String Cheese Incident mandolin player Michael Kang knows a heck of a lot about music. He rambles on about reggae and bluegrass, chatters about Afro-Cuban rhythms and raves about jungle and trance.

“There’s so much going on musically, you can’t help being influenced and inspired by it,” Kang says, taking time out before rehearsal. “Even these days, you know the trance techno scene is really influencing a lot of different people. It’s definitely something that I find intriguing.”

The String Cheese Incident fuses Latin melodies, calypso and rock along with all the other aforementioned styles to create a worldly flavor of music.

When they started the band in 1993, Kang and his cohorts were killing time hitting the slopes in Telluride, Colo., while dabbling in music on the side.

“I probably cared more about skiing than I did about music back then,” Kang jokes. “Part of living in a ski town is really living for the skiing. We were fortunate to live in a town that supports a vagrant lifestyle.”

Eventually, a zeal for music prevailed, and The String Cheese Incident began devoting full time to creating it. They played bluegrass festivals and club shows, slowly making a name for themselves. Now the band calls Boulder, Colo. their home, and since the early days, they’ve mustered a faithful fan base. They’ve also been privileged to play with legendary musicians like Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh and renowned banjo player Bela Fleck.

Speaking in a barely audible voice, Kang is the type of guy who is usually reserved, but when he gets talking about a certain subject, he can’t stop. Of course, that topic is music.

“All these sounds, all over the planet are exploding,” he says excitedly. “For us it’s about maintaining our creative control. I feel very strongly about being able to do whatever it is we want whenever we wanna do it.”

They refuse to sign with a major label, instead opting to release their work on their own label, SCI Fidelity Records.

Kang says there’s nothing the band can really gain by signing with a major label.

“Granted we might not sell as many copies as we might on a major label, but at the same time, it really doesn’t matter to us,” he says. “We’re not that interested in getting on MTV. I don’t think it’s that kind of band.”

Instead, Kang wants to stay on the “creative edge,” and that’s exactly what The String Cheese Incident have done through their notoriously intense live shows.

The Incident’s performances can extend as long as four hours, complete with improvisation and jamming.

How do they stretch shows out so long?

“No problem,” Kang says laughing. “We might do a song we’ve never played before, it might be the drummer getting out his hula hoop in the crowd or it might be something completely different. You never know. We try to bring as much to the experience as possible.”

Versatility and improvisation are two elements the band holds high.

“The energy that gets created at our shows, people take home with them and take it to their lives,” Kang says. “We’re not necessarily gonna go out and play the same set every night. We try to change the experience”

The Incident uses a multitude of instruments, including piano, accordion, electric and acoustic mandolin, violin, electric and acoustic bass, guitar, drums and congas. The variety of sounds lends for a lot of opportunity for jamming.

“At any given time, in any song, you can have a moment when you can go kind of anywhere,” he explains. “Sometimes we decide that during the show, sometimes we decide it before.

Even after six years playing together, the band still feels they’re just getting the ball rolling. “We feel like we’re just getting to know each other as musicians,” Kang explains. “A lot of times when you play, you’re not even warmed up until you’ve played for a couple of hours anyway.”

The entire band is involved in the songwriting process, and with influences that span the gamut of musical genres, the Incident works to combine the sounds into one representative influence.

“Someone will bring in an idea and we’ll just kind of work the song into shape, and we’ll just toss it around and around and the song just gets organically created by alternating members of the band,” he says.

The band plans to release a live album titled “Carnival 99,” a compilation of sets from last year’s spring tour. Also, they plan to play a special New Year’s Eve concert in Portland, Ore.

For Kang, it’s all about the music and despite major labels’ attempts to entice The String Cheese Incident into inking a contract, it’s more important to preserve artistic freedom.

“The most basic Afro Cuban rhythms, or even bluegrass for that matter, it’s all traditional music that’s strongly based in dance,” he says. “It’s all a common musical experience, creative expression, letting yourself free. I guess that’s why we’re involved in it. Overall we feel really strongly about bringing in a lot of traditional rhythms … That in a nutshell is what it’s all about.”

Indeed it is.