Mike Gordon

Vocation

American musician; bassist Mike Gordon is one of the four founders of the popular band Phish, named after another member, John Fishman. After a two-year break, in which Gordon directed the movie, "Rising Low" about 25 bass players, the band reunited in February 2003 for a tour. Gordon and three of his musical friends founded the band on October 30, 1983 while they were in college at the University of Vermont, from which Gordon earned a degree in filmmaking. Their sound is described by "Contemporary Musicians" as "a distinctive fusion of rock, jazz, funk, bluegrass, boogie, and even vacuum cleaner noises." Gordon sings, writes songs, and plays the drums and keyboard along with the bass guitar. For the first five years after the band’s inception, the group played in clubs and small theatres, releasing their first album "Junta" in 1988. They signed with the Electra record label in 1992 and produced several additional albums. Within ten years of its birth, the band was earning more than $5 million annually in concert ticket sales. In 1994, to the chagrin of some fans, who accused them of selling out, they put out a music video for MTV, but they prefer to work before a live audience, where they can interact with their fans and invite participation in the concert. Gordon grew up in Sudbury, and his father Robert is the founder of Store 24, where Mike worked as a teen. He made his first movie prototype when he was nine and played in a band in his teens. He attributes his creativity to his mother, a painter, who placed great emphasis in the family on being creative. The last Phish concert was in Coventry, VT mid-August 2004. Link to Wikipedia biography