Jam band the String Cheese Incident [ tickets ], which will spend the holidays playing various gigs on the East Coast, will begin recording its fifth studio album in December.

The band plans to hole up at a private studio in the hills of its home base of Boulder, CO, to work on the new set. Malcom Burns (Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris) has been tapped to produce, and the band hopes to complete the album in early 2005. No release date has been announced.

Meanwhile, SCI is set to play two shows over Thanksgiving weekend in the Philadelphia suburb of Camden, NJ, and will ring out 2004 with three New York City shows, ending with a New Year's Eve concert at Radio City Music Hall. Details are in the itinerary below.

Unlike past SCI New Year's Eve gigs--which have sported elaborate themes and audience participation--"[t]his year the band is forgoing the hoopla (don't worry--it's not gone for good), instead opting for a good 'ole rock & roll concert," according to a press release.