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bio
Five years ago, Phish lyricist Tom
Marshall and his longtime writing partner, Phish front man Trey
Anastasio, got together in Vermont with high school friends Matt Kohut and
Peter Cottone to practice a number of Marshall/Anastasio songs originally
intended for Phish. The band, called Utalk, was to have a small New England
tour to play the new songs. Their first practice failed for various reasons
-� none of which had to do with the quality and urgency of the material. On
their fateful ride home to Central New Jersey, Marshall, Kohut and Cottone
decided the music must be heard, but a different band needed to be
assembled.
AMFIBIAN
was about to be born.
With music in hand, Marshall, Kohut and
Cottone enlisted the talents of three other musicians to form the first
version of AMFIBIAN. Armed with those Anastasio-Marshall songs, along with
several curious covers, such as Tom Petty's "Face in the Crowd," Pink
Floyd's "St. Tropez" and The Band�s "Long Black Veil," AMFIBIAN played five
successful shows before taking a break to record the band�s first album.
Amfibian Tales
was released in April 2000, and the band proceeded to tour the East Coast
from Virginia Beach to Vermont through mid-2001. AMFIBIAN sold out such
prestigious venues as the Wetlands in New York, the Middle East in Boston
and Higher Ground in Winooski, VT, while selling over 3,000 copies of
Amfibian Tales, primarily on the road and through the band�s
website, www.amfibian.com.
Three years later, AMFIBIAN�s second
album is finally here. FROM THE ETHER features an all-new
line-up, anchored by Marshall on lead vocals and his writing partner,
Chris Metaxas, on keyboards along with New Jersey guitar legend
Anthony Krizan, and the rock-solid rhythm section of drummer Joe
Larsen and bassist Bob Kay. Writers Marshall and Metaxas were
lucky to find Krizan, who played with the Spin Doctors and Noel Redding and
is a writing partner of Lenny Kravitz. The new and improved AMFIBIAN has
created an album full of lush vocal harmonies on top of music that
occasionally feels like �Penny Lane� or perhaps something from �Sergeant
Pepper�s.� At times reminiscent of Steely Dan and at others early Pink
Floyd, FROM THE ETHER is never ambiguous about its Beatles
influences. It�s a hard-hitting rock album, peppered with Marshall�s unique
lyrical take on several subjects.
With no promotion, FROM THE ETHER
sold over 500 copies in February 2004, its first month of availability. It
is now sold online through the Phish.com website and through Home
Grown Music Network (www.homegrownmusic.net)
and CD Baby. The healthy early sales are clearly due to Marshall�s close
ties to the Phish community and its insatiable appetite for all things �Phishy.�
It is this same community of �Phish
heads� who supported Marshall and his first incarnation of AMFIBIAN by
selling out several venues that even established bands have trouble booking.
Vermont�s Higher Ground sold 600 tickets to three separate AMFIBIAN visits
in 2000 and 2001, and the venue is already selling tickets online for the
new AMFIBIAN�s April 24, 2004 debut show, which promises to sell out. This
spring, AMFIBIAN will tour the Northeast in support of FROM THE ETHER.
website
www.amfibian.com
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