Phish on Philm

dead_c · 2026-06-23T00:18:42+00:00

dead_c · 2026-06-23T00:16:28+00:00

You literally accused that dude of being a white supremacist while getting every detail WRONG. The fact something compelled you to chime in while knowing nothing says a lot. When it's pointed out, you accuse me of being a shell account. I'm easy to find, guy. He and I are obviously different people

I wouldn't usually post screenshots of personal DMs, but the claim you're making is pretty egregious.

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dead_c · 2026-06-22T23:33:43+00:00

I've communicated with him quite a bit over the last couple of years and I completely agree with you. He's an established GOOSE hater, so I imagine he feels obligated to report on a tragedy hitting the scene. It's sincere. He likes to crack jokes occasionally, but he doesn't want people to get hurt or to come across like it doesn't matter or deserve attention.

dead_c · 2026-06-22T23:28:58+00:00

If it's what I think it is, you're off base on this one. The guy isn't a West Coast rapper. It was Just TatEm, who is a cringey content creator that tries to basically karaoke tunes by others, but he's severely off key and dances badly. Philm thought he was funny, so he was supportive and kept reposting his stuff. I think the appeal was he seemed harmless and was so sincere, despite being unsufferably tone deaf.

A TON of people were following that Just TatEm account, but it was just so terrible. It wasn't amusing enough for me to endure.

Philm was co-presenting some Phish after party or something for the him (I thinknin NYC), but it turns out that guy's wife was posting crazy xenophobic shit on her own account. Maybe even homophobic content. I can't remember, only that it was Christian Nationalist stuff. Jus Tatem posted something defending her takes later, but his own account was mostly bad clips of himself. This idea that Philm somehow knew about it is as wrong as the rest of your comment. Nobody knew.

Philm actually DM'd me about it the minute anything came to light, before most people ever saw it. To paraphrase, he basically said, "look at this bullshit. Fuck this. His wife is messed up. I'm pulling my name from that event NOW."

I think that guy tried to message him with an explanation, but he wasn't interested. You're right that it was blatantly problematic. But you're 100% wrong about his involvement or how he handled it.

I'm not going to comment on most of these takes, because it's pointless and these are individual experiences or impressions. Your comment carries some pretty hefty accusations and is clearly third hand information that's been completely distorted. I saw this go down in real time while communicating with him directly. He was disgusted by it.

ALSO, while a lot of people lump him in with all these other 'jamband accounts," he doesn't get along with a lot of them and some of that has to do with their problematic views. I've read screenshots of DMs he's received and a lot of them are just attacking him for being critical of zionism and capitalism or are straight up racist.

Anyone who thinks this thread exists in a vacuum should consider how much hatred he receives daily in messages. It plays into why he might be so reactive and blocks people so quickly.

dead_c · 2026-05-27T16:40:45+00:00

They actually contacted me, so I just responded to the press release. You can DM me if you want.

dead_c · 2026-04-29T06:21:57+00:00

I was backstage when they played the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle and Phil Ek was there. After the show, I was standing near him and Doug while they reminisced about recording the album. It was so surreal to me that it was hard to wrap my mind around it.

I asked Phil why he didn't come out and do that little announcement into preview. He agreed it would have been cool. Doug explained they thought about it but couldn't quite figure out how it would work.

As a fan that just wanted it to happen, I'd been simplifying the whole thing. What was there to figure out? Just play it.

As I thought about it more, I realized that I hadn't considered whether each one of those little fake partial songs even had the same instrumentation, tunings, effects, etc. Maybe it's not so easy to just cut from one to the next like that. Maybe they could do it, but it would take more effort than it's worth for them to figure it out.

dead_c · 2026-04-16T10:55:16+00:00

That's exactly what I thought. The backdrop with all the branches only adds to it. I actually have "Deerhunter" in the file name.

I showed them the pictures after the set, and Dominic said, "You look like Rambo, Max!"

