String Cheese Incident

from:               Boulder, CO
website:           www.stringcheeseincident.com
myspace:         www.myspace.com/stringcheeseincident

This is the last guest preview from my friend John, who did an amazing, amazing job with the previews he wrote for me. He'll be snapping pictures at the festival this year (lucky bum got a press pass), so be sure to check back on his site after the festival, and catch him on the air on The Mixdown on WRVU.

After slightly more than a decade of one of the most ambitious touring schedules, The String Cheese Incident are finally taking a break.  But luckily for us, not before mandolinist/violinist Michael Kang, guitarist Bill Nershi, keyboard player and accordionist Kyle Hollingsworth, bassist Keith Mosely, drummer Michael Travis and percussionist Jason Hann make one more trip to Austin.  Whether or not they return to their Boulder base and return to gigging for lift tickets in the Rockies or pare down their sound back to its bluegrass roots, these six guys are sure to be jammin’ in the September heat at least once more.  In addition to bluegrassy tunes, expect to hear Caribbean and Afro-pop, funk, jazz, 60’s-ish psychedelia and whatever else they feel like tossing in, either an original from one of their five studio albums or one of the many cover tunes they’re noted for playing.

If you’re curious about the band’s live sound, you can check out any of the literally hundreds of dates captured since 2002 in their On The Road series – like the dearly departed Phish, they’ve attempted put just about every live show they can on their SCI Fidelity label, making things easier for those to whom tape trading is not a way of life.  The band also followed in the steps of Pearl Jam and filed an anti-trust lawsuit against Ticketmaster in an attempt to regain more control of pricing for their shows.  The settlement terms were not disclosed, but they still sell their own tickets and avoid Ticketmaster venues when they can.

Expect to hear plenty of music from 2005’s One Step Closer, recorded with noted producer Malcom Burn, but there will doubtless be selections from throughout the group’s career, probably more than they can fit in during their one-hour set from 6:30-7:30 Saturday on the AMD stage.  Never fear, they’ll be reassembling in front of what’s sure to be a packed house later that evening at Stubb’s BBQ.  And who doesn’t love Cheese and Barbeque!

"Sometimes a River" (from One Step Closer)
"Dudley's Kitchen" (from A String Cheese Incident)