Pink Talking Fish finds the link between 3 disparate bands
Did they just throw darts at the names of a bunch of bands? Did they pick them out of a hat? What made Pink Talking Fish decide to form a band dedicated to the music of Pink Floyd, Talking Heads and Fish … or, rather, Phish?
That’s a question for Eric Gould, bassist and founder of the Boston-based band that headlines the Allegheny Music Festival at Hartwood Acres on Sunday. Gould launched PTF having been a founding member of the LA electronic-jam band Particle,
a staple at festivals like Bonnaroo.
“I ended up in Kansas City,” he says in a phone interview, “and just for fun wound up playing tribute music out there. And I really fell in love with putting songs that I know and care for so much under my fingers, and just doing that made me a better musician and inspired me. It was joyous.
“So, I thought to myself, ‘Hey, if I were
ever to take a few bands that I love and find a connection.’ And so, just for fun, ’cause I’m a setlist geek, I wrote down three of my favorite bands, and it happened to be these three and when I looked at it, I was like, ‘Oh man, I gotta make this happen.’ Now, here we are.”
Pink Talking Fish doesn’t just switch hats during the set, putting the songs in their little boxes. In signature jam band style, they let them flow in and out of each other.
“We take a producer’s mentality to this act,” Gould says, “where we find connections of grooves or emotional connections within song to song, and offer people who love this music something fresh and different.”
So, as a musician deep into the trenches of this music, what connection does he find between the venerable ’60s British prog band, the edgy ’70s NYC New Wave band and the oddball ’80s Grateful Dead disciples from Vermont?
“Phish is a big part of that common thread because they’ve explored the work of Talking Heads and Pink Floyd,” Gould says. “So that’s one piece of it. But the other, taking that out of it, is each of them has a different type of emotion within their music that one might not think is compatible, but it really is.
“You have Pink Floyd’s soulful, melodic pieces that really just hit you in the gut in the best of ways and you’re singing the guitar lines along with the lyrics. Then, you have the Talking Heads music which has these multi-layered rhythms that collectively create this beautiful sound, and it’s driving, danceable, quirky. And then with Phish, it’s such a variety of genres, but you take those classical compositions fused with rock ’n’ roll and you have this incredible palette of
songbooks. And the way things connect, you can take a Phish song like ‘You Enjoy Myself’ and in the middle of it, we find a place for ‘Shine On, You Crazy Diamond’ to come in.”
It goes without saying that pulling that off requires stellar and seamless musicianship, which he gets from guitarist Cal Kehoe, keyboardist Richard James and bassist Zack Burwick.
“It takes a very specific type of musician to be able to embrace what this is: someone who can really honor the tribute end of all these and also have that forward-thinking of what comes next within all the crazy transitions that we do, and also put an original piece of themselves into it,” Gould says.
“The guitar part of this job is probably the most difficult piece to make happen because the guitarist for all three acts are such such immense presences, in all different ways, and Cal is able to feature all three of these within the confines of his sound in such a great way.”
It should be noted that Pink Talking Fish is also happy to occasionally paint outside the lines of the three bands in the name.
“We’ve added some concepts within the concept,” Gould says. “Sometimes we’ll put in some Grateful Dead, some David Bowie. We’ve done Michael Jackson, we’ve done ’90s rock, we’ve done Beastie Boys. All the covers that the other bands have laid on the table, too. You know, Talking Heads did ‘Take Me To The River’ and Phish plays a bunch of covers, so those will find their way in there.”
The final element for Pink Talking Fish — which did its early shows here at The Rex Theater — is attracting fans who are cool with all three bands, or at least two of them. The band gets to observe that in real time during the shows.
“You’ll have Pink Floyd fans who either stand up at their seats or run up front, and then when there’s a Phish song, they’ll slink back a little bit,” Gould notes. “You’ll see that with Talking Heads fans, too, ’cause it’s rare that people get to check out a Talking Heads tribute, so they’re really excited to hear those songs.
“Phish fans generally also love Pink Floyd and Talking Heads, so they’re all good for the entire ride. But I’ve talked to people after the show who were like, ‘Man, I came here to hear Talking Heads music, and I was never into Phish, but you guys kind of opened the door a little bit here. I really loved those songs you played.’ So, that’s a fun aspect of this.”
The show, which begins at 5:30 p.m., also features theCAUSE and Dogs in a Pile. A $20 per vehicle donation is requested to benefit the Allegheny County Department of Human Services; alleghenycounty.us.