Photo by Norman Sands
GS: Right, like Terence McKenna’s idea.
(Ethonobotanist McKenna theorized that the exponential growth of information throughout the 20th century is leading up to something big. He devised an equation which measures “novelty” throughout human history and reaches what McKenna dubbed “Timewave Zero” on December 21st, 2012. McKenna was unaware of the Mayan calendar, making this a compelling synchronicity. For a fascinating article by McKenna detailing this theory, click here)
MK: Yeah, exactly. And so, when I started thinking about it, it just seemed to make a lot of sense because one thing I learned in college or what I kind of decided for myself with all the information that was given to me was that we just wouldn’t be able to continue our exploitation of the planet in this way. And if you look at it in a larger perspective, and just look at what’s going on in the world and how many people are living in poverty, and how many people are starving. It just seems pretty obvious that we just can’t go on like this forever. And so I think we’re all headed toward a big, kind of psychic jump. It’s really time to start thinking in a larger perspective, looking at it like the 100th monkey thing. I think things travel amongst cognitive beings in different ways that we’re not able to understand right now because we only use like a quarter of our brain mass. Look at how other creatures on the planet communicate, I think that we could definitely start to learn how to really, empathically, kind of develop more of our higher skills so to speak.
GS: Yeah, I agree totally and it’s great to see bands starting to raise some awareness about those ideas. Another thing about you guys is that you play special places that no one else seems to play, like Sedona and Mt. Shasta.
MK: Well, what happens in these areas is they’re energy vortexes, sacred to native peoples. Shasta is one of the seven sacred sites on the planet and I’m on a mission to try and visit all of them at some point. I think that there are places that energistically affect you. You go to a place and things get brought out in you.
GS: Yeah, those Shasta shows affected me, those were just amazing. Do you guys do anything special when you’re up there at places like that?
MK: Well, my buddy Dain lives up there so I got to hang out with him. I’ve hiked up the mountain before but not in a long time, not since I was a teenager, and Travis (Michael Travis, SCI’s drummer) has gone up there a bunch. It’s definitely just a place that you go to and if you kind of just let down your guard and relax and just take it all in, it’s a place that can really kind of help with facilitating growth in your life, I think.
GS: Yeah, it’s great that you play there and give your fans a chance to visit those places and have those experiences Ok, lets see, in the band’s Evolution DVD, it mentions how one of your favorite films is Men In Black. What stands out to you in that movie?
MK: Well, you know, I think it’s just fucking hilarious. But I also think the thing that really stood out is if you look at the last scene, how they kind of drop on this image of this human in Manhattan, and they pull away and first you see the city and then, kind of get sucked through the atmosphere, and then go flying through the solar system and take a look at the galaxy I don’t think people really look at our place in the larger, universal perspective of the powers that be or the forces that kind of play on these larger fields so to speak. It always interested me to think about the perspective of not only potentially what different beings are doing. It also poked fun at a couple different things. I just actually recently saw this video called “Disclosure” where this guy Steven Greer —
GS: I saw his presentation.
(Kang is referring to The Disclosure Project, headed by Dr. Steven Greer. The videotape features a slew of retired military personnel testifying about the reality of the UFO cover up and conspiracy to suppress free energy technology. The project website is at disclosureproject.org.)
MK: Yeah, it seems like there’s a couple interesting things going on, a huge government cover up of the fact that we’ve actually been contacted by extraterrestrial beings and the forces at large just basically don’t want us to know about. So that’s an interesting phenomenon, and then the fact that, when you start thinking about it, our place, humans are so egocentric. Everything in our society is based around looking at how we are the godly ones, so to speak, that we are basically autonomous in this flying sphere. It’s just interesting to think about, because that last scene (in Men in Black), makes you think about the idea that there’s places and forces that aren’t necessarily playing us but that the perspective that we have of ourselves in this solar system, and this galaxy is so far removed from what I think is the truth, and that we are actually connected to a very, very much larger scale of events.
GS: Did you see Artificial Intelligence ?
MK: Yeah, actually I just saw that.
GS: What I thought was really interesting about that was the way the cities were underwater, just like you talk about in “Rollover.”
MK: Yeah, we definitely are kind of like the camel that wants to stick our heads in the sand to a certain degree because things are changing. If you look at the historical perspective of the planet, things can change really quickly and you know, if you have to look at the planet as an organism, we are definitely a part of it, and it’s also a larger organism. I believe that everything happens for a reason and it’s definitely an interesting time to be alive, that’s for sure!
GS: Certainly. And it looks like the jamband scene is really starting to come together. Ever since Phil Lesh came back in ’99, he’s been playing with a bunch of different bands, including you guys, and now there’s been a lot of collaboration going on. I see you guys are already going to do the Sasquatch Festival with Galactic up at The Gorge, and then Bonnaroo. How does your involvement in projects like that come about?
MK: Well, we’ve always been really interested in playing with other bands, just because we grew up out of the festival circuit, really. One of our first gigs ever was the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. We’ve also had some amazing experiences at High Sierra just getting to hang out with people, getting to share music and just party with people (laughs). I think one of the amazing things about this scene, so to speak, is it really is an alternative to a lot of the things that are going on, and it seems like a lot of young people and older people alike are getting a chance to gather, and just share space with one another in a very loving manner. Sometimes you wonder if the innocence of that is gonna die, when things get larger. There’s definitely elements it attracts which at some point get potentially negative, but amazingly enough it’s been super positive up to this point and I think it’s a testament, a testimony to people feeling like they really need a place they can call their own, where they can express their alternative views to a certain degree. I think one of those things we hope to do is provide a space where people can freak freely.
GS: Hah! Okay, so what’s the future looking like for String Cheese for this year and beyond?
MK: Well we’re just about to get back together to play these shows for Winter Carnival, and we’re actually working on a Warren Miller movie right now, which is going to combine our love of skiing and kind of the scene that grew up around Colorado, and get a chance to ski with all of our old friends. We’re going to put that out onto a DVD and a movie and potentially take it to film festivals and things like that. Then a summer tour and then we’re probably going to record another album in the fall, and take a different approach in recording
GS: A different approach how?
MK: Just looking at an album in a different way, potentially doing a lot more jamming on it, and also potentially trying to write specifically for the album and things like that. So we’re tossing around a lot of stuff right now and just looking forward to getting out there as well. It’s an interesting time for us because things are growing at a pretty rapid pace. So, we’ll see what happens
GS: And how about your partnership with John Perry Barlow, are you still working with him?
MK: Yeah, we’ve gotten to collaborate on a couple of songs. I moved to New York recently, so I’ve been staying out there, and especially right after September 11th we started collaborating a lot. It seemed to be an effortless combination of things that we believed in. So yeah, we’ve developed a good friendship since then, and he’s been kind of showing his face around our scene a little bit more. It’s been fun, he’s really a master wordsmith, he has a way with words that most just people don’t have.
Given the way the band’s scene has exponentially grown over the past few years, there should be little doubt that 2002 will be another big year for SCI. And with the jamband scene starting to gel with further and “furthur” collaboration between the major players, the vibration of musical revolution against the faltering, modern paradigm does indeed seem to be coalescing. With their combination of transcendent jamming and socially conscious vibe, the String Cheese Incident has clearly thrown their hat in the ring as a band to watch in this regard.
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