Incubus (band)

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Incubus

Incubus is a five-piece alternative rock band based out of Calabasas, California. Members include Brandon Boyd (vocals and percussion), Mike Einziger (guitar), Ben Kenney (bass), Jose Pasillas (drums) and Chris Kilmore (turntables).

History

Beginning

Brandon Boyd, Jose Pasillas & Mike Einziger met in elementary school. The former duo had been friends since 4th grade, and they met Mike in 6th grade. The trio spent most of their time surfing and skateboarding initially, but eventually, in Calabasas High School, Brandon, Jose & Mike formed a band with Alex Katunich at age 15. After struggling to decide on a band name, Mike found the word "incubus" in a thesaurus, and adopted it as the band's new name (the word is actually the name for a mythological demon that would rape sleeping women). Mike has jokingly said, "At 15 years old, Incubus seemed like a decent band name, and we planned on only keeping it temporarily until we came up with something better, and we've been trying to get rid of it ever since." Incubus immediately began writing original music and started to play more and more frequently, graduating from parties to small clubs. While in the 11th grade, Mike found a $100 bill on the ground, and with that money, the band did their first "Pay to Play" gig in Hollywood at the Roxy. They also played dozens of shows at other sunset strip clubs such as the Whiskey and The Troubadour. Astonishingly, many of these performances were sold out.

Early career

In 1993, Incubus met Mark Shoffner (tour manager) and Jim Wirt (local record producer and musician, who owned a small recording studio called 4th Street Recording, in Santa Monica, Ca.). Wirt offered to record demos for the band during unbooked studio times. Shoffner became the band's manager and their demo tapes were sent out to record labels with the hopes of landing a record deal. However, due to lack of label interest, Incubus released their first full length album on their own label, titled Fungus Amongus in 1996. It was a compilation of all the demo recordings they had done between 1993 and 1995, and Einziger paid for the first pressing of 1,000 disks out of his own pocket.

In 1995, the group met Gavin Koppell. He had seen the band play live and asked if they would be interested in using some of his tracks, which incorporated the use of turntables. Gavin joined full-time after his first rehearsal. Shortly thereafter, Incubus' unusual amalgamation of styles and high-energy shows, combined with its growing fan base, attracted labels and put the band in the enviable position of a bidding war. Incubus finally landed a record deal with Immortal/Epic Records. Touring throughout 1996, Incubus established themselves as a top draw live act, gaining a dedicated following all over the United States. To start off the new year, Immortal Records released Incubus' EP entitled Enjoy Incubus on January 7 1997. The EP featured re-recordings of four tracks from Fungus Amongus, plus two recently written tracks. These were the first recordings to include the newly acquired Gavin Koppell aka 'DJ Lyfe'.

After the release of Enjoy Incubus, the band completed several mini-tours in its support. Their first major tour was with Korn in Europe.

S.C.I.E.N.C.E.

S.C.I.E.N.C.E., Incubus's second studio album, was released on September 9 1997. "We like it when our stuff sounds as weird as possible," said Mike. "When we signed our record deal and started working on this album, we were worried that someone would come along and tell us to hold back, and try and make our songs a little more palatable. But that never happened. They kinda just said, 'Do whatever you want'. With that kind of support, we just let everything kind of run wild." Said Brandon Boyd, "S.C.I.E.N.C.E. was done in six weeks, straight through, at 4th Street Recording. Very different experience, but very important on this band’s existence." True to form, Incubus was asked to play a handful of dates with 311 in support of the album. They had only expected to tour with them for 2 weeks, but things went well and 311 asked them to stay on for the remainder of the tour, totalling six weeks of arena-level shows.

In the February of 1998 the band asked Gavin Koppell to leave the band due to personal and creative differences. Jarid Auston Matthews said that "After letting go of Gavin, I wasn't even sure if I wanted to acquire another member into the band, but then we met Chris and my opinion instantly changed." A friend recommended they check out Chris Kilmore of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to fill Gavin's position. The band loved his style and attitudes on life, and asked him to join the band permanently. After a very productive first tour with the band Far, Incubus began tours with many other bands such as System of a Down and Black Sabbath, and participated in festivals such as The Ozzfest and the Warped Tour. Janina

