The String Cheese Incident recently released their newest album ‘Lend Me a Hand’ – a poignant yet high-spirited reflection on love, loss and resilience, and emerged as the band coped with such life-changing events as the sudden death of their close friend Jesse Aratow.

The String Cheese Incident are ramping up for their three-day New Year’s Eve celebration at Fox Theater in Oakland, CA Dec 29-31. This year marks a special milestone as the band also celebrates their 30th Anniversary together. The 30th Anniversary Incident on December 31 will deliver a deep-dive into the band’s storied, multi-faceted history together, musically weaving three separate decades of The String Cheese Incident together throughout three sets – one decade per set.

The String Cheese Incident | Photo Dylan Langille

“I felt like we were making a full novel”

Your new album, ‘Lend Me A Hand’ was released this September 8th via SCI Fidelity Records. Where was the album recorded and what was the recording experience like?

Kyle Hollingsworth: It was recorded at the SCI Sound Lab here in Boulder, Colorado. The process was very easy and smooth. Our producer, Brad Cook, had us focus a lot more on songwriting and vocal performance. It was nice to strip the music down to its roots, we did a lot of acoustic instruments.

Can you share some further words about the writing and recording aspect of the album?

I personally did some writing with Sam Beam from Iron & Wine that was amazing! A different approach for me, it certainly helped my songwriting grow.

How would you compare it to your previous? Do you feel it’s just a continuation process?

The last few releases have been collections of individual singles, and in this process, I feel like we concentrated on trying to make a concise statement, I felt like we were making a full novel, not just releasing chapters individually.

What do you want people to take away from the songs?

Hopefully people will see our ability to create a singular piece of art.

Which happens first for you, the music or the wording? What’s the songwriting process like?

For me, the music always happens first whether I’m riding a bike, hiking or working in the studio at home, then the arduous process of writing lyrics comes next, ugh.

How pleased were you with the sound of the album?

Going into this project I always hoped and envisioned that it would be a very stripped down acoustic version of SCI, I think we achieved that with Brad’s help!

What are some of your favourite artists that influenced your own style and what in particular did they employ?

As a keyboard player, I certainly was influenced by the likes of Bill Payne from Little Feat, or Herbie Hancock, musicians that played from the heart. That is something I still strive for every day, bringing yourself to the music is the key.