Incubus

Incubus is an American rock ^{rock music} band, from Calabasas ^{Calabasas, California} , California. The band was formed in 1991 by vocalist Brandon Boyd, lead guitarist Mike Einziger, and drummer Jose Pasillas while enrolled in high school. The band expanded to include bassist Alex "Dirk Lance" Katunich ^{Alex Katunich} , and Gavin "DJ Lyfe" Koppell ^{Gavin Koppell} , both of whom were eventually replaced by bassist Ben Kenney, and DJ Kilmore ^{Chris Kilmore} respectively.

Incubus has received both critical acclaim and commercial success, reaching multi-platinum sales, as well as releasing several highly successful singles ^{singles (music)} . The band started branching out creatively and earned mainstream recognition with the release of their 1999 album Make Yourself. In 2001, Incubus became hugely successful with the single "Drive ^{Drive (Incubus song)} " and their follow up album Morning View. Their latest studio album, Light Grenades, debuted at #1 in 2006 and has received Gold certification in the U.S. Incubus released their first greatest hits album Monuments and Melodies in June 2009, accompanied by a tour of the United States and Canada.

 
Beginnings, Fungus Amongus, and Enjoy Incubus (1991—1997)

Vocalist Boyd, drummer Pasillas, bassist Alex Katunich and guitarist Einziger began playing together when they were in tenth grade. Einziger contacted Joanne Stanulonis, a well known music and math teacher who was always working with school age musical acts, usually on the set or in the studio or on tour. Joanne had just finished touring with Steve Vai's teenage musical prodigies, "Bad4Good." With her connections to the music industry and the savoir faire to book minor aged acts on Sunset Strip, Joanne booked