Incident Phishing for mass appeal

Kirk Baird

Friday, July 27, 2001 | 8:55 a.m.

What's a Phish fan to do?

Since the heir-apparent to the Grateful Dead legacy went on indefinite hiatus in the fall, there's been a void in many fans' lives.

Insert "jam bands" such as the Disco Biscuits, moe., Percy Hill and String Cheese Incident, which the media assumed would pick up where Phish left off.

Or so that was the way it was supposed to go. But at least for one of those bands, String Cheese Incident, which performs today and Saturday at the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts, things didnt work out as some envisioned.

"We heard a lot about it in the newspapers and the press, 'Oh, we're going to pick up a bunch of Phish fans.' But I dont think it's happened at all, really," said SCI bassist Keith Moseley, while on the road in Virginia.

"We may have picked up a few more here and there, but it's really hard to tell there's much of a change."

Oddly enough, as far as Moseley's concerned, the lack of crossover success is a good thing. To introduce another 3,000 fans into the already popular SCI touring mix would prove "challenging" to the band's production, security and infrastructure, he said.

"The growth of the band has been a real steady thing over the years and we're experiencing the same kind of growth all along, which is really a lot easier for us to handle" Moseley said.

That slow rise in popularity is what Moseley referred to as a "7 1/2-year overnight success story," the result of four Colorado friends deciding to form a band.

Living in Crested Butte, Colo., for the "lifestyle" of skiing and other outdoor winter recreation, the original SCI lineup featured Michael Kang, violin and mandolin; Bill Nershi, acoustic guitar; Michael Travis, drums and percussion, and Moseley. Kyle Hollingsworth, who plays the piano, organ and synthesizer, made SCI a quintet soon after.

Named after a real-life incident, possibly involving string cheese (Moseley would elaborate no further), the band was first content to play ski towns -- sometimes in exchange for ski-lift tickets. But word about SCI's marathon concerts spread around the state and the band's following grew.

"Pretty quick after the band got started I think we realized we had good potential and really buckled down and put our minds to it," Moseley said. "We worked real hard and made some smart decisions so that we might be able to build a career out of it.

"We've had big goals from the beginning."

SCI has since become as much of an operation as a band, with its own record label (SCI Fidelity Records), a travel agency, a merchandising company and its most recent venture, a ticket agency created "to see if we can provide a ticket service that's cheaper and better for the fans."

All told, revenues for the band exceeded $3 million last year -- which is all the more impressive considering none of the band's albums have approached platinum status.

The lack of the chart success is one of the reasons why the band decided to hire a producer for its latest album, "Outside Inside."

Familiar with Steve Berlin for his work with Los Lobos and the Tragically Hip, Berlin was brought in to work with a band more comfortable onstage -- with 1,200 concerts to its credit -- than in the studio.

"Our goal for going in and recording 'Outside Inside' was, 'Let's make a fantastic studio album. What do we need to do that? Let's get some help,' " he said.

Up until that point the quintet had always functioned as a democracy, Moseley said, with at least one vote always present to break a stalemate. Consequently, no group leader had emerged, which often made things "painstakingly slow" in the studio.

"We try something five different ways and then vote on it, three to two," he said. "We thought, we'll bring Steve in, and let him offer some creative suggestions and try his ideas first."

One of Berlin's suggestions was to pare down the songs from epic, jam length of 10 minutes plus to more radio-friendly times of 4 1/2 minutes on average.

The result is a "more finely crafted album" than anything SCI had previously recorded, Moseley said. "I think it's the best we've done to date."

And, he added, a record that helps prove the group more capable than its "jam band" tag would indicate.

"Any kind of label can be limiting," Moseley said. "That's really the only problem I have with it is that you're called a 'jam band' and people think that's all you can do. Certainly if you listen to our recent album, we can play a 3 1/2-minute, well-arranged song; we don't only jam.

"To call us a jam band might just sell us short on everything that we can do."

Instead, he said he prefers "highly eclectic rock band."

"If you're a fan of the music and good times," Moseley said, "I think you're going to enjoy the band."

Phish fans included.