40 Fun Facts About The String Cheese Incident

The String Cheese Incident re-recorded its song Close Your Eyes in a made-up language for which video game series?

The Sims has its own fictional language, Simlish, and the band's version appeared in the expansion pack The Sims 2: Seasons.

Which company did the String Cheese Incident sue in 2003 over limits on bands selling concert seats directly to fans?

Ticketmaster let bands sell no more than 8% of a venue's seats themselves, so the group's own ticketing arm went to court; the two sides settled in 2004.

Robert Hunter and John Perry Barlow, who co-wrote String Cheese Incident songs, were lyricists for which band?

Grateful Dead lyrics made both men famous; Barlow later wrote with Michael Kang, and Hunter with keyboardist Kyle Hollingsworth.

The String Cheese Incident's 1997 live album closes with a cover of Walk This Way, first recorded by which band?

Aerosmith released it as a single from the 1975 album Toys in the Attic; the Colorado group's version ends a set that opens with Lonesome Fiddle Blues.

The String Cheese Incident was booked for the 2004 edition of which touring festival, which was then cancelled?

Lollapalooza was called off that summer after poor ticket sales, so the group rerouted its own tour instead.

Suwannee Hulaween, the Halloween-weekend festival hosted by the String Cheese Incident, takes place in which state?

Florida's Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak hosts the event, whose name nods to the group's early ties to the modern hooping movement.

Michael Kang of the String Cheese Incident, who also plays violin, is best known for which primary instrument?

Mandolin is Kang's main instrument, though he began his musical life as a violinist with a taste for the classics.

In 1996 the String Cheese Incident's members quit their day jobs and moved to which Colorado college town?

Boulder became the group's base and the home of SCI Fidelity, the independent record label it owns and runs.

Which electronic music star did the String Cheese Incident invite to jam during a 2015 festival set in Michigan?

Skrillex, born Sonny Moore, made his name with dubstep, a long way from the group's bluegrass beginnings but close to its later taste for electronica.

In which Colorado mountain town did the String Cheese Incident's four founders first play together in 1993?

Crested Butte was where they started out as the Blue String Cheese Band, a bluegrass outfit that also played cheesy covers.

Bill Nershi, a String Cheese Incident founder and frontman, mainly plays which instrument in the band's lineup?

Acoustic guitar anchors Nershi's sound, though he also switches to lap steel and slide.

Which String Cheese Incident founder plays bass and wrote the band's songs Joyful Sound and Resume Man?

Keith Moseley played guitar in an earlier bluegrass band on the Colorado ski-town circuit, alongside Michael Kang, before the four founders came together.

Which percussionist joined the String Cheese Incident in the mid-2000s, turning the quintet into a six-piece band?

Jason Hann handles auxiliary percussion alongside drummer Michael Travis, and One Step Closer was his first album as a member.

Which live-looping electronic duo did String Cheese Incident drummer Michael Travis co-found in 2006?

EOTO first stood for End of Time Observatory, and the pair made every show on the spot with no prerecorded loops until splitting in 2021.

String Cheese Incident frontman Bill Nershi formed a band with Drew Emmitt, a founder of which Colorado group?

Leftover Salmon, a jam band formed in 1989, made Emmitt's name, and the two men began touring as the Emmitt-Nershi Band in 2007.

Which solo performer, often called a one-man jam band, made the 1999 album Breathe with the String Cheese Incident?

Keller Williams and the group billed themselves as the Keller Williams Incident, which freed him from the looping pedals he relies on alone.

Carnival '99, a String Cheese Incident live album, includes Take Five, a 1959 jazz hit for which pianist's quartet?

Dave Brubeck led the quartet, but saxophonist Paul Desmond wrote the tune, and the jam band's version runs past seven minutes.

The String Cheese Incident's debut album includes a group-written song titled after which country music legend?

Johnny Cash is the only track on the 1997 record credited to the whole group rather than to named writers.

Which 1997 debut album by the String Cheese Incident introduced live staples such as Texas and Jellyfish?

Born on the Wrong Planet was recorded before a keyboard player joined, and half of it is made up of instrumentals and covers.

Which 2014 release was the String Cheese Incident's first studio album in nine years?

Song in My Head captured material the group had road-tested for up to a decade without ever recording it in a studio.

