Do the band members talk about the show after the gig and has that changed over the years?

We all have opinions at every show. Rarely are we completely uniform on the show sucking or the show being incredibly great. It’s a mixture of opinions all around. Plus, it’s someone’s personal experience. You live in this head space between your ears. You might think you had an off night and then Kang’s on the same exact stage saying it was awesome. Hopefully somewhere in between we can all make a great show.

When you’re on tour these days do you still rehearse on your own and try to find rehearsal spaces at nearby colleges like you used to do?

I still rehearse before the show. We’ve been able to set it up where we have rehearsal gear on the truck. So there’s less of me running off to the universities and random places on the day of the gig. And rehearsing, definitely not as much as I used to. I felt like I rehearsed my ass off every day for hours and hours and then I’d get on stage and I felt a little burnt out. So I’m kind of figuring out the right amount of rehearsal versus keeping energy up for the show. So it’s kind of a mixture there.

A number of people wanted to know what was it like playing with Trey Anastasio at the Fourmile Fire Benefit back in 2010 and whether you’d crossed paths with him over the years before that?

No, that was the first time we had played with him. Playing with him was cool. He’s got a lot of things going on and you see how he’s a creative being. His mind is racing all the time. Backstage he as like, “What do you wanna play? This? Good, great.” talking more quickly than I can. I can see where some of that creativity comes from in that band and all of the crazy ideas. He’s a really nice guy. We only hung out for a little bit, though. It wasn’t very long.

Had you seen Phish a bit over the years?

I saw them a few times. I also think I must’ve played with Fishman sometime, at a Theory of Everything gig…

I think you and Mike Gordon would have an interesting conversation and musical exchange.

Nice, Nice. I’m down. I’m down.

Quite a few people asked you to name your favorite or most memorable String Cheese show of this tour or all time?

This past tour my favorite was probably the Ryman with all our guests.

Was there a lot of rehearsing before that gig?

No. That’s what actually made it so fun. There was no rehearsal at all. I think we probably played 40 minutes at soundcheck.

There was another day too, a Sunday gig. I think it was Upper Darby in Pennsylvania. Thinking about the new disc and looking at things to steal or glean from the jams, I think that was one of the more intuitive jam nights for me and I want to utilize some of that in the new live disc.

And how about a favorite show historically?

Historically? I don’t really know. A lot of the shows are really great to listen back to but I have no memory of them. One of the ones that came out recently was the vault show from Atlanta. Do you know what I’m talking about?

Yes, that’s actually one of the discs I listen to regularly [ _Rhythm of the Road: Volume One, Incident in Atlanta-11.17.00 ].

I didn’t know it was my favorite though until I listened to it. Ironically that came from the same tour as Carnival 99 probably. That was the same year wasn’t it? What year was that?

2000.

So it was in that same era as Carnival 99 and there was some really good listening and good playing during that era. That could easily be part of Carnival 99. You can tell it’s very similar and the playing is just great.

I didn’t realize that Travis lived with Tony Furtado for a while [They discuss this on stage during the show as he guests with SCI].

Yeah, there were a lot of people living at this place called Double Dig. Kang lived there, Travis lived there and Dave Watts was kind of the main guy who owned the place. It was a commune in North Boulder. And people would sleep there on the floors and have jam sessions, Boulder 90’s style.

Last question, what else is on the horizon musically for you In 2012?

I have the mountain gigs with my band and I’m sure I’ll figure out some great beer to make with somebody. Like I said, hopefully Hoopla will come out again. We’ll get it out to the festivals. And then I’ll start digging in with the String Cheese albums. I want to make sure those get out shortly. And then I need to make another solo disc…

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