in 1983. Phish's formation "became" only weeks after his enrollment. However, the band's progress was put on hiatus due to trey's suspension for a whole semester. This was due to "stealing body parts from the UVM laboratory as a part of a practical joke"(Pharmer's Almanac). However, when Trey was not playing in his newly formed band, he hosted a radio show called the "Ambient Alarm Clock," an early morning campus-funded radio show. When he was suspended, Trey created a four-track album called "Bivouac Jaun," which also hosted Marc Daubert and Tom Marshall (who presently helps write lyrics for Phish). Nonetheless, Trey returned to UVM, until he transfered to Goddard in 1986. A year after transfer, the band recorded "The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday," which ultimately became Trey's senior thesis the following spring in 1988. Still today, Trey has been known to improvise with not only his guitar, but also the drums. When he was young, Trey used to play drums, but then switched to guitar. However, Trey has played them live before.