Steve Berlin, producer of the String Cheese Incident's album Outside Inside, plays saxophone in which rock band?

Los Lobos' saxophonist produced the 2001 record, which moved the jam band from its bluegrass leanings toward a more standard rock sound.

Jerry Harrison, who produced the String Cheese Incident's 2014 comeback album, was in which new wave band?

Talking Heads split in 1991, by which time Harrison was already producing other acts; his later clients include Live, the Verve Pipe and No Doubt.

Youth, the producer of the String Cheese Incident's album Untying the Not, is a founding bassist of which rock band?

Killing Joke's original bassist is also a figure in psychedelic trance, and the album carried on the Colorado group's move into electronic and trance sounds.

Which painter of Tool album covers created the cover art for the String Cheese Incident's Untying the Not?

Alex Grey, known for spiritual and psychedelic artwork, has also had illustrations on Nirvana and Beastie Boys releases.

Which activist, who lived in a California redwood for 738 days, speaks on the String Cheese Incident's Untying the Not?

Julia Butterfly Hill, whose tree-sit protected a redwood nicknamed Luna, is one of several spoken-word guests on the 2003 album.

A String Cheese Incident, the band's first live album, captures a single 1997 concert at which Colorado music venue?

Fox Theatre seats just over 600 people, and the show was the first release to feature keyboardist Kyle Hollingsworth.

The String Cheese Incident served as host band from 2011 to 2016 at which festival in Rothbury, Michigan?

Electric Forest grew out of the earlier Rothbury Festival on the same site, and the hosts played three shows there each year.

Horning's Hideout, wooded home of an annual String Cheese Incident summer event in the 2000s, lies in which state?

Oregon's Horning's Hideout is also where Bill Nershi's trio Honkytonk Homeslice began, singing around a campsite in 2004.

The String Cheese Incident played which huge festival, remembered for fires and rioting?

Woodstock '99 was held on a former Air Force base in Rome, New York, and the group played it during years of near-constant touring.

The String Cheese Incident has headlined which Tennessee festival, where it played the Which Stage in 2011?

Bonnaroo has been held on a farm in Manchester since 2002, and the group appears on the concert DVD of that first festival.

The String Cheese Incident's Michael Kang, a classically trained violinist, was born in which country?

South Korea was the first of many homes for Kang, who began classical violin lessons at seven and moved to Colorado in 1992 to ski.

Michael Kang of the String Cheese Incident discovered bluegrass music while living in which US state?

Alaska is where the violinist fell for the style and took up the instrument he now plays most.

Kyle Hollingsworth, keyboardist of the String Cheese Incident, is an avid home maker of which drink?

Beer is his other passion: he released a Hoppingsworth IPA in 2009 and brews collaborations with local and national breweries.

Fans who donate canned food to Conscious Alliance at String Cheese Incident shows typically receive which reward?

A limited-edition poster is the thank-you; at the 2011 Winter Carnival shows, 25 cans earned a special three-panel design.

Which Bill Nershi song opens the String Cheese Incident's debut album and returns as a 13-minute jam on Carnival '99?

Black Clouds lasts under four and a half minutes in the studio, a sign of how far the group stretches its songs on stage.

Land's End, a String Cheese Incident live staple since the debut album, was written by which singer from Hot Rize?

Tim O'Brien co-founded the bluegrass group Hot Rize in Colorado in 1978, and the cover runs a full twelve minutes on the 1997 live album.

Carolyn Garcia, heard on the String Cheese Incident track Mountain Girl, belonged to which 1960s counterculture troupe?

Merry Pranksters, the circle around Ken Kesey, gave her the nickname Mountain Girl, and her spoken words run over the track that borrows it.

In 2006 the String Cheese Incident co-headlined shows with which band led by Bob Weir?

RatDog began in 1995 as a Weir side venture, and the pairing included a sold-out two-night stand that summer.

The String Cheese Incident's 2003 lawsuit over concert ticket sales alleged a breach of which 1890 US competition law?

Sherman Antitrust Act claims centred on a rule that stopped bands selling more than 8% of a venue's seats directly to fans.

Gouda Causes is the String Cheese Incident's cheese-themed name for which part of the band's activities?

Charity support gets the punning label on the official website, a habit that goes back to the first name, the Blue String Cheese Band.