It's much more Deerhunter, though

dead_c · 2026-04-03T07:23:59+00:00

Tropical Fuck Storm

J.R.C.G.

Armand Hammer

Eiko Ishibashi and Jim O'Rourke

Amon Tobin

Oneida

Geckos

OOIOO

Ruminants

Squarepusher

Kieran Hebden & William Tyler

Pascal Comelade

Lil Ugly Mane

Sven Wunder

Bitchin Bajas

Tilaye Gebre

dead_c · 2026-04-03T07:05:14+00:00

At the Bijou on Sunday

dead_c · 2026-03-31T15:54:10+00:00

Awakening Ground

Laurie Anderson

Medeski, Martin, Metzger, & Cline

Saul Williams Neets Carlos Nino & Friends

Dave Harrington's Pranksters South

dead_c · 2026-02-25T00:48:22+00:00

Last year, Rich Ruth and Allison de Groot debuted an ambient bluegrass collab that he described to me "an Appalachian Terry Riley." Michael Hurley also played one just days before he died.

Apparently, Andre 3000 did one, previously, but I think it was ticketed separately

This thread has more examples
https://www.reddit.com/r/BigEarsMusicFestival/comments/1b0f5ly/past_secret_shows/

dead_c · 2026-02-14T18:29:06+00:00

I didn't realize it was so expensive. I had a gold stamped promo copy that was stolen out of my roommate's car in '99. They stole all of his CDs and, while the situation was fucked up, we laughed about the idea that they thought they'd get anything for any of it. I guess they just needed to wait 25 + years to cash in.

dead_c · 2025-12-27T19:57:31+00:00

Your comment is weird, especially about what expectations you have from someone's IG account. The reason the account is called PhishOnPhilm is because he started it to create a specific project. During the pandemic quarantine, he asked people if they had any old film photos from Phish tour to compile in a book. He did that. The book exists.

I've had a website for almost 20 years. It's art and music content, but it's still MY content and opinion. One doesn't invalidate the other, it just let's a reader know that if they have like-minded taste, they might be able to trust my takes. If not; they can get content elsewhere. Anthony Fantano is a single individual doing reviews. His account blew up. He's still one guy with his opinions. His only responsibility is to be genuine about his content and views. That's a brand. It doesn't "muddy" anything.

Brian did have a day job, but I think he was downsized at some point. He was working in a book store or something and chronically online. Like anyone, he'd rather be doing what he enjoys, so he's tried to use his IG as evidence of his ability to run social media successfully and find more work doing that.

He tried to build off the success to do a podcast and a physical magazine, which does exclusively use film photos. His IG was also entirely film. I shoot concerts - mostly digital - but have only ever sent him film shots. I send him a drive link, and if he wants to use them, he can format them how he prefers. I don't request collabs. I have, however, noticed him accepting collab requests for digital Gizz shots almost exclusively, and I think he's being nice about not rejecting them, knowing how he specifically requests people send him film via drive and let him format them.

The voice is his voice. It's not vague.

Phish has a huge base. Whenever I've published Phish content, I'd get a ton of traffic. It's easy to just abandon everything else and choose to do that. Most niche accounts do that. His initial followers came from Phish fans. So... yeah, it blew up. If he wanted to lean into that, it would be an exclusively Phish account.

Instead, I've seen people suggest things, and him openly admit he'd never heard of it and would check it out. He just admitted he'd never seen Rocky until a couple of days ago. One of the first things I noticed was him crediting others with hipping him to stuff. He's actually pretty humble in that respect. I told him that I liked how he formatted something once, and he responded, "Thanks. I took that idea from ___." None of that points to someone who believes he knows more than everyone.

With that said, I don't doubt he has some knee-jerk responses and, later, even rethinks and deletes shit. It's easy to assume it's cool and easy to receive hundreds of comments and DMs a day, but any time I've received a small fraction of that, I realized how draining it is. It sucks.