Make Yourself

After constant touring throughout 1998, and after selling over 100,000 copies of S.C.I.E.N.C.E. without the support of radio or MTV, Incubus then took some time off to record their new album, Make Yourself. After just 2 weeks in the studio with producer Jim Wirt, the band was unhappy with the recordings and opted to continue recording without a producer. After another 3 weeks of recording, REM/Nirvana producer Scott Litt took an interest in their songs and started taking part in the recording sessions, mainly focusing on songs like Drive and Stellar. According to the band, Scott's involvement in the record came mostly during the mixing process. Make Yourself was released on October 26 1999. Right after their album's release, the band went on tour with Primus and Buckethead, a tour which lasted for the remainder of the year. The band also put out the single, "Pardon Me", which actually was not well-received by the radio at the time. Brandon and Jarid came up with the idea of doing a live acoustic version of Pardon Me at the very few radio stations who were showing interest in the band. But as soon as they did this, word began to travel quickly and many radio stations began to play the acoustic version of the song, including the highly influential Los Angeles radio giant KROQ. This is where the commercial success of Incubus officially began, and as a result, radio began to play the original recorded version of Pardon Me. In response, Incubus made a video for "Pardon Me", and released a six song EP titled When Incubus Attacks (Vol. 1) on August 22 2000. The EP contained the acoustic version of "Pardon Me". In its first week, the EP sold nearly 40,000 copies, and scored #41 on the Billboard Album Charts. To start off 2000, the band headed out on Tour with System of a Down, and Mr. Bungle until March, at which point they embarked on a headline tour in clubs until April. Due to the success of the 2 versions of "Pardon Me", Make Yourself hit Gold Status (500,000 copies sold) in April of 2000. Incubus continued to tour overseas, and returned home at the end of May to go on a tour of the United States with long time friends 311. The second single released from Make Yourself was "Stellar". The video received afternoon airplay on MTV and TRL, becoming a huge success on Modern Rock Chart. In July, Incubus were once again on the Ozzfest bill, until the late summer.

The band then took a short break after finishing the Ozzfest 2000 Tour, playing two acoustic shows at Artist Direct Studios. On October 5 2000, Make Yourself went Platinum (1,000,000 copies sold), and shortly after, the band went on tour with Deftones. The band re-released Fungus Amongus on November 7 2000. To finish off the year 2000, Incubus played back-to-back dates at the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas. They performed with a full orchestra and acoustic instruments.

To start off 2001 the band released the third single "Drive" from Make Yourself on January 15. It moved quickly up to the top of the Modern Rock Charts, eventually hitting the #1 spot. The single also found a more mainstream audience and received enough rotation to hit the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.

Morning View

The band took a break during the first part of 2001 before returning to recording in Malibu, California, in a beautiful beach side mansion, to record their follow up album, which would later become known as Morning View. They hit the road with Hundred Reasons in Europe from June until the first week of July. At this time, the band was invited to play with the Area Festival which featured Moby, Outkast, The Roots, and Nelly Furtado. Also, in July Make Yourself went Double Platinum, selling 2 million copies. In August, the band got to play their first shows in Australia and Japan, before returning to the United States to begin their long awaited headlining tour with long-time friends from California, Hoobastank (formerly Hoobustank). Meanwhile, the band's video for "Drive" was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award in the category Best Group Video.

Continuing to tour, Incubus released their first single "Wish You Were Here" from their upcoming record, Morning View, on August 21 2001. The single instantly began to climb up the Modern Rock charts, reaching #2 by early September. The music video was released at the end of that month, after being re-cut to make it more viewable in the wake of the 9/11 disaster. The video earned viewings on MTV's TRL, VH1, and Much Music. On October 23 of the same year, the band released their third full length major label album. The name was taken from the street on which the band's recording studio was situated. Incubus continued to headline dates after its release, and "Wish You Were Here" continued to sit among the top 10 on Billboards Modern Rock Charts. Morning View debuted on the Billboard Top 200 at the #2 spot (440,000 copies were sold in its first week). This was the highest ever placement for Incubus. At the same time, "Wish You Were Here" was at #2 on the Modern Rock Charts, and "Drive" sat at #48 on the Hot 100 chart. The band won an award for Billboard's Modern Rock Single of the Year for "Drive". By December, Morning View was certified platinum, "Wish You Were Here" was #4 on modern rock charts, and Morning View was #38 on top 200. On December 11, Incubus released When Incubus Attacks (Vol. 2), a DVD that featured music videos for "Take Me to Your Leader", "A Certain Shade of Green", "Pardon Me", "Stellar", "Drive", "I Miss You", and "Anti-Gravity Love Song", live footage, backstage video, and more.

To begin 2002, Incubus was #9 with "Drive", #12 with "Stellar", #20 with "Wish You Were Here", #75 with "Nice To Know You" and #31 with the album Morning View. On January 24 2002, MTV's TRL premiered the "Nice to Know You" video, and Boyd called in from Europe where the band was on tour with 311 and Hoobastank. The band was then featured on MTV's Becoming, TRL, Jay Leno, and played the Letterman show on February 14 2002, all before heading off to play dates in Japan and Australia for the remainder of February and March. While in Sydney, the band shot the video for their next single, "Warning", from March 7 until March 11. The band then released the DVD Morning View Sessions on May 28, shortly before playing the Weenie Roast on June 8 for Los Angeles and Orange County based radio station 106.7 KROQ. To start off the fall months, Incubus released a single for "Circles" in early September (though this was a radio only single), and there were no plans for a video. Shortly after in September and October, the band went out for a long United States tour that began on August 31 in Reno, Nevada.

