The Dude of Life & Andy Greenberg Discuss Space Armadillo June 2, 2021 10:41
Interview by Jordan Kirkland: Live & Listen
Here's a brand new project that I cannot wait to watch unfold. I recently learned that longtime Phish lyricist / guitarist Steve Pollak (aka "The Dude of Life") was joining forces with Runaway Gin frontman Andy Greenberg. After digging a little further, I learned that Pollak and Greenberg had called on members of Doom Flamingo to help round out the new band known as Space Armadillo.
As a longtime Phish fan, I've always admired Pollak's lyrical contributions on songs such as "Fluffhead," "Suzy Greenberg," "Run Like an Antelope," "Dinner & A Movie," and "Slave to the Traffic Light." In addition, I've really enjoyed watching Andy's musical career blossom through Phish tribute Runaway Gin over the past decade.
About two weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to hop on a phone call with Steve and Andy to get the full scoop on the new band. You can catch their world premiere at The Charleston Pour House on Saturday, June 12th, and you can read the full transcript of our conversation below.
Andy / Steve: It's a pleasure speaking with you guys today. Let's jump right into it. Space Armadillo. I'd love to hear how this project came to life.
Andy: Steve...you want to take this one?
.
Steve: Andy and I have been friends on Phish tour for years. We're always meeting in different parts of the country and having a great time. More recently, we decided to make some music together and see what happens. It's pretty exciting.
.
Right on. So, this is brand new project for you guys. It will also feature Stu (White) and Ross (Bogan) from Doom Flamingo. Who's going to be playing bass?
.
Andy: This is going to be Steve's buddy, Charlie, and you guys have been playing together for a long time, yeah?
.
Steve: Charlie is my partner in crime, musically. We've been playing together for over 11 years. His full name is Charles de Saint Phalle.
.
You guys obviously have a long history of playing music with different projects over the years. I'm sure it's exciting to start fresh with something brand new. How long has Space Armadillo been in the works? Will you be playing new original material?
.
Andy: I think Steve and I first started talking about this probably about a month ago. Right?
.
Steve: About a month ago, yeah.
.
Andy: Something like that. We were trying to figure out if it was something that we could make happen. Steve lives up in New York, and Charlie is up there as well. Ross, Stu, and I are down here in Charleston, so the big obstacle, initially, was can we get a date that will work for all of us. If we could do that, then we can make this thing go. We were looking at a few dates, and eventually, a date just clicked.
.
It all came together. This was only about a week ago. Since then, we've been getting things rolling. Figuring out exactly what we want to do. We talked before about what type of music we wanted to play. Steve and I had a brainstorming session or two to conceptualize the whole thing. I think that once the gig came into fruition, we've just been getting more and more excited about doing it.
.
I think the original idea was to take a lot of material from Steve's prolific catalog. He's written quite a bit over the years. Ross, Stu, and I are very interested in playing some of that material with Steve. I'm really excited about doing some collaborative stuff. I think we are all musically similar, but there are a lot of different things that we can bring to the table.
.
Ross is a very synthy player, and then Stu is a super funky drummer. Steve is very influenced by The Dead with his original style of writing. I'm not as familiar with Charlie's background, but I know he's a super funky bass player. I think what we're gonna end up creating is something very, very original.
.
It seems like everyone is leaning, at this point, to doing a lot of original material. I'm sure we're going to have some covers as well. I'm super excited about the originals, in particular, because I think it's going to be a very unique sound that doesn't really have a direct precedent.
.
Love hearing all of this, Andy.
.
Steve: The more that we've been thinking about it, the more excited I am about it. I think that the different styles of the musicians are going to parlay into an amazing chemistry. Something brand new. This is the kind of situation where it's fun because we're taking a musical risk, but I've found that the greatest victories often come from taking that risk. It's an exciting undertaking, for sure.
.
I would imagine so. So Steve, I'm familiar with your work with Phish over the years. The first thing that came to mind when I heard "Space Armadillo" was your former band "Space Antelope."
.
Steve: So, the original name of a band that Trey (Anastasio) had in boarding school was Space Antelope. We were students at The Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut. That's where I met Trey. We had this band called Space Antelope. We would play right after dinner. The boys were all dressed in coat and tie. The girls had their dresses on, and usually, there would be a school chaplain talking about rules or morals.
.
One night, we came out and played. The student body was really thrilled to have something other than boring crap going on. We were very popular from the start, even though we weren't that talented. It went over really well. Then, about a week later, another group of kids in our grade who had zero musical talent, billed themselves as Space Armadillo. So when Andy and I were tossing around different band names, I thought, "How awesome would it be if we could turn Space Armadillo into a legendary rock band?"
.
That would be truly incredible.
.
