Phish fans taking break-up news hard

Phish, the enormously popular jam band that experimented with myriad musical genres and whose legions of dedicated fans made it a younger version of The Grateful Dead, is breaking up.

The surprise announcement came Tuesday as the band prepared to release a new album, “Undermind,” on June 15. It will still embark on a summer tour June 17 at Coney Island.

“Last Friday night, I got together with Mike, Page and Fish to talk openly about the strong feelings I’ve been having that Phish has run its course and that we should end it now while it’s still on a high note,” band leader Trey Anastasio wrote on www.phish.com.

“We all love and respect Phish and the Phish audience far too much to stand by and allow it to drag on beyond the point of vibrancy and health.”

In Phish-land, the news hit hard.

Dean Budnick, senior editor of the music magazine Relix and editor of jambands.com, said he had gotten about 100 e-mails in two hours “just expressing grief on some level.”

“There’s a lot of kids out there who are so excited about having that adventure with this band who feel very stymied,” he said.

The quartet, which includes Anastasio, Jon Fishman, Mike Gordon and Page McConnell, was formed in 1983 and became known for marathon performances and long, experimental jams that melded every type of music, from bluegrass to electronica.

Some shows drew up to 80,000 fans, and for many of them, the band became the center of their universe. Much like the “Dead-heads” who worshipped The Grateful Dead, many fans — known as “Phish-heads”— would follow the band from show to show. Phish’s encouragement of taping its concerts also endeared the group to audiences.

Peter Shapiro, executive producer of the Jammy Awards, which celebrates the jam band music scene, said the band struck a chord with people who appreciated its experimental nature.

“I think in a time when so much of music is about a four-and-half minute songs, a radio single, a video, and a choreographed concert, people found it really refreshing to have a band that would play different songs every night of the tour, that would release albums without a radio single on it,” he said.

Phish went on a two-year hiatus in 2000 while members pursued solo projects, but returned with a show at New York City’s Madison Square Garden on New Year’s Eve 2002.

Anastasio called the break an attempt by band members to revitalize themselves, but said that was no longer an option.

“We don’t want to become caricatures of ourselves, or worse yet, a nostalgia act,” he said. “By the end of the meeting, we realized that after almost 21 years together we were faced with the opportunity to graciously step away in unison, as a group, united in our friendship and our feelings of gratitude.”