Incubus issued a limited edition version of Morning View on October 1 to coincide with their fall headlining tour. The new version of the album contained a DVD dubbed the "Morning After View Session". It featured the U.K. video for the group's track "Are You In?", tour footage, new artwork, behind the scenes material, and more. Incubus' last performance in 2002 (on November 1) brought several eras for the band to a close. Their last show of the tour would be their last show touring behind 2001's Morning View, as the band looked on to playing new music. The show would also prove to be their last with bass player Alex Katunich, who left the band due to personal differences. Katunich was quietly replaced by former The Roots guitarist Ben Kenney, who began working with Einziger on new songs for a psychedelic funk project called Time-Lapse Consortium. Incubus ended the year on the charts, having "Wish You Were Here" (#10), "Warning" (#16), and "Nice To Know You" (#26) on the Alternative Rock Format Chart, joining "Wish You Were Here" (#25) and "Nice To Know You" (#36). Morning View was the 40th best selling album of 2002.

A Crow Left Of The Murder...

On January 6 2003, the band began writing for their next record. They were also featured on Much Music's "Celebrity Taste Maker" on January 24. Einziger, Kenney and Pasillas appeared at the Roxy Theatre on January 24 with Suzi Katayama and Time Lapse Consortium. The act, which featured an 11 piece orchestra, also included Neal Evans of Soulive. Suzi Katayama had worked with Incubus in the past on orchestral arrangements, specifically, in "Aqueous Transmission" and 2000s Almost Acoustic X-Mas performance. The show was the first performance of the group, which described its music as "an instrumental voyage into the world of psychedelic funk." On February 7, the band began renegotiations on their record contract. The band, which had been signed to Epic/Immortal for seven years, cited the fact that state law limits the amount of time that an artist can be bound to a company. The band had been signed to the label for 7 years, and used California's "Seven Years Law" as a negotiating tool with Epic/Immortal. After releasing 3 highly successful albums, the band had been compensated poorly compared to the revenue that they had generated for Sony. The band entered a lawsuit against their label in order to break from their contract, to which Sony responded with a lawsuit of their own.

On March 1, Einziger, along with Scott Litt, Dave Holdredge, and Rick Will, were nominated for a Grammy in the "Best Engineered Album (Non Classical)" category, for their work on Morning View. On April 3, after weeks of circulating rumors about Alex Katunich's departure from the band, an official announcement was made by the band. A decision had been reached amongst members of Incubus in a face-to-face meeting at the end of the Morning View tour to discuss his involvement in the band. The band said that the split had become necessary due to "irreconcilable creative differences". Almost immediately after the announcement of a new bass player, the 2003 Incubus v. Sony case had been settled. The two sides settled on a new contract that delivers three albums to Epic/Immortal with an option on a fourth. The first album would be worth $8 million in advances to the band, with another $2.5 million for each one thereafter.

In the Summer of 2003, the band was booked to play the newly resurrected Lollapalooza circuit alongside Jane's Addiction, Audioslave, Jurassic 5, and Queens of the Stone Age. On this tour, they debuted two new songs, "Megalomaniac" and "Pistola". In October, the band released Live at Lollapalooza, whose proceeds went to their Make Yourself Foundation. The album featured the song "Pistola", which hadn't been released at the time. After its release the band set out to play the 17th annual Bridge School Benefit on October 25 and 26th at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California. Neil Young organized the annual concert, which aides the Bridge School in its outreach to children with severe speech and physical impairments. Incubus performed the acoustic show along with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Willie Nelson, Pearl Jam, Counting Crows, Wilco, Dashboard Confessional, and others. "A Crow Left of the Murder" and "Talk Shows on Mute" were debuted during the acoustic event.

By December the new album, produced by Brendan O'Brien (Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Rage Against the Machine) was completed and scheduled for release. Titled A Crow Left of the Murder, was to be an enhanced CD with behind-the-scenes video. In the videos, Einziger and Boyd discussed their new songs. Einziger described them as "like the old shit, but older. It's very different. It's very energetic and fast, and a lot of it is more technical. I guess maybe in the vein of more of our older songs; they don't sound like our older songs. They are more exploratory." On December 15, the first single, "'Megalomaniac", was released. It raised controversy when it was said to be an attack on the Bush administration, and was banned from daytime view on MTV (despite the band saying that it was not an attack on a particular person, rather a comment on some people's negative attitudes). However, the band was actually pleased with this nighttime viewing restriction. Says Boyd, "When we heard our video had been relegated to late night rotation, I think that all of us were secretly like, 'Yes!'". Pasillas reflected Boyd's sentiments, saying, "I think it's okay if people think that we're trying to make a political statement. Whatever anyone conjures up or takes from our music is good; I mean, our point is to get people thinking."

