Bivouac

Lineup

• Trey Anastasio
• Tom Marshall

Bivouac refers to Trey and Tom Marshall's songwriting partnership, which has resulted in a good deal of Trey's repertoire with all his projects over the past quarter century.

"Jaun"

While taking a semester off from University of Vermont some months after Phish was formed, Trey recorded a four-track demo in his New Jersey basement with longtime friends and musical collaborators Tom Marshall and Marc Daubert, calling themselves Bivouac and naming the session "Jaun". The tracks they recorded together in 1984 include early compositions that became Phish staples such as Slave to the Traffic Light, The Divided Sky and Run Like An Antelope. Trey and Tom's musical relationship dates back to High School, where they would write songs during classes. Following the original four-track "Jaun" session in Trey's basement, the pair continued to work together, reconvening periodically for weekend writing sessions.

"Post-Jaun Years"

As Phish's popularity increased, time between writing songwriting sessions grew longer and Tom would fax lyrics and poetry or leave messages on Trey's answering machine. Often taking bits and pieces of Tom's submissions, Trey used Tom's lyrics as a catalyst for the process of writing music. Their weekend-long writing getaways proved more valuable later in Phish's career as schedules tightened.

"King Cayman Beluga"

The destinations of choice in the mid-90's were island retreats to the British Virgin Islands and other places. These sessions, particulary one called "King Cayman Beluga" yielded much of the material later captured on "Billy Breathes."

"Trampled By Lambs and Pecked By The Dove"

In 1997, inspired by the construction of his own studio built from a 200-year-old barn, Trey and Tom decided they wanted a change of scenery and chose to spend a few weekends in rural Vermont farmhouses. Those sessions, known respectively and collectively as "Pecked By The Dove" and "Trampled By Lambs" occurred on perfect Spring and Autumn weekends. During the last of these sessions, the songwriters witnessed an amazing display of the Northern Lights, captured on the title track of Phish's 2000 release, "Farmhouse". Demos from these sessions were combined to create the CD collection by the same name. (link to "Trampled By Lambs and Pecked By The Dove").

"Men From Nantucket"

Trey and Tom's latest songwriting session brought them back to the isles in 2003 (Nantucket to be exact) - where they recorded much of the material for Phish's final studio effort, "Undermind".