NEIGHBOR ISLAND MUSIC SCENE
String Cheese Incident hard to pigeonhole
By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Editor
| • | String Cheese Incident
7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday Lahaina Civic Center outdoor stage $30 at the door 526-4400, (303) 544-5875 |
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"It's twangy, it sounds Hawaiian, and maybe I should bring it over," Nershi, 40, said in a telephone interview. "Listen," he said, as he proceeded to play the instrument — a resonator guitar — to prove his point.
To say he was doing his own twang is to paraphrase The String Cheese Incident's do-your-own-thing philosophy. The five-member combo, a darling on the outdoor festival circuit, specializes in hard-to-pigeonhole rock, jazz, world beat and bluegrass.
It also defies labels, challenges audiences, stretches its own musical boundaries. And it's bringing at least 1,400 diehard fans to Maui (akin to a Grateful Dead happening) for a two-night stand this weekend at the outdoor stage at Lahaina Civic Center.
"We try to have an international identity, to do concerts that are not typical, off the continent (the Mainland) at least once a year," said Nershi. This year, it's Hawai'i.
The intent is to provide the band, its staff and its fans a combined business-and-pleasure trip, to exchange culture, music and fellowship.
"We have our travel agency and lots of folks book a trip to join us when we play," Nershi said. "It's like taking your hometown audience with you on the road; gives you companionship and confidence, knowing that there's a lot of support out there."
Previous jams have been in Mexico and Costa Rica.
Not surprisingly, the band has six allied companies in a rare circumstance of savvy partnership between artistry and commerce. SCI has its own record label and its own ticketing agency, all allied with its management company. Plus a company that sells authorized SCI T-shirts, merchandise such as hats and even hula hoops sold at live events. And, of course, the travel wing that books trips, hotel and on-site activities.
Nershi said he band mates Michael Kang, Michael Travis and Kyle Hollingsworth were living in Crested Butte, Colo., a Western Rockies ski commune, when they met Keith Moseley in 1993. Skiing quickly took a backseat to music.
The name?
"We were called Blue String Cheese Band, at one point," Nershi said. "But as we started touring, the name sounded silly. It didn't command enough respect. We put ourselves into a think tank for a month, to come up with a name with more respect. The String Cheese Incident was the result."
The "incident" factor could be tagged to the impact the band makes, when select concerts, like the Hawai'i one, become an "incident" or "event" for its fan base.
The group loves to play festivals and prefers outdoor gigs. It likes it when folks dance to the music.
And, Nershi said, String Cheese Incident likes the pace of fewer concerts, down to 95 last year compared to 200 two years in a row previously.
"There was a point when we had to drop everything in our lives, except music, and we had no time to really enjoy the other things, like our family," he said. "Now, we have more time at home, more time to practice, more to to ski — in other words, balance. We love playing music, but it can't be completely one-sided."
