Today, independent music pioneers The String Cheese Incident announce their 2007 Summer Tour – which also marks the beginning of an end for the band and their community. In the fall of 2006, The String Cheese Incident announced it would make no plans beyond summer 2007, as SCI guitarist Billy Nershi would be leaving the group to explore a different musical path.
Since the band's inception, The String Cheese Incident has emerged as one of today's most significant independent bands. Born in 1993 in Colorado's Rocky Mountains, SCI has since released 6 albums, 3 DVDs and countless live recordings from their relentless tour schedule. Their 14 year history is packed full of surreal experiences, epic moments, groundbreaking involvement and huge accomplishments. They have been recognized for their commitment to musical creativity and integrity, for their community spirit and philanthropic endeavors, and for their innovative approach to the business of music.
When The String Cheese Incident's growth first started gaining momentum over a decade ago, the landscape of the music industry was like the wild west from where the band came. With the major-label business model failing and the age of the internet just dawning, The String Cheese Incident began to rethink the traditional rock-n-roll dream. Once the band decided to go for it and make music completely on their own terms, they never looked back.
The String Cheese Incident went on to carve out a completely different approach to the business of music; truly pioneers of a new way of "making a band." With the World Wide Web as their tool, SCI was able to easily disseminate information such as tour dates, release information, and other news to their growing fan base. Rather than doing business on such terms as "the bottom line," The String Cheese Incident opened companies, such as a ticketing and a gear company and a fan travel agency to truly cater to the audience and their needs. Their record label, SCI Fidelity Records, operated on the same ideals; they embraced tape trading and downloadable music, eventually offering the SCI's "On the Road" series, where every show the band played was made available for download on the internet. Whether they realized it at the time or not, The String Cheese Incident was inventing grassroots band development. Today, literally hundreds of bands are using some version of this same approach to growing a band.
The String Cheese Incident's commitment went well beyond their immediate community and even beyond the music community in general. Early on, the band took a serious interest in giving back to the communities that they visited, and they where among the first performers to encourage "Green" shows and tours. SCI's support helped give rise to such not-for-profit organizations as Conscious Alliance, Rock the Earth, and Head Count. In 2002, when the band's right to sell tickets to their own shows became threatened by ticketing giant Ticketmaster, the band stood strong for the independent music community and filed a lawsuit against the company. All the while, The String Cheese Incident stayed committed to music as a creative endeavor, not just in their recordings but also in their live performances. The list of SCI's special guests and collaborators is long and diverse. Their annual events such as Horning's Hideout and holiday shows such as New Year's and Halloween helped redefine the concert experience and garnered the band a reputation as live music vibe innovators.
Now, on the heels of five sold-out, home-state shows for their annual "Winter Carnival," the band announces their 2007 Summer Tour, which stops in markets that hold plenty of SCI history (such as the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, and Colorado) and features some of the band's favorite kinds of shows - namely weekend camping events with plenty of musical friends in tow (a long weekend in Oregon and the "Big Summer Classic" festival at Camp Zoe).
Dates begin on July 12 with a three night run at the legendary Beacon Theatre in New York City. Then the band skips to the west coast for two nights in the Bay Area at Berkeley's Greek Theatre on July 21 & 22, with special guests Sound Tribe Sector 9 on Saturday and Railroad Earth on Sunday. The weekend of July 27-29 will include three nights in Oregon, at a venue still to be determined (visit the band's website for more information and details as they become available). Then, the "Big Summer Classic" will return in the form of a three-day camping festival on the weekend of August 3-5. In the tradition of the inaugural BSC tour in summer of 2005, the weekend festival will feature a slew of SCI's musical friends. Confirmed so far are Los Lobos, Yonder Mountain String Band, JJ Grey & MOFRO, The Wailers, EOTO and many others to be announced. The tour will end at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, where it all began.
The String Cheese Incident Summer Tour list of dates is as follows:
June 15 Bonnaroo Manchester, TN
July 12 Beacon Theatre New York, NY
July 13 Beacon Theatre New York, NY
July 14 Beacon Theatre New York, NY
July 21 Greek Theatre Berkeley, CA with Sound Tribe Sector 9
July 22 Greek Theatre Berkeley, CA with Railroad Earth
July 27 Venue TBA Oregon
July 28 Venue TBA Oregon
July 29 Venue TBA Oregon
August 3 Big Summer Classic Camp Zoe Salem, MO
August 4 Big Summer Classic Camp Zoe Salem, MO
August 5 Big Summer Classic Camp Zoe Salem, MO
Produced with Peak Experience. Special guests include Los Lobos, The Wailers, Yonder Mountain String Band, JJ Grey & MOFRO, Greyboy Allstars, EOTO and many others TBA
August 10 Red Rocks Morrison, CO
August 11 Red Rocks Morrison, CO
August 12 Red Rocks Morrison, CO
Tickets on sale Tuesday, May 8 at 10 am MST at www.stringcheeseincident.com
