Nature & Animals Quote by Mike Gordon

There is a disarmingly casual intimacy in "Fish and I have been hooking up more" that lands like backstage candor, then quickly reframes itself as something more technical and hard-won. Mike Gordon is talking about rhythmic chemistry, but he chooses a phrase that carries social heat before steering it back toward the work. That little swerve matters: it signals how personal the bass-drum relationship really is in a band like Phish, where groove isn’t a fixed grid so much as a live negotiation.

The intent is generous and slightly self-exposing. Gordon doesn’t posture as the steady anchor; he admits "a struggle" to keep up with a drummer "so creative". Subtext: creativity in a rhythm section can be both gift and threat. A drummer who refuses autopilot can make a bassist feel either newly alive or quietly inadequate. By saying "lately it's been really good", Gordon hints at a recent recalibration - not just better playing, but better listening, better trust.

"Especially during sound checks" is the tell. Soundcheck is the private lab: low stakes, no audience mythology, just musicians testing ideas and each other. Naming it suggests that whatever improved didn’t arrive via grand stage epiphany; it came from repetition, from mundane minutes where ego can soften and experiments can fail safely. Culturally, it’s a reminder that even legendary live bands aren’t powered by mysticism. They’re powered by two people learning, again and again, how to meet in time.