The String Cheese Incident

Kyle Hollingsworth
piano, B-3, Wurlitzer, Rhodes, synthesizer,
accordion, Mellotron, vocals
Michael Kang
mandolin, violin, viola, vocals
Keith Moseley
bass, harmonica, vocals
Bill Nershi
acoustic guitar, electric slide guitar, lap
steel guitar, vocals
Michael Travis
drums, percussion, vocals

Untying the Not is:(a)An embarrassing typo;(b)a Zen inscrutability;(c)an album
that will change the way you think about
The String Cheese Incident.

The answer is in the music. Recorded
with Youth, perhaps the last producer
anyone would have predicted for an
SCI project, Untying the Not shows
an unprecedented expansion of the
band's already broad vision. Everything
you would expect from these guys --
the improvisational flights, the interplay
of musicians through a rush of mixed
musical styles, the vivid original songs
--is abundant throughout the album …

…but now and then, something happens
--a quick left turn into a house dance
track, a swirl of voices spinning abstract monologs, an introspective medita-
tion on the larger issues of life --that
will catch long time Cheese fans by surprise. Clearly, Untying the Not
is a watershed for SCI, a major change
in recording and performance philosophy,
and not incidentally a shift toward a
kind of lyrical honesty that is rare in
any genre. Simply put, it ’s not the album
you’d expect from The String Cheese Incident.

Which raises some questions:
What happened? Why?And on what
journey will this remarkable,
unpredictable band take us now?
------------------------------
"We've been together a long time,
"muses guitarist Bill Nershi. "We were beginning to realize that if we kept doing things the way we had been doing them,
there might be trouble ahead. I guess
we were just getting a little too
comfortable –which is never good
for creativity. "

These feelings tied in with developments
that every- one in SCI was experiencing
in their own lives. There were marriages;
there were loved ones lost, through separation and even death --
the milestones of life that pass each
of us by. SCI knew, however, that as
artists they had to do more than watch;
they had to join this parade, even if that meant calling a new tune.

"Making this album was a metaphorical
rebirth for us, "explains violinist/
mandolinist Michael Kang. "We all can
get stuck on our perspectives of what
we think is right. At the same time,
we've always want ed to challenge ourselves. In this case, that meant
making an album that was different
from anything we'd ever done. "

Beginning with that fundamental premise, Untying the Not is SCI's first
fully studio-oriented album. "We didn't
want this album to be such an obvious
reflection of what we do live, "Nershi
insists. "Instead, we wanted to use the
studio as a tool, and as a separate but
elated art-form, to make music
differently than we would onstage. This is definitely the first album for which we ’ve
used that approach. It offers a glimpse
into this brand new side of the band. "

The band began the project by choosing
a producer who could facilitate this
process --someone whose aesthetic
differed from that of SCI almost to the
point of incompatibility. At first, Youth
and SCI shared practically no common ground; their temperaments didn't fit
easily together …which is why he turned
out to be their perfect foil.

"I was initially a little doubtful about
working with him, "admits bassist Keith Moseley. "It seemed that we had so little
in common with the artists he ’d worked
with in the past. But, he had so much
energy and creativity that we decided
to take a chance and step way outside
of our comfort zone. " Youth first
established himself as a trend-setting
producer in England through his work
for his own band, Killing Joke, in which he played bass. Since then, while known for
his innovative dance tracks, Youth has
also amassed studio credits through work
with the Orb, The Verve, Crowded House …even the London Philharmonic Orchestra. But, until Youth had yet to
connect with a group like The
String Cheese Incident.

Sessions began at The Plant in Sausalito, California, with each side
probing across cultural and musical
barriers toward the other. These
explorations weren't always comfortable
or even cordial. "The creative process
was definitely fiery, "says Nershi.
"There were some pretty strong confrontations between us and Youth.
Yet we didn't hold him back, and he
wound up having a strong role not only
in arranging the songs, but also in how
each member of the band played. Almost every guitar part I played on this CD is
not the way I normally play guitar. And
Travis had to learn a completely new
way to play in time because Youth had
him hit the drums five times harder
than he had ever done in his life. "

"It turns out Youth knew exactly how
to get this project done. We were all
able to play and record from a whole
new perspective, "Nershi concludes.
"Honestly, this album is very much
the record that the band wanted to
make, we just needed help stirring it
up. "

As Kang puts it, "This was by far the
most challenging and exciting thing we've done in the studio –but it certainly
wasn ’t the easiest. " Eventually, track
after track began unfolding in the studio,
like gifts unwrapped by song. More than
on any previous SCI album, the range of musical styles kept broadening, even as a singular theme came into tighter focus.
In echoes of its bluegrass past and pre-
monitions of a more experimental future,
over pounding dance-club beats and in filmy, abstract overlays of spoken word
and electronic effects, SCI put together
its most mature and provocative disc to
date;a disk whose spirit will excite connoisseurs of Pink Floydian AOR
and followers of modern dance music
as much as longtime Cheese addicts.

The key to Untying the Not lies in
the band's willingness to take risks,
not only by stretching their musi-
cal horizons, but also by addressing
the darkness as well as the light in
the world. "A lot of this album is
about life ’s more somber issues,
such as mortality, lost love, and conflict, "explains Moseley. "The title
relates to how we can perceive these
events that occur in our lives for what
they really are, rather than simply
reacting to them as we think we should. "

"There is a lot going on in our world
right now and it ’s often difficult to
decipher between what is real and
what is not, "Kang adds. "In addition
to all the conflict throughout the world,
there were some very deep personal
issues that each of us were dealing with
during the recording sessions. For me, now when I listen to the album, the songs
have even more meaning than they did
when we recorded them. "

With the release of Untying the Not
(SCI Fidelity Records)on September 23,
The String Cheese Incident confront
the last of the hurdles they have faced throughout this project. In breaking
beyond their established image, SCI
presents to its fans a true test of
loyalty:Will they welcome something
whose meditations may disturb as
much as entertain, and whose vision
refuses to fit into their preconceptions?

"We made the record that we wanted
to make. Sure, it's different. But it's
very indicative of where the band is
at right now, "Nershi admits. "Everyone
has to deal with the issues we write
about on Untying the Not , "

Moseley adds. "Hopefully our fans find a
lot about this album that they can relate
to, even if at first it ’s a bit surprising to them.
It ’s just the band stretching and growing --
it's something we have to do. "

That, at least, will never change:From
t his point, the music of SCI will challenge
as well as entertain. It's like life itself:
Approach Untying the Not with an
open mind, and the experience will prove unforgettable.