Trey Anastasio Band returned to the road this past Friday at the State Theatre in Portland, Maine on a winter Acoustic & Electric tour that will take them coast to coast, eventually ending up at the Fox Theatre in Oakland, California. The performances feature a solo Anastasio acoustic first set which includes members of TAB eventually showing up at the end of the set to lend a hand to the proceedings with their leader/frontman/composer. The second set is a more traditional electric onslaught, and appears to also be an audio and stylistic tour of the various songs throughout the TAB incarnations over the last 12 years dating back to 1999. For additional flavor, the Phish frontman has also been adding choice covers that have either never been played by the septet, or have long been shelved.

Jambands.com caught with TAB keyboardist Ray Paczkowski in Boston before a House of Blues gig later that evening. The Burlington musician has been involved in the majority of the eclectic configurations of Trey Anastasio’s solo projects since 2001, so his vantage point, not only from his keyboard seat, but over the years, is quite valuable. Paczkowski is an intelligent, amiable and humble man who refreshingly tells it like it is, but also appears to show why he has been able to blend various influences from Sun Ra to Beethoven to U2 into his own work. The man is a tireless performer, who actively seeks out gigs to replenish his own stylistic wheelhouse, as well as continue to refine a craft that appears to have no limits in an often challenging improvisational landscape.

RR: Last night, TAB played at Albany’s Palace Theatre. The last time I saw you there was when Trey was gearing back up again with a tour in October 2008.

RP: I like playing at the Palace. For one thing, the sound is really good there, really nice. There’s a big stage, and we’re able to pull back from the front a little bit. We always get a good and energetic crowd there.

RR: Whose idea was it to cover Gorillaz’s “Clint Eastwood” at the Palace?

RP: That came up when we were tossing around some covers. I forget who brought it up. I think Trey was thinking about it, and I think Jen had talked about it with him at some point, and just the name is so cool. (laughs) We played it a few times in New York in rehearsals; it’s a pretty straightforward thing. I don’t have to do anything, really. It’s all vocal work, and Jen grabbed on to the whole rap part.

RR: When I look at the first two setlists of the tour, it appears to be a culmination, a summation, of Trey’s various solo tours from 1999 to the present. You’ve been with Trey since 2001. Does it also appear to be a historical evolution of all of the styles and terrain that have been covered? How do you rehearse for that?

RP: Well, we did that run with just the four piece (in the fall of 2008). That was great because it was sort of getting back to the beginning of the band. We were doing a lot of the original material, and we sort of got that under our belts. Trey has a place where we can work out on the Hudson. This time, we were there for four days, and we put together a song list—stuff goes on; stuff goes off. This particular tour, he started picking out tunes from what I also think of as the “interim band”—between us now and when Russ and Tony left—and see what works, and what doesn’t. There’s a whole slew of material that was in that middle band that we hadn’t really played that much before, even with his own band, actually. I think he’s trying to get more of that out there. There’s some great songs. Over the four days of rehearsals, we touched on classic stuff like “Sand” and thing like that, and put more energy into the newer ‘older’ stuff.

RR: Trey has toyed with the solo acoustic format before, including inserting that sequence into the middle of the first set on past tours. But, on this tour, how does it feel to be sitting there while Trey is out on stage doing solo acoustic numbers, and you don’t get to show up until the end of the set?

RP: It’s different. There’s a lot of waiting around. (laughs)

RR: How does that fit in with being a musician who needs to warm up on stage?

RP: That’s interesting. I was talking about that with Russ [Lawton]. You know, it’s kind of different because, usually, you’d get the first few songs and you’re into it, and by the second set, you’re completely warmed up. It’s different. He wanted to try doing this. I don’t know. You’ve heard it. What do you think? (laughter)

RR: Let’s talk about some of these changes. Speaking of material from those years with that interim band, when you came out on stage last night after the solo acoustic material, you played “Black,” a rarely-played track, which was one of four songs featuring you on 2005’s Shine. It appears like you were only brought into the studio for atmosphere and color on those tracks. What are your memories of that role?

RP: That band was kind of all over the place. Personnel were changing. Trey just had all these songs. I learned them and was playing them, and then when he went into the studio for Shine, basically, I think, Brendan [O’Brien, producer] brought all his own guys in. I said, “Well, if you want me to play, I’ll play.” (laughs) I think it just sort of got out of hand about what the actual band was that was going to do that record.

RR: From another angle, “Money, Love and Change” falls into the classic TAB slot. The band opened the electric set last night with it, and it also opened the live album that was released last year, TAB at the TAB. It’s amazing how that one song has evolved. The song can appear as tight as it can be right now; whereas, in the past, it was a much looser song. When you are playing older songs like that, in your current role, do you think, “Wow, this song has changed a lot over the last 10 years?”

RP: Well, you know, it’s like getting older—you don’t really notice. (laughter)

RR: Oh, but I do notice. I can’t read anything up close anymore. I need bifocals, and that’s a bitch to me. Perception changes; it ain’t so easy. Does that happen musically, as well? Do those changes occur?

RP: I think musically it is more, like…a song like that—those are sort of vehicles to improvise. There’s a song form, and then there’s a whole section where anything can happen. I think when we attack it, it can be anything, really. It’s like there is no “It’s supposed to go this way, or I’m supposed to play the organ, or I’m supposed to play the piano,” or someone is supposed to do this. I mean, there are parts, but, sometimes, we’ll start the song, and it’ll feel a little different, so you go in a different direction. Yeah. I hear what you’re saying, but I’m not sure that I would even notice.

RR: It’s a progressive evolution. It isn’t like you’ve been jerked out of time, and, suddenly, you’re playing a song differently.

RP: Yeah. I think you’ve got it right. It’s an evolved thing. It is what it is now. If we played it for another five years, it would probably sound a lot different.

RR: Indeed. Trey has been your boss for a while, but I do think you have a unique perspective due to your evolving role in the band. When you’re on stage, what are some of the images that come to mind while you’re playing off of him?

RP: When he first asked me, I didn’t know anything about this touring band, and I didn’t really know that much about Phish. When I play music, I try to listen to everyone and see how I can fit in, so I just started doing that. Boy, that’s a tough question.

RR: How important was it for you that you didn’t know about Phish back then?

RP: I think for Trey that was something that he wanted. He wanted to somehow get away from that. He’ll always be saying in rehearsal, “Don’t play it like Page,” or he’ll tell Russ, “Don’t do what Fishman does; just do it your own way.” Of course (laughs), then he’ll say, “Jon Fishman does it this way, and he has this thing…” (laughter) Actually, as a guy, he’s kind of like that. It’s really refreshing in a way. He’s trying to get at a sound that he hears in his head, and he’ll use whatever and try in different ways to try to elicit that from the band, and I think sometimes it really works. He’s always told me, “Just play; do whatever you want. Make the choices, invent—”

RR: Did you say ‘Actually, as a guide’, or ‘Actually, as a guy’?

RP: As a guy, but I guess he is a guide. It’s funny. When I was first starting to work for him, I was thinking, “O.K., this is my boss.” I didn’t really know him, but over the years of playing, we’ve become good friends, so now, I feel much more confident, and I am just going to play what I’m going to play and make those choices and try to get something going.

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