File:IncubusACrowLeftEra.jpg
Current band lineup: Boyd, Einziger, Kenney, Kilmore, Pasillas.

A Crow Left of the Murder... was released in 2004, showcasing a new turn for the band. It combined the more experimental leanings of S.C.I.E.N.C.E. and Fungus Amongus with the more mainstream rock of Make Yourself and Morning View. The second single released was "Talk Shows on Mute", featuring a video that was inspired by George Orwell's 1984. After this release, Incubus hit the road again. As both "Talk Shows on Mute" and the earlier single, "Megalomaniac", reflect, Incubus' new album was a very politically oriented album. It reflected many of the band's political views, stressing critical thought, independence from the media, and nonviolence. Said Boyd during an interview in Lisboa, "I think that the concept of war is archaic to a fault; it's completely outdated, and we need a new way of resolving dilemmas in the world." Incubus toured worldwide in 2004 with bands including Ben Kweller, The Walkmen, Hundred Reasons, The Music, Brand New and Sparta amongst others to promote their new album. One song left off the album, the 27-minute long instrumental entitled "The Odyssey", was later featured on the Halo 2 soundtrack.

In November 2004, the band released a live DVD entitled Alive at Red Rocks, filmed Colorado during their world tour for A Crow Left of the Murder. Along with the DVD came a bonus CD featuring five tracks, including a studio version of live favorite "Pantomime", a movement from "The Odyssey" called "Follow", and the U.K. B-Side "Monuments and Melodies". Two live tracks were also included.

In December 2004, at a gig in Los Angeles the band played The Police hits "De Do Do Do De Da Da Da", "Message in a Bottle" & "Roxanne" with Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers from the former band.

Light Grenades

File:IncubusLightGrenades.gif
'Light Grenades' album cover.

In the spring of 2005, the band went back into the studio with Brendan O'Brien. Three new songs were released in late July 2005 as part of the soundtrack album to the Sony film Stealth. The track "Make a Move", was released to radio in late May, and song reached #17 (Modern Rock Charts) and #19 (Mainstream Rock Charts). Fan reaction towards "Make a Move" was lukewarm, but the other two new songs, "Admiration" and "Neither of Us Can See" (a duet with Chrissie Hynde), seemed to be much more well-liked. A fourth song is said to have been recorded, but there has been no word on the details of the song.

In January 2006, the first of a series of Incubus podcasts was released by the band via internet. Among other things, the podcast featured the band's thoughts about their 2005 South American tour, some information on their new album, a mash-up of "Drive" and Tupac's "Better Dayz", a cover of Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun", and a few live interludes.

In May 2006, the second Incubus podcast was released via internet. It contained many live covers of other bands, the favorite among many fans being the cover of Alice in Chains' "Would?". It also stated that many titles for the new album were being considered. Jose Pasillas, Incubus' drummer, jokingly said it could be titled "Jose and the Silhouettes".

In November 2006, a third Incubus podcast was released and it featured Brandon and Mike providing commentary to tracks on the album as they listened to it.

On August 1 2006, their latest album was confirmed to be titled Light Grenades and confirmed to be produced by past producer, Brendan O'Brien. A couple of weeks after, the release date was confirmed to be Tuesday, November 28. Incubus will be going on tour around the United States to support this album in January/February 2007 with Albert Hammond, Jr. The worldwide tour will begin March and dates have been confirmed in Portugal, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Netherlands, France, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. China, Russia, and India have also been confirmed as nations that the tour will stop at.

On November 16, 2006 both "Dig" and "Love Hurts" were featured on the band's MySpace page.

On November 17, 2006 the album was leaked on the internet via several online hosting and sharing services.

Personnel

Current Members

Brandon Boyd - Vocals / Percussion (1991 - Present)
Mike Einziger - Guitar (1991 - Present)
Jose Pasillas - Drums (1991 - Present)
Chris Kilmore - Turntables / Keyboards / Sound Effects (1998 - Present)
Ben Kenney - Bass (2003 - Present)

Past Members

Dirk Lance - Bass (1991-2002)
Gavin Koppel - Turntables (1996-1998)

Discography

Main article: Incubus discography

Albums

EPs

External links

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