Mike Gordon

Wheels Off with Rhett Miller

Rhett Miller

Music, Performing Arts, Arts

4.9 • 609 Ratings

🗓️ 19 September 2023

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Mike Gordon, bassist and co-founder of the seminal improvisational rock band Phish, joins Rhett to talk about his solo album Flying Games and the long, adventurous process of finishing the record. Mike and Rhett discuss grappling with creative roadblocks, what the “Ten-Thousand-Hour” rule really means, and the role that mindfulness and meditation play in songwriting. Mike reflects on the early days of Phish and explains how he transfers the creative flow he feels while performing with the band to other projects. It’s a jam-packed episode full of great stories and useful insight on the songwriting process and living a creative life. Flying Games is Gordon's sixth solo album. It was self-produced and recorded by longtime collaborator Jared Slomoff, and mixed by GRAMMY® Award-winning engineer Shawn Everett (Alabama Shakes, The War on Drugs). You can buy or stream it here. Mike Gordon website Follow Mike Gordon on IG @mike_gordon Rhett Miller website Follow Rhett on IG @rhettmiller Wheels Off is hosted and produced by Rhett Miller. Executive producer is Kirsten Cluthe. Editing by Matt Dwyer. Music by OLD 97’s. Episode artwork by Mark Dowd. Show logo by Tim Skirven. Distributed in partnership with Osiris Media. This podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also ask Alexa to play it. Revisit previous episodes of Wheels Off with guests Rosanne Cash, Rob Thomas, Jeff Tweedy, The Milk Carton Kids, and more. If you like what you hear, please leave us a rating or review. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	O'SIRUS
0:02.0	Welcome to Wheels Off, a show about the messy reality of the creative life.
0:08.0	I'm Rhett Miller.
0:10.0	That's when it got wheels off.
0:13.0	He started ugly ain't gonna stop.
0:16.0	Oh, she made me feel like a good God.
0:19.0	That's when it got wheels off. Mike Gordon plays bass in the band Fish.
0:26.6	You may have heard of them.
0:28.6	He also makes solo records.
0:30.6	He also makes movies and videos.
0:33.6	He is a Renaissance man in many ways.
0:46.0	He joins me from his home in Vermont, and it is a scatter chute of a conversation.
1:00.7	It's fantastically disjointed and super interesting. I think you're going to love it. I was very happy to listen to him jump from idea to idea. He has an overactive mind, and I mean that in the best way. This does run a little long. He and I go on tangents. So, I mean, mostly him,
1:18.3	in fairness. But once again, it's a great thing. That's what this is all about, you know,
1:24.4	digging into people's brains, people's creative philosophy. And I think he does a
1:31.5	great job articulating his. So, whether you're a fish fan or not, whether you are a musician or not,
1:40.6	I do think you're going to get a lot out of this conversation. Please welcome to
1:45.1	Wheels Off, the great Mike Gordon. Welcome to Wheels Off, Mike Gordon. Thank you so much for joining me.
1:52.2	Thanks for having me. For the edification of our listeners, from where are you logging in?
1:58.1	I'm logging in from the northern part of Vermont, north of Burlington, Vermont.
2:03.9	But still on Lake Champlain? Right on Lake Champlain. I'm looking at it. I could almost touch it.
2:09.8	My friend Ryan Miller, former guest of Wheels-off, said that it was snowing there today.
	...

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