The Howling History

The Howling

Originally Performed By	Phish
Appears On
Music	Anastasio/Fishman/Gordon/Mcconnell
Lyrics By	Same
Vocals	All
Phish Debut	2021-10-31
Last Played	2025-09-16
Current Gap	4
Historian	Jay Boda (FinallyMeetAtLast) & Jack Chamblin (PixelPanda24)
Last Update	2025-10-14

History

It’s a bit unsettling to imagine that around 2071, only fifty years after the debut of “The Howling,” the event itself—the very destruction of Earth!—is set to begin. That doesn’t give us a lot of time to resolve the root causes. Thank goodness the Sci-Fi Soldiers came back to Earth from the year 4680, intent on saving the home planet of their prophets, Kasvot Växt. Indeed, this journey was meant to prevent The Howling from ever happening.

Unveiled on Halloween 2021, “The Howling” lies at the crux of the Sci-Fi Soldier story. The opening page of the Sci-Fi Soldier comic book, distributed to the audience as the Phishbill, presents the central theme to this everlasting spoof:

The song’s stature comes from both this centrality to the lore and the level of audience participation it inspires—which of course raises the question, why are we reveling in a song about the destruction of Earth!?

One answer can be found inside of a classic Phish dichotomy: contrasting the tempo and feel of the music with the subject matter. “Sparkle”—with upbeat freneticism encasing deep lyrical anxiety—stands out as the obvious example, but it’s not the only one. And, by teaching us to dance and sing to the very notion of Earth’s seemingly imminent yet possibly preventable destruction, the Sci-Fi Soldiers are doing exactly what they’ve been sent to do.

The comic book tells of the Soldiers summoning The Nine Cubes, each “a window to a possible reality.” Their aim: to experience Earth, the world of Kasvot Växt. But “they were not prepared for what they would see…. The homeworld of their beloved prophets was tearing itself apart!” What were they witnessing?

To understand this vision, the Sci-Fi Soldiers visit the great oracle, Holy Blankenstein, a not-quite-incarnate Icculus aspect, we learned during Harpua narration the night before. This conversation reveals the power of dance to “un-head the knee” and clear people’s minds. As Holy Blankenstein explains, this terrible event was The Howling, and it was caused by the humans’ very own over-thinking. Yet, despite being a historical event, it can be prevented. “Everything is overlapping,” Holy Blankenstein tells them in the prophets’ words from “We Are Come to Outlive Our Brains.” “It’s a future to the past thing.”

Thus, the Sci-Fi Soldiers resolve to travel back in time to Earth via Knuckle Bone Broth Avenue so they can become Phish, an unsuspecting foursome that knows the music of Kasvot Växt. They use their technology to channel this connection, inhabit Phish’s bodies, and teach humans to “put a blank space where their minds should be.” The Sci-Fi Soldiers will clear humans’ minds through dance and “cause their lobes to split open and melt,” minimizing the destructive thinking that made The Howling come to pass.

That’s why we’re all enjoying “The Howling” so much: its essence is the very solution the Sci-Fi Soldiers use to keep it from happening in the first place! After all, we can’t worry about everything else in our lives when we’re howling back at the stage as Phish presses on the funk-o-meter. “Now. It’s. Starting. TO. FEEL. GOOD!” we yell along, finally grasping what we’re here to do.

Be in the moment. Feel good. Clear your mind. Howl!

In classic Phish fashion these lyrics are ever scanty, little more than repeating the name of the song, almost “Piper”-esque in this way. Most often, the song concludes with a return to these lyrics, though, occasionally this is skipped for a segue (see 9/1/22, which goes into that very Piper).

Our intrepid intergalactic space-soldiers Clueless Wallob, Pat Malone, Paulie Roots, and Half-Nelson are saving the world from a truly cosmic threat: The Howling. What is The Howling, you may ask? Well, to your 21st century brain it may be a difficult thing to understand. The Howling is a Tardigrade (or Moss Piglet, colloquially) that has been subsumed with dark energy. As futuristic as this sounds, this is a threat that transcends time itself. The Howling is a creature that can bend time itself, and as a result is a threat in multiple different time periods throughout history.

On 10/31/21, the four members of Sci-Fi Soldier traveled back in time using the Knuckle Bone Broth Avenue and inhabited the bodies of the only four individuals capable of channeling the music of the prophets, í rokk,: Trey Anasastio, Jon Fishman, Page McConnell, and Mike Gordon. On that fateful Halloween night, our favorite band embarked on an unforgettable journey through space.

Playing a setlist of 11 completely original songs and draped in Sci-Fi costumes that never fail to make me giggle, it was indubitably a night capable of saving the world. One of these 11 songs was titled “The Howling.” It has since become (far and away) the most played Sci-Fi Soldier song.

“The Howling” (the song, not the cosmic threat) is a space-funk jam sesh that’s loosely wrapped into a silly, high energy song. Frankly, this song feels like more of an excuse for Mike and Page to make some funky space sounds while Trey beams and dances. Needless to say, it’s an instant classic.

