But we all know each other's playing styles, and some of each other's tunes, so it'll work out just fine. It'll be fun. Seems a far cry from the days when bands were in frequent, if friendly, competition with each other for limited local stage time, angling for a shot at the major label deal that would provide a ticket out of the ups and downs of the local music scene, which alternated between bountiful and anemic. Most of us weren't around here in those days, so we don't really have firsthand experience with the local scene being all that competitive. We all want to see each other succeed and do well.
Any competition is such an ego-based thing, anyway.
Actually, the hardest part about pulling this thing off was just getting everyone in town at the same time. With the success that String Cheese has had, we've just been on the road so much over the years, and I know the other guys are getting to that point as well. I think we did 230 shows in 1998, and while it's great to get that amount of work, you do miss out on things close to home. But there' s a different kind of discipline necessary to make a great CD, and we're pretty much at that point where that's the kind of discipline we're looking for. You need time away, to write and make great songs, and that's what we've been concentrating on the last year.