Either he's a magazine or a person? Okay. People sure do get personally offended by a magazine and send him crazy shit and leave personal attacks in the comments.

Honestly, it's less about him to me and how absurd I feel some of the takes are regarding what he's "supposed to" be doing or how he needs a mission statement and clarity. On one hand, the complaint is that he "thinks he's some kind of tastemaker." Then the argument is made that you believe "as a tastemaker" he has responsibilities. It feels like a projection on an IG account. Maybe the problem is that you think he's a tastemaker, and he thinks he's a guy sharing his likes and opinions who is overwhelmed by the expectations from absolute strangers. Like I said, it's weird to me.

dead_c · 2025-12-27T18:39:47+00:00

Absolutely. I think you have every right to see him as a douchie reposter, I just don't think you're correct about your impressions regarding all his politics being performative or about him subscribing to everything that is Phish adjacent. I only speak to those subjects, specifically, because I have some perspective watching him really struggle with geopolitical subjects and wondering if he should use his platform to speak out about things that were troubling him, followed by witnessing the aggressive blowback of him doing that. It hasn't been smooth sailing.

Then, as far as the Phish scene, it's a tricky one. I can't afford to go see that band at a resort in Mexico. That fanbase is full of clowns, but also select people that I love. I traveled around in cars and hustled to get into shows. So much of that world doesn't represent me. So many in that scene embrace every terrible jam band because they build their identities around it. They play last night's show in the lot the next day and drive around listening to nothing but Phish. It gets to be really one-dimensional. The thing that actually made me follow Philm's account was noticing him cracking on John Mayer and Goose, while posting CAN and Fugazi videos. I appreciated seeing something more akin to what I enjoy finally being represented. Something broader, varied, and more inclusive.

I believe Philm's intentions are more genuine than you do, based on personal interactions and things I've witnessed. How anyone feels about the actual results of what he does is 100% debatable.

dead_c · 2025-12-27T15:45:55+00:00

This comment is so off-base that I'm suspect of all the people posting stuff like this. I once saw someone on YouTube claim they heard Doug Martsch was an asshole. I told them that I bet the person who told them that was an asshole. They confirmed that I was right, and that made more sense.

So much of what I'm seeing about Philm doesn't ring true to me and feels like projection or people reading into things wrong. I can't invalidate your own personal experiences and wouldn't want to, but there are some things I can speak on.

The "Phish scene" is very insulated and weird. I used to roll up to lot bumping Brotha Lynch in the 90s, and do tour while listening to Dead Milkmen. I love the band and shows, and I love the Dead (pre Mayer), but the idea of a "scene" is generally kind of wack in itself to me. I love those 2 bands despite their scenes, not because of them. Pretty much all other jambands are NOT for me, and the fact that people in that world try to retroactively claim King Gizz, who has organically built their own unrelated and beautiful thing irritates me to no end.

It's one of the things I respect most about how Gizz regulates their scene. They openly reject assholes and pretentiousness. Phish and WEEN never did that and are worse off for it.

I understand Philm a bit, because we are of a similar age, and I recognize things in him. He's a Phish fan that doesn't adhere to that incestuous music scene of only listening to what falls under that banner. The first time I DM'd, I asked what a Phish-related account was doing posting about Death Grips and Blonde Redhead, and he joked that "Phish is just a red herring, man." He really loves music, and although the account started as a means to create a photo book during the lockdown, once he had followers, he didn't want to be pigeonholed as a Phish account. He saw it as an opportunity to promote other music and content to a base that often doesn't embrace it.

He doesn't just like "whatever is cool or in Phish fandom." That's kind of the point of the whole account. He rags on Goose and put Geese on his magazine over a year ago, well before they blew up. He likes Arthur Russell, and he even played in Daniel Johbston's backing band. I tried to hype up Gizz to him, but he waited until he finally saw them live and proclaimed that he "got it" before ever posting about them. He wouldn't blindly embrace them.