The band’s excitement to try out this new tune was evident. The song was filled with some ad-libbing from the whole band. This is the first night in which the crowd howled in response (although that wouldn’t properly begin to stick until 9/1/22) which prompted Trey to exclaim “Holy Blankenstein that sounds cool!” Mike then provides some improvised and lyricless vocalization.

“The Howling” → “Piper” – 9/1/22, Commerce City, Co. Video by Phish.

Throughout the rest of 2022, “The Howling” continued to be played regularly. It continued to be played well, too. Every version of this song is worth a listen. If you like funk, this song brings the funk. Some notable early versions of this song include 4/20/22 (which features a segue -> twist), and 7/15/22’s “Golden Age” > “The Howling.” Listen to that last one if you love Page.

7/31/22 was a particularly notable iteration of this song– and not just because it’s insatiably funky. This is the first time that the dog barking audio clip from “The Dogs” was employed within “The Howling.” This is an important point to remember, as eventually the song will get its own dog barking sound clip. This is also the first show in which the audience participation really started to kick in. You can clearly hear a call and response howl from the audience in this version of the song, and that trend only grows as the band plays this tune more.

On Halloween of 2022, Phish dropped a surprise album under the name Sci-Fi Soldier. Yep, that’s right, it’s the studio version of every song played a year earlier on 10/31/21. Many of the songs on this album are much shorter than they were played on Halloween ‘21; ultimately the album feels more like a demo tape than a true studio album. But it’s Sci-Fi Soldier, so it’s a hell of a good time. And it provides us with a studio recording of “The Howling.” This recording doesn’t really jam, but it is the only version of the song that contains a quote from “Egg in a Hole.” If that strikes your fancy, take a listen.

Most versions of “The Howling” are on the shorter side and overwhelmingly come in at under 8 minutes. Snappier versions are tight and fun (see 6/4/22), but the longer ones give a sense of where Phish might push it if they wished. As of August ‘25, the 12+ minute rendition on 9/2/23 is the most Phish ever let the leash out on “The Howling,” even getting an extra round of howling in between jam segments. The band and audience clearly have fun with it, whatever the length.

10/8/23 is a great example of the audience leaning into the escalation as they howl and howl:

You cannot go wrong with a single version of this song in 2023. Each version creates new soundscapes, truly transporting you to 4680. A great example of this is 7/18/23, a jam which stretches its legs quite a bit for being solely Type I. 8/2/23 is a significant version of this song, as it debuts the dogs howling audio clip that has since become a staple for the song. The first time they use it, it is perhaps a little overdone. They learn to control it more in the coming shows. This version of the song also contains quotes from “The Well”. 9/2/23 is a stellar version of this tune as well. It’s currently the only version of “The Howling” that is jamcharted, and for good reason. It is the longest version to date, and it gets into some seriously gorgeous territory. The hose on this thing is stellar, you can get lost in this one.

2024 continues the same trend that 2023 started. That is to say: every version of this song is a guaranteed dance party with some weird soundscape-y action that will guarantee you leave your listening experience feeling better because, after all, now it’s starting to feel good. 10/25/24’s version of “The Howling” also includes a “Shakedown Street” tease from Mike to honor the late Phil Lesh. Not only is this a fitting tribute (only one of many from that show), but it also demonstrates “The Howling”’s role as Mike's playground: he shines in this song.

Another notable performance on 2/24/24 after a memorable “Chalk Dust Torture Reprise” saw Trey dedicate a song to the full moon. Not only was it Selene’s night—Trey confirmed the lunar phase with Page—but the band was playing at Moon Palace. At this point, the audience began howling in anticipation. Trey promised, however, that they’d “save that one till it’s dark,” before launching into “Wolfman’s Brother.” When the band returned to the stage to start set two, they were howled at by the Riviera Mayans, who got what they wanted under the gaze of the Pale Watcher.

It makes sense that “The Howling” would be found almost exclusively within the second set or encore. It’s simply better experienced later in the evening when it’s dark, the Silent Sentinel is up, and the stars are out, reminding us of our fragile place in the fabric of space-time.

Further cementing the association between “Wolfman’s Brother” and “The Howling,” Trey teased the latter within the former at a cluster of solo acoustic shows in March of ’25. At the start of the 3/18/25 “Wolfman’s Brother,” to Trey’s delight, the audience started that characteristic howling. “Mashup,” he says through a grin after singing “The Howling” over “Wolfman’s” chords.

“The Howling” is the most played song from Get More Down by Sci-Fi Soldier, coming up over four times as often as any other song as of this writing. It’s been heard at 12% of shows since its debut, yet we should expect that percentage to decrease since we’re seeing less of it as time passes: 8 performances the year after its release, 6 in ’23, 4 in ’24, and only a few in ’25. This makes it an increasingly rare collective, cathartic release.

Is this for the usual reasons Phish experiments with and then tapers off a tune? Or have we absorbed the most important lessons of “The Howling,” lessening our need for the lingering spirit of the Sci-Fi Soldiers?

Only time will tell if The Howling is yet to occur. As Phish does their part to prevent it, we should probably do ours, un-heading our knees, clearing our minds, and howling our hearts out.

Last significant update: 9/2/25