Phish unveil new album Evolve and announce tour dates, including next week’s sold-out four-show run at the Sphere in Las Vegas.
The title track from their forthcoming new album is available now on all streaming services. Listen here.
Phish will follow the Sphere run with a summer tour getting underway with a three-night stand at Mansfield, MA’s Xfinity Center (July 19-21) and then continuing on with performances at Uncasville, CT’s Mohegan Sun Arena (July 23-24), East Troy, WI’s Alpine Valley Music Theatre (July 26-28), St. Louis, MO’s Chaifetz Arena (July 30-31), Noblesville, IN’s Ruoff Music Center (August 2-4), Grand Rapids, MI’s Van Andel Arena (August 6-7), and Bethel, NY historic Bethel Woods Center for the Arts (August 9-11). The tour will culminate with Phish’s traditional Labor Day Weekend run at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, CO, returning for four nights (August 29-September 1). Limited tickets remain available for most dates.
Evolve arrives via JEMP Records on Friday, July 12.
Cover Painting by Mehdi Ghadyanloo.
This summer will see also Phish hosting Mondegreen, a four-day festival set for August 15-18 at The Woodlands in Dover, DE. The band’s 11th self-produced festival and first in nine years, Mondegreen will see Phish performing over four days and nights, alongside an array of interactive fan experiences, specially curated regional food and drink, art installations, and much more.
For more information, please visit phish.com.
Phish Live 2024
APRIL
18 – Las Vegas, NV – The Sphere (SOLD OUT)
19 – Las Vegas, NV – The Sphere (SOLD OUT)
20 – Las Vegas, NV – The Sphere (SOLD OUT)
21 – Las Vegas, NV – The Sphere (SOLD OUT)
JULY
19 – Mansfield, MA – Xfinity Center
20 – Mansfield, MA – Xfinity Center
21 – Mansfield, MA – Xfinity Center
23 – Uncasville, CT – Mohegan Sun Arena (SOLD OUT)
24 – Uncasville, CT – Mohegan Sun Arena (SOLD OUT)
26 – East Troy, WI – Alpine Music Valley Music Theatre
27 – East Troy, WI – Alpine Music Valley Music Theatre
28 – East Troy, WI – Alpine Music Valley Music Theatre
30 – St. Louis, MO – Chaifetz Arena
31 – St. Louis, MO – Chaifetz Arena
AUGUST
2 – Noblesville, IN – Ruoff Music Center
3 – Noblesville, IN – Ruoff Music Center
4 – Noblesville, IN – Ruoff Music Center
6 – Grand Rapids, MI – Van Andel Arena
7 – Grand Rapids, MI – Van Andel Arena
9 – Bethel, NY – Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
10 – Bethel, NY – Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
11 – Bethel, NY – Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
15 – The Woodlands, Dover, DE – Mondegreen
16 – The Woodlands, Dover, DE – Mondegreen
17 – The Woodlands, Dover, DE – Mondegreen
18 – The Woodlands, Dover, DE – Mondegreen
29 – Commerce City, CO – Dick’s Sporting Goods Park
30 – Commerce City, CO – Dick’s Sporting Goods Park
31 – Commerce City, CO – Dick’s Sporting Goods Park
SEPTEMBER
1 – Commerce City, CO – Dick’s Sporting Goods Park
What does a banana with a humbucker wedged into it really prove about guitar sound?
I recently asked Alexa, the device I pay to spy on me in my home, to play “Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll,” by Blue Öyster Cult. I hadn’t heard the song in ages, but the opening riff sounded so damned rock that my immediate reaction was “That’s exactly how a Marshall should sound!” Then, the algorithm kicked out “Sweet Child o’ Mine,” by Guns N’ Roses, followed by AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell”—both also exactly how a Marshall should sound. Later that day, I pulled out the Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton album, and, indeed, E.C.’s combo sounds exactly how a Marshall should sound. So does Anthony Pirog’s amp on The Messthetics and Five Times Surprise. And since the latter is a Mahavishnu Orchestra tribute, I dropped the needle on Mahavishnu’s live Between Nothingness & Eternity and, well, you know, John McLaughlin’s amp sounds exactly like a Marshall should sound.
As you know, all those players sound remarkably different, as well as remarkable. Which got me thinking about the magical loop we call tone. There is a lot of discussion about how tone is created, and what its essential elements are. But the most important component of tone is our brain. It’s where our concept of good tone is built and nurtured, and where tones that we create or simply hear return for assessment when they are received by our ears. What’s “good” is defined by our cranial concept of good, and so for some an ideal sound is a guitar with its tone dial rolled back, plugged into a dirty Marshall. For others, like, say, Nile Rodgers, it’s a Strat with a clean Hot Rod DeVille.