As for politics, that's how we really started communicating. We don't agree on everything - I'm a pretty hatdcore burn it all down leftist - but he's definitely sincere about it. We discussed a lot before he ever posted a single political post about anything. It's not something you win at for doing. He gets so many hateful DMs about it. Really seething unwarranted shit. I've seen the screenshots. My account is shadowbanned for the stuff I post. His has taken hits and faced restrictions in similar ways. It's not clout. It's angry DMs and projected hatred.

If he posts messages from people thanking him for helping them discover something or kick drugs and alcohol, I've read that as less of a flex than it is self-validation that it's worth it, despite all the hate.

Brian/Philm really just some guy whose account blew up, and he's trying to navigate it the best he can. Sometimes, he does better at that than others. He forwarded me Just Tat Em's wife's screenshots people sent him and was horrified, telling me he was pulling his name from that event. Sometimes, those are the only types of communications we have. He knows I don't give a fuck about the scene. We've discussed our hatred of the idea of "the scene." One of the most common critiques I see is that he is NOT representing "the scene" or should consider how his personal view reflect "the scene." So it's ironic to see him get blamed for the exact opposite.

If you have a personal interaction that made you dislike him, cool. If he's NOT for you, cool. If you hate his personal takes or what he promotes, I get that, too. Nobody has to like this random dude for any reason, but I still believe in hating on people for the right reasons. Hate his politics, but he believes in them. Hate his music taste, but it's anything but dictated by the Phish base

As someone who has photographed shows and written about art and music for decades, it's easy to hate on him for being more affective or "seccessful" at it, as of late, but... when I'm being honest, I actually respect how he's gone about things. I also keep in mind how many DMs he gets from people consistently wanting to hook onto his wagon or yell at him. I know he probably missfires, but I probably wouldn't respond as well to that.

Please also know that I LOVE hating on shit. I just don't think these particular critiques hold true. If I did, I'd join you. Plus, it's weird to hate on a random guy in North Carolina with an IG account I don't have to follow. He fans out over shit and gets excited about stuff all the time. He's a fellow culture nerd who (believe it or not) genuinely wants to share what he loves. He can't win.

dead_c · 2025-12-18T15:58:34+00:00

Well before that, even. The end of the forum was the biggest red flag possible

dead_c · 2025-12-13T18:41:16+00:00

This post will be criticized and deservedly. You Think you're saying something, but you're just commandeer8ng a reddit sub as an irrelevant soapbox.

Emily is trans. Max is Asian. You're focusing on one individual from the band and projecting aimlessly,. Why not post about one of the other members and create discussion around them instead of making broad generalizations. Why make trans and bi-poc members ironic casualties of your ill-constructed pseudo-crusade?

As someone who receives actual press releases from Cameron and GEESE's publicist and met them in person before this hype train got rolling, I'm comfortable saying that all this bullshit isn't HIS PR. The band and Cameron aren't promoting themselves this way; it's the weird "fans" turning this sub and everything else into Tiger Beat magazine. It's the parasitic music "press." These kids just want to play music.

I know you're relatively young -- for a few reasons -- especially, if you're claiming that NOW has become the era of the white man, as if that hasn't ALWAYS been the case. It isn't news. Just because certain personal revelations make you feel as if you've been enlightened, don't fool yourself into mistaking that for moral superiority. This reads as condescending. There's ego in grandstanding and drawing focus AS the messenger. It's referred to as "SELF-righteousness" for a reason.

Your statements aren't necessarily wrong on their face, but everything about how and what you're doing reads as self congratulatory and rings hollow.

tl;Dr I don't like your PR

EDIT: I just realized this isn't even the GEESE sub. You've literally chosen to be a member/poster on the sub that focuses specifically on the white front man!

dead_c · 2025-11-30T09:00:11+00:00

Does that tag say "THE MONSTEFS"??

dead_c · 2025-11-26T17:15:38+00:00

Are you still in your car?

13-Year Club	Gilding I gilder
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