The String Cheese Incident
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40 free The String Cheese Incident trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Few bands have travelled as far from their starting point as the String Cheese Incident. What began in the early 1990s as a Colorado bluegrass outfit with a sideline in cheesy covers grew into one of the jam scene's biggest draws, folding in funk, jazz, Latin rhythms and electronica along the way. This quiz works through the band's story the way a fan reference would: who plays what, the studio albums and the outside producers who shaped them, the live releases, the side projects, the festivals the band hosts and the long fight over how tickets reach fans. Every answer comes with a short explanation. It suits longtime fans who want to test their memory, and newer listeners who know the name from a festival bill and want the background.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The String Cheese Incident re-recorded its song Close Your Eyes in a made-up language for which video game series?
The Sims
The Sims has its own fictional language, Simlish, and the band's version appeared in the expansion pack The Sims 2: Seasons.
Q 02Which company did the String Cheese Incident sue in 2003 over limits on bands selling concert seats directly to fans?
Ticketmaster
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.
Q 03Robert Hunter and John Perry Barlow, who co-wrote String Cheese Incident songs, were lyricists for which band?
Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead lyrics made both men famous; Barlow later wrote with Michael Kang, and Hunter with keyboardist Kyle Hollingsworth.
Q 04The String Cheese Incident's 1997 live album closes with a cover of Walk This Way, first recorded by which band?
Aerosmith
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.
Q 05The String Cheese Incident was booked for the 2004 edition of which touring festival, which was then cancelled?
Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza was called off that summer after poor ticket sales, so the group rerouted its own tour instead.
Q 06Suwannee Hulaween, the Halloween-weekend festival hosted by the String Cheese Incident, takes place in which state?
Florida
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.
Q 07Michael Kang of the String Cheese Incident, who also plays violin, is best known for which primary instrument?
Mandolin
Mandolin is Kang's main instrument, though he began his musical life as a violinist with a taste for the classics.
Q 08In 1996 the String Cheese Incident's members quit their day jobs and moved to which Colorado college town?
Boulder
Boulder became the group's base and the home of SCI Fidelity, the independent record label it owns and runs.
Q 09Which electronic music star did the String Cheese Incident invite to jam during a 2015 festival set in Michigan?
Skrillex
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.
Q 10In which Colorado mountain town did the String Cheese Incident's four founders first play together in 1993?
Crested Butte
Crested Butte was where they started out as the Blue String Cheese Band, a bluegrass outfit that also played cheesy covers.
Q 11Bill Nershi, a String Cheese Incident founder and frontman, mainly plays which instrument in the band's lineup?
Acoustic guitar
Acoustic guitar anchors Nershi's sound, though he also switches to lap steel and slide.
Q 12Which String Cheese Incident founder plays bass and wrote the band's songs Joyful Sound and Resume Man?
Keith Moseley
Keith Moseley played guitar in an earlier bluegrass band on the Colorado ski-town circuit, alongside Michael Kang, before the four founders came together.
Q 13Which percussionist joined the String Cheese Incident in the mid-2000s, turning the quintet into a six-piece band?
Jason Hann
Q 21Steve Berlin, producer of the String Cheese Incident's album Outside Inside, plays saxophone in which rock band?
Los Lobos
Los Lobos' saxophonist produced the 2001 record, which moved the jam band from its bluegrass leanings toward a more standard rock sound.
Q 22Jerry Harrison, who produced the String Cheese Incident's 2014 comeback album, was in which new wave band?
Talking Heads
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.
Q 23Youth, the producer of the String Cheese Incident's album Untying the Not, is a founding bassist of which rock band?
Killing Joke
Jason Hann handles auxiliary percussion alongside drummer Michael Travis, and One Step Closer was his first album as a member.
Q 14Which live-looping electronic duo did String Cheese Incident drummer Michael Travis co-found in 2006?
EOTO
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.
Q 15String Cheese Incident frontman Bill Nershi formed a band with Drew Emmitt, a founder of which Colorado group?
Leftover Salmon
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.
Q 16Which solo performer, often called a one-man jam band, made the 1999 album Breathe with the String Cheese Incident?
Keller Williams
Keller Williams and the group billed themselves as the Keller Williams Incident, which freed him from the looping pedals he relies on alone.
Q 17Carnival '99, a String Cheese Incident live album, includes Take Five, a 1959 jazz hit for which pianist's quartet?
Dave Brubeck
Dave Brubeck led the quartet, but saxophonist Paul Desmond wrote the tune, and the jam band's version runs past seven minutes.
Q 18The String Cheese Incident's debut album includes a group-written song titled after which country music legend?
Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash is the only track on the 1997 record credited to the whole group rather than to named writers.
Q 19Which 1997 debut album by the String Cheese Incident introduced live staples such as Texas and Jellyfish?
Born on the Wrong Planet
Born on the Wrong Planet was recorded before a keyboard player joined, and half of it is made up of instrumentals and covers.
Q 20Which 2014 release was the String Cheese Incident's first studio album in nine years?
Song in My Head
Song in My Head captured material the group had road-tested for up to a decade without ever recording it in a studio.
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.
Q 24Which painter of Tool album covers created the cover art for the String Cheese Incident's Untying the Not?
Alex Grey
Alex Grey, known for spiritual and psychedelic artwork, has also had illustrations on Nirvana and Beastie Boys releases.
Q 25Which activist, who lived in a California redwood for 738 days, speaks on the String Cheese Incident's Untying the Not?
Julia Butterfly Hill
Julia Butterfly Hill, whose tree-sit protected a redwood nicknamed Luna, is one of several spoken-word guests on the 2003 album.
Q 26A String Cheese Incident, the band's first live album, captures a single 1997 concert at which Colorado music venue?
Fox Theatre
Fox Theatre seats just over 600 people, and the show was the first release to feature keyboardist Kyle Hollingsworth.
Q 27The String Cheese Incident served as host band from 2011 to 2016 at which festival in Rothbury, Michigan?
Electric Forest
Electric Forest grew out of the earlier Rothbury Festival on the same site, and the hosts played three shows there each year.
Q 28Horning's Hideout, wooded home of an annual String Cheese Incident summer event in the 2000s, lies in which state?
Oregon
Oregon's Horning's Hideout is also where Bill Nershi's trio Honkytonk Homeslice began, singing around a campsite in 2004.
Q 29The String Cheese Incident played which huge festival, remembered for fires and rioting?
Woodstock '99
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.
Q 30The String Cheese Incident has headlined which Tennessee festival, where it played the Which Stage in 2011?
Bonnaroo
Bonnaroo has been held on a farm in Manchester since 2002, and the group appears on the concert DVD of that first festival.