String Cheese Incident: We will miss you.
The legendary Bluegrass jamband String Cheese Incident (SCI) has left the building. SCI made there first appearance in the jamband scene in 1993 in Boulder, Colorado. They began playing shows at ski resorts to nourish their ski-bum addictions. After playing a number of private shows and resorts they started their own record label SCI Fidelity and released “Born on the Wrong Plant”.
SCI was a pioneer in the jam movement with a unique sound rooted in bluegrass but then extended into funk, jazz, Latin, reggae, calypso, psychedelia, and of course rock. This was unheard of in the 90’s as that jambands like the dead, phish (not till’ later), and others never attempted to fuse so many styles. During this time period, the band became interested in creating melodic music that left room for improvisation in live sets. SCI quickly realized that their live performances gave them the most attention. The next year they released the live album “A String Cheese Incident”. It was recorded in Fox Theatre in their home town in Boulder, Colorado. This was also the introductory recording for pianist Kyle Hollingsworth.
SCI continued to release one more album in the 90’s and 5 more in the next millennium before they ended their musical movement. The new Millennium was both the most difficult and rewarding period of their careers. SCI created SCI Ticketing and filed a suit against the all powerful ticket monopoly Ticketmaster. The case was based upon Ticketmaster’s overarching control over the competitive market for concert sales resulting in high service charges. SCI base claim was that ticketmaster had violated the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. The case’s results were never publicized but SCI ticketing stayed in business. This was a pivotal battle in SCI career showing audiences that SCI cared about getting their fans into shows a fair and reasonable price.
Rising above the corporations String Cheese surfaced as a premier jamband in the new millennium building a strong community of dedicated followers. After 20 years of great music, the band made the conscious effort to pursue other projects after Bill Nershi, the de facto leader, decided to leave in summer 2007. As each of its members packed up and went their separate ways many interesting projects spawned from the break: Michael Travis (Drums) is playing with an acoustic trio and Zilla; Michael Kang (mandolin & vocals) is playing with Panjea—an African roots band; Bill Nershi (guitar & vocals) is playing in Honkytonk Homeslice with his wife and the Emmitt-Nershi band with Drew Emmitt from Left Over Salmon; Kyle Hollingsworth (keys) has formed his own band; and Keith Moseley currently tours in Keller William's new band WMD’S. I am sad to see these guys go but the future looks bright with all of these new projects. String Cheese Incident you will be dearly missed.
SCI was a pioneer in the jam movement with a unique sound rooted in bluegrass but then extended into funk, jazz, Latin, reggae, calypso, psychedelia, and of course rock. This was unheard of in the 90’s as that jambands like the dead, phish (not till’ later), and others never attempted to fuse so many styles. During this time period, the band became interested in creating melodic music that left room for improvisation in live sets. SCI quickly realized that their live performances gave them the most attention. The next year they released the live album “A String Cheese Incident”. It was recorded in Fox Theatre in their home town in Boulder, Colorado. This was also the introductory recording for pianist Kyle Hollingsworth.
SCI continued to release one more album in the 90’s and 5 more in the next millennium before they ended their musical movement. The new Millennium was both the most difficult and rewarding period of their careers. SCI created SCI Ticketing and filed a suit against the all powerful ticket monopoly Ticketmaster. The case was based upon Ticketmaster’s overarching control over the competitive market for concert sales resulting in high service charges. SCI base claim was that ticketmaster had violated the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. The case’s results were never publicized but SCI ticketing stayed in business. This was a pivotal battle in SCI career showing audiences that SCI cared about getting their fans into shows a fair and reasonable price.
Rising above the corporations String Cheese surfaced as a premier jamband in the new millennium building a strong community of dedicated followers. After 20 years of great music, the band made the conscious effort to pursue other projects after Bill Nershi, the de facto leader, decided to leave in summer 2007. As each of its members packed up and went their separate ways many interesting projects spawned from the break: Michael Travis (Drums) is playing with an acoustic trio and Zilla; Michael Kang (mandolin & vocals) is playing with Panjea—an African roots band; Bill Nershi (guitar & vocals) is playing in Honkytonk Homeslice with his wife and the Emmitt-Nershi band with Drew Emmitt from Left Over Salmon; Kyle Hollingsworth (keys) has formed his own band; and Keith Moseley currently tours in Keller William's new band WMD’S. I am sad to see these guys go but the future looks bright with all of these new projects. String Cheese Incident you will be dearly missed.
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