My point is: Great tone is subjective. And yet, creating it is an objective art. That’s a fascinating intersection, where the real and the unreal unite to become, ideally, larger than life. There are debates about whether wood or pickups are the magical core source of tone, videos about sustain which nearly rise to the ludicrous height of putting a humbucker in a banana, arguments about whether a certain pedal provides the special sauce of guitar godhead, or whether a great amp, or a great modeler, is the key ingredient. (A few days after my orgy of Marshall listening, I strolled into a Wolfmother soundcheck, and the guitar tone was big and badass. But no Marshall. No amp. Guitarist Andrew Stockdale’s road head is a Line 6 HX Stomp.) It’s similar in the acoustic guitar world, where the conversation runs to wood sourcing, bracing, neck joints, strings, attack, and other physical considerations also discussed among electric tone fiends.
“Great tone is subjective. And yet, creating it is an objective art. That’s a fascinating intersection.”
Guitar building is a very important part of that area where the objective and subjective meet. And one of the great aspects of our annual builders’ issue is talking to professionals who stand at that intersection every day. They all approach guitar building with that mix of the objective—there are woods to select, pickups to choose, finishes to evaluate, hardware, body-chambering, fretboard considerations, and more—with the subjective goal of creating a great tone. Some, like the Gretsch Custom Shop’s Chad Henrichsen, work from classic-guitar templates, but their own creative decisions and input from customers—looking for their own ideal tones—inform and impact the end results in myriad ways. Others, like Martin’s Joe Silvius, are specialists, who have devoted their lives to pursuing an aspect of tone creation to its fullest. In Joe’s case, that’s the selection and nurturing of woods. And some, like Carlos Lopez, the founder of Castedosa Guitars, are chasing a deeply personal muse that compels them to do it all, from controlling the saws and routers to winding pickups. What they all have to say is insightful and can help inform our own spirited chase of the perfect sound.
Of course, some will argue that tone is in your fingers and attack, or some other highly personal, idiosyncratic aspect of your physical—and possibly psychological—approach to guitar. Jeff Beck is perhaps the most sainted example of that. But ultimately, tone is a gestalt—a wondrous union of brain and body and wood and wire and strings and (maybe) electricity, and sometimes even weather. It’s why a Marshall, or any other well-made amp, can sound good 100 different ways under the control of 100 different players spanking all kinds of guitars. And why, for most players, tone remains a lifelong quest, brimming with options. After all, tone is everything, and everything is tone.
Mr. Blues Power Jared James Nichols and John Bohlinger take the stage at the Gibson Garage in downtown Nashville to go over JJN's latest Epiphone Les Paul Custom that features a brand-new Seymour Duncan JJN P90 Silencer pickup. The duo talk shop, cover Nichols' other signature Epiphones and trade a few riffs.
Epiphone "Blues Power" Les Paul Custom
The Jared James Nichols “Blues Power” Les Paul Custom is the third signature model from the blues-rock powerhouse and Gibson Brand Ambassador who hails from Les Paul’s hometown of Waukesha, Wisconsin. The Jared James Nichols “Blues Power” Les Paul Custom pairs with the brushed nickel hardware, including Grover Locking Rotomatic tuners and a wraparound Lightning Bar bridge for rock-solid tuning stability. A single Seymour Duncan Jared James Nichols Signature JJN P90 Silencer in the bridge position ensures righteous tone and hum-free performance, and the included EpiLite soft guitar case helps keep this standout guitar safe and secure.
Learn more here.
Seymour Duncan JJN P90 Silencer
Jared James Nichols burst onto the scene as a throwback to the P90 playing power trio titans of the 70s. To deliver his signature sound, he needed a P90 that was voiced with limitless range that could cover everything from sparkling cleans to barking dirty tones. In his own words, he needed something “delicate and strong, like a grizzly bear and a paper airplane landing.”
After years on the road playing different venues coast to coast and abroad, he’s encountered a variety of unique hum inducing sources. Having a pickup that could retain the quintessential tone and appearance of the classic P90 pickup without hum was a must. The JJN P90 Silencer was custom voiced specifically to Jared’s unique tone without the hum. The pickups are drop-in replacements for any standard P90 route.
“Simply put, the Seymour Duncan Jared James Nichols P90 Silencer is my dream pickup.”
Learn more here.