Incubus Biography
Vocalist Brandon Boyd and drummer Jose Pasillas went to elementary school together. In middle school, they met guitarist Mike Einziger, who spent most of his time playing guitar in his bedroom; then, in high school, the trio became friends with bassist Alex Katunich, who was playing in a jazz band. In 1991, in the 10th grade, the four friends from Calabasas, CA decided to form a band simply because they loved to play music. A year later the band began playing party gigs and playing all-age clubs in the San Fernando Valley and at the Roxy on the Sunset Strip. After years of playing, in 1994 the band released "Closet Cultivation" which had the
following tracks on it:
1. Speak Free
2. Bathe In My Snot
3. Pillow Your Eyes
After which they continued to play and jam. Then on January 7th, 1995, the band released the demo tape "Incubus" with the following tracks:
1. Trouble In 421
2. Sink Beneath The Line
3. Speak Free
4. The Answer
5. Psychopsilocybin
After this the band continued to play live shows and write music and were starting to stir up the scene. A few months after their release of the demo tape, the band put out their first CD. On November 01, 1995, Fungus Amongus was released, containing:
1. You Will Be a Hot Dancer
2. Shaft!
3. Trouble in 421
4. Take Me to Your Leader
5. Medium
6. Speak Free
7. The Answer
8. Psychopsilocybin
9. Sink Beneath the Line
10. Hilikus
Then DJ Lyfe saw Incubus play live and asked if Incubus would be interested in using some of his hip-hop tracks. Lyfe joined full-time after one rehearsal. Incubus' unusual amalgamation of styles and high-energy shows, combined with its growing fan base, turned label heads and put the band in the enviable position of a bidding war.
Immortal Records emerged the winner by understanding that Incubus is a touring live band, not an out-of-the-box, hit-single sensation, and intent on building its following from the ground up. With this strategy in mind, on January 7th, 1997 the quintet released the EP Enjoy Incubus, which contained:
1. You Will Be a Hot Dancer
2. Shaft
3. Take Me to Your Leader
4. Version
5. Azwethinkweiz
6. Hilikus
Before and after the release of Enjoy Incubus the band completed several mini-tours in support of it. Touring with such bands as Far, Phunk Junkeez, Shootyz Groove, and others. Then the band collaborated with DJ Greyboy to put the song Familiar on the Spawn Soundtrack which was released on July 29th, 1997. Now, on this cd were a bunch of great bands. From Korn, to Filter, to Metallica. Incubus was being heard by many people who had never heard them before. And were already writing new material for a full length CD. They took their new songs on the road: A 1997 European tour supporting Immortal labelmates Korn. This tour was a total success. Incubus played in front of more people then they had ever before. Going on stage winning fans one by one. After touring, the band released the album SCIENCE on September 9th 1997, and this contained the tracks:
1.Redefine
2.Vitamin
3.New Skin
4.Idiot Box
5.Glass
6.Magic Medicine
7.A Certain Shade of Green
8.Favorite Things
9.Antigravity Love Song
10.Nebula
11.Deep inside
12.Calgone
After the release of SCIENCE, the band headed out with 311 and Sugar Ray, which they were only supposed to be with for the first leg of the tour. Things went so well and the response to Incubus was so great, they were asked to stay on for the remainder of the tour. Touring the US and Europe. Fans of 311 and Sugar Ray saw Incubus and were amazed. This was a tour that gained them an enormous amount of fans. Then in February of 1998 the band asked their DJ, DJ Lyfe (Gavin), to leave the band. They decided that with him in the band they could not longer be a productive family and Incubus is a family. They asked DJ Kilmore (Chris) to fill the position. After this very productive tour and DJ replacement, the band began tours with many bands, Snot, Hed(pe), System of a Down, Limp Bizkit, and others. Also, the band was part of the line up on Ozzfest 1998, and the crowds of these shows were also very receptive to the crazy styles of the band. After Ozzfest the band participated in various tours with countless bands. They then took some time off, and headed into the studio.
Now that the band has toured for almost 2 straight years, its time to give the fans a new album to become attached too. After relentless work in the studio on October 26th 1999 Incubus released "Make Yourself" with the following tracks:
1. Privilege
2. Nowhere Fast
3. Consequence
4. The Warmth
5. When It Comes
6. Stellar
7. Make Yourself
8. Drive
9. Clean
10. Battle Star
11. I Miss You
12. Pardon Me
13. Out From Under
Right after the release of Make Yourself, the band headed on tour with Primus and Buckethead. The band then had the hit single, "Pardon Me" that was being played all over the country. After releasing Pardon Me as a single and having MTV pick it up as buzzworthy and Spankin New Music the band headed out on the Sno-Core Tour with System Of a Down, and Mr.Bungle. They then went on the road with labelmates of Epic, Ultraspank. They Hit gold status with their first single, "Pardon Me," while their next single "Stellar" received afternoon airplay on MTV and was in the top ten singles in the country for a number of weeks.
The band released a New EP, titled "When Incubus Attacks." on August 22, 2000, only pressing 100,000 copies with the following tracks:
1. Pardon Me (Acoustic)
2. Stellar (Acoustic)
3. Make Yourself (Acoustic)
4. Crowded Elevator
5. My Favorite Things (Live)
6. Pardon Me (Live)
In its first week, When Incubus Attacks sold near 40,000 copies, and scored #41 on the billboard charts. The band then took a short break after finishing the Ozzfest 2000 Tour, and it was during this time that the album Make Yourself went platinum, pressing over 1 Million copies. The band went on tour with Deftones and Taproot in the fall of 2000. And to end 2000 off, the band re-released the album "Fungus Amongus" on November 7th, 2000 with the same artwork, and tracklisting as before.
To start off 2001 the band released the video and single for, " Drive" on January 15th. And appeared on MADtv on February 3rd. Shortly after, the band plans to head into the studio to work on the follow-up to Make Yourself.