Andy: (laughs) Steve told me this story, and we were going through a bunch of ideas for a band name. As soon as he told me the story, I was just like, "Yes...that's it." Space Armadillo...it's kind of like dogecoin. You know what I mean? Something that starts out almost like a joke or a spoof. We're making fun of this band that was making fun of their band, and now we're going to spin it into something legit, you know? Seems very apropos for the modern age.
.
Steve: And then, after things start taking off, we're going to have armadillocoin instead of dogecoin. It's going to do amazingly well. I would invest right now in armadillocoin.
.
Andy: I have tons already.
.
You'll have to tell me how I can get in early on this.
.
Andy: You can get it on Kucoin right now. It's 0.0000000 cents a coin right now(laughs).
.
Well Steve, you and Trey played together in Space Antelope as teenagers. You went on to help write many of Phish's most popular songs. Tell me a little bit about the other musical projects you've been involved with over your career.
.
Steve: After boarding school, Trey and I both went on to attend University of Vermont. That's where Phish got started. I was making quite a few appearances with them back in the early days. That was just an amazing period of time. From there, I don't even know where to begin. Somehow, that's been about 30 years. I've had many different bands over the years. I continue to work with Trey on Phish material, as well as Trey Anastasio Band material, as well. It's been an ongoing snowball effect. It keeps pickup up steam. Now, I'm busier and having more fun than ever. I'm riding that wave.
.
That's so great to hear. I can only imagine what those early experiences were like as Phish was really taking off to that next level. It goes without saying that many of the songs you wrote have proven to be favorites for countless Phish fans over the years. So, thank you for all of your contributions. The Phish community is such a special thing to be a part of. It does not go unnoticed how much of an impact that you and Tom Marshall have had on all of it since day one.
.
Steve: Thank you, brother. I appreciate that.
.
Andy, you mentioned locking down a gig for Space Armadillo. What can people expect from the band now that things are official?
.
Andy: Well, I think that initially, we're focusing on just this one show. We don't want to put the wagon in front of the horse, you know? I think that right now, from a conceptual standpoint, we're looking at music that is very danceable, but also has a hard edge to it. Really deep, existential lyrics, which Steve is obviously very well known for.
.
Steve: Some of the lyrics might be deep and existential, and some of them might be shallow. So, it will be a combination of the deep with the shallow.
.
Andy: It will be a very schizophrenic lyrical thing...
.
Steve: I wouldn't say it's schizophrenic... (laughs)
.
Andy: (laughs) Ok, sorry...bad word. It's going to be a very broad depth of lyrical content and themes. That wasn't really the question that you asked, but it's something that I've been thinking about a lot. In terms of what we're going to do with the project, we have a team of guys that we're going to be working with. We're really stoked about that. People that can help us develop the business side of the band.
.
We're super interested in playing festivals and additional shows. Each of us plays in multiple other projects, so we're not going to be dropping everything else, by any means. I think, with our other projects, we're going to find places where this will fit in. We'll be able to make magic happen on the road. I think we're about to start collaborating more on the songwriting side of things.
.
We should be laying down some actual tracks that people can hear. Those probably won't be available until a little ways after the gig, but once we get that whole thing rolling, I think this band will really have its own unique personality and flavor. If we're having a good time, I think we're all game to take it out whenever people want to go for a ride.
.
Steve: And Jordan, just to piggyback on what Andy said...
.
Andy: Armadilloback!
.
Steve: (laughs) To armadilloback on what Andy said, (laughs) if you're looking to go out and have a great time, and you're ready to go out, dance your ass off, and have a lot of laughs, you're not going to be disappointed. We're planning on having a great time out there, while simultaneously, creating some great music. That's our goal.
.
I can't think of a much better goal than that, man. Super exciting stuff all around. So, when is this big show announcement coming?
.
Andy: We are going to announce tomorrow (May 20th) that we're playing our first show at The Charleston Pour House on Saturday, June 12th. We're all set up on Facebook and Instagram, so people can follow us there. We'll be working on an official website in the coming months, as well. We're going to have pre-sale codes so we can try and filter the tickets to our inner circle people.
.
We're playing the main stage, inside of the venue. The current capacity is only about 300. It's normally about 500. We want to make sure all of our closest people are able to get in there and attend the first show. It's gonna be fucking cool man. Once that drops, we'll just be digging into the music real hard.
.
Steve: One more thing I want to add. This tour is being billed as "Space Armadillo: First World Tour," and it's one show in South Carolina. We are so economical that we don't have to tour to different states or countries. We're fitting an entire world tour into one single show. That's what's super exciting (laughs).
.
Andy: (laughs) Each song is going to be a different country.
.
Steve: Fasten your seatbelts!
.
Absolutely. This has been an absolute pleasure, guys. As a longtime fan of both of yours, I can't tell you how excited I am to see this thing take off. I know there are many more people who will feel the same way after seeing this announcement.
.
Steve: Thank you, Jordan!
.
Andy: Thanks brother!
.
