Trey Anastasio Loves His Backpack

What does red headed rock pimp Trey Anastasio do after the breakup of his popular touring act Phish? Something about flying to Atlanta with a backpack, maybe staying in a hotel and walking around the city alone? The man does know how to emphasize a point.

Billboard:
After aborting sessions at his Barn studio with producer Bryce Goggin, he took up with a second producer. Those were ditched too. Backpack in tow, Anastasio headed to Atlanta to work with Brendan O'Brien, who produced some of his favorite albums, like Springsteen's "The Rising."

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Anastasio said the album came together when he met with O'Brien, whose work on Rage Against the Machine's "Evil Empire" and Springsteen's "The Rising" he had admired.
"I had a great conversation with him on the phone, and then I got on the plane with my backpack and went down to Atlanta," O'Brien's home, Anastasio said.

The Hollywood Reporter:
It was very smart of him that he saw a moment that I was kind of in a fragile place. So I hopped on a plane and went down there with my backpack, checked into a hotel and we started working at his house and we made the record.

Fly Magazine:
I felt that when I went down to Atlanta to work on this album. I went alone, just with my backpack, and that was a good feeling because things had gotten very big, so it was nice to just be cut loose and just wander down the street alone.

Monsters and Critics:
That`s why it was great to go down there and work with Brendan. I went down alone, with my backpack. It was such a different feeling because everything had been so big. Big-big-big-big! And then to go down there for two months. I didn`t know anybody. I didn`t really have any friends or anything. I just kind of wandered around and worked on the album.

An AOL chat interview:
ShineOnTrey2005: It was cool to be away from my safety net... I was alone except when at studio
KimInMusic: right on... it's the first solo album since phish ended... what changes have you gone through as an artist since then?
ShineOnTrey2005: so many
KimInMusic: one of the most significant or surprising?
ShineOnTrey2005: it felt exillarating to leave for ATL with just a backpack ... easy to move when your'e alone

The Daily Page (Madison, WI):
so I packed a backpack and went down to Atlanta. I was alone. I didn't know anyone down there. And I'd just been surrounded by people and action for so long that it felt liberating to hop on a plane and park myself in a hotel in a city that I was unfamiliar with and work on music for a couple months

One Way Magazine:
He reflects, "One of the interesting things that made this process easier in a certain way was because I was alone. I went down to Atlanta with a backpack and I was in this hotel there for three months.

C-Ville Weekly:
When I made the new album, I went down to Atlanta to Southern Tracks. I was alone and went with a backpack. Before, we always went with an entourage, and that was very symbolic. I think you can hear it in the album.

Illinois Entertainer:
He continues, "This album, even though it's sort of a pop album, the intent is to talk about that, because of the fact that the center had been broken up, I was able to get on a plane with a backpack alone and go down to Atlanta and start writing music — without the bigness. The ship was getting so big it was getting hard to turn. With opinions and bills to pay and all that stuff."

Associated Press:
As soon as the whole (Phish) thing ends, I hop on a plane with a backpack, alone, just me, and I go down to Brendan's and I make this album in his house, for a lot of it, then we get down to seven tracks, and it felt a lot like what me and Tom (Marshall) used to do.

Albany Times Union (story is now $ but you can view if you Google "timesunion trey backpack" and click the Google cache):
"I need to do this alone," Anastasio said of the recording of "Shine" this spring. "That's why I didn't bring my band. I needed to get on a plane with just a backpack and sit in a hotel room with my guitar. The first thing Brendan said was to sit down and play the songs on the guitar straight."

In summary: Trey, plane, backpack, alone, hotel, Atlanta, Shine. Now back to your regularly scheduled Phish reunion rumors.
category: music_