As many others have written, this feature is one which is really hard to write. Unless it’s a review, no one really wants to take time and space talking down an artist’s work when there is always something positive to share albeit about someone else.
There is also the intrinsic problem of finding the act. For many of us there are acts where we like pretty much everything they’ve done but there are many more where we like some of their records or where we liked them for a time, but parted company after a disappointing release or two. The problem with the last two categories is that it’s unreasonable to address the relevant works without regard for the totality of their output with which, by definition, one would be unfamiliar.
That said, the subject of this piece, The String Cheese Incident, is a band whose records I’ve always looked forward to but who took a turn partway into their career that jarred these ears. Happily, and unlike many others with a similar flex point, it’s one from which they recovered and, while they aren’t as active as they once were, are still around today.
The String Cheese Incident are a band formed by musicians based around the Colorado ski resorts. The members at this time were Bill Nershi (guitars), Kyle Hollingsworth (keyboards), Michael Kang (mandolins, violin), Keith Moseley (bass) and Michael Travis (drums, percussion). The group is often described as a jam band but their music is rooted in bluegrass as the range of instruments suggests, but with a propensity to be unlimited by genre.
After releasing two studio albums – “Born On The Wrong Planet” (1997) and “Round the Wheel” (1998) and a live album “A String Cheese Incident” (1997), the band had built up quite a reputation as a live act. Shows from their 1999 touring dates were recorded and released on the live double album “Carnival 99” (1 February 2000).
Can’t Live Without It: “Carnival 99” (2000)
“Carnival 99” was a record that remained a fixture in the small bag in which I kept the CDs for my portable player for over a year. On the record, the band demonstrates why theirs was such a hot ticket. Musically, they cover many bases – bluegrass, jazz, rock, folk – a mix of American musical styles which places them squarely within americana territory.
The album opens with ‘Shenandoah Breakdown‘, a reimagining of a traditional tune allowing the band members to display their instrumental prowess. The rest of the first disc takes the listener through SCI originals (‘Missin’ Me’, ‘Barstool’, ‘Black Clouds’), jazz (Jean Luc Ponty’s ‘Mauna Bowa’ and standard ‘Take Five’) and a slab of New Orleans funk (‘Hey Pocky Way’). The tunes allow plenty of opportunity for the musicians to stretch out and take the listener off in some surprising directions.
The second disc opens with 45 seconds of ‘Lester’s Rant’ before the jazz element resumes with Wayne Shorter’s ‘Footprints’. This sets the scene for another original, ‘Don’t Say’, written by Hollingsworth and featuring a lot of impressive keyboard work running around a hypnotic folky-sounding riff. At its conclusion SCI drops sweetly into an extended jam on ‘Birdland’ which at times appears to have no centre but always finds its way home. The band switches back to bluegrass for Jimmy Martin’s ‘Hold Watcha Got’.
The remainder of “Carnival 99” sees SCI take the audience for a journey through the oceans (a humorous spoken word tale ‘Jellyfish’) and via a short drum/ percussion break to ‘Texas’ where a road trip brings them face to face with local law enforcement and the band jams out to close. This writer still finds it an exhilarating experience over 20 years later.
Can’t Live With It: “One Step Closer” (2005)
Roll forward to 2005 and the String Cheese Incident have brought in an additional percussionist, Jason Hann. They have also collaborated with co-writers, two of whom, Robert Hunter and John Perry Barlow, are well known for the work with the Grateful Dead. The other is elder statesman of americana, Jim Lauderdale, who had himself co-written with Hunter on the previous year’s “Headed For The Hills”. “One Step Closer” also sees Malcolm Burn in the producer’s chair.
From the start of opener ‘Give Me The Love’ the bombastic production swamps the song and band. A big drum sound outs the percussion so far in the foreground it sounds almost military. The second track ‘Sometimes A River’ is less poppy but has similar drum effects and a messy mix in which effects overwhelm the instruments. Bizarrely the song sounds as if it has been slowed down.
And that’s the story of “One Step Closer” really – a set of what might have been interesting songs having the life sucked out of them by a dreadful production. I always assumed that the band were hoping that bringing in Burns would help them achieve greater commercial success. Unfortunately, the record remains just as unlistenable in 2024 as it did in 2005.
Happily though the String Cheese Incident is still creating its incidents with US tour dates for the autumn of 2024. Subsequent recordings have rekindled the magic leaving one to wonder whether they shouldn’t take a leaf out of Taylor Swift’s book and reimagine it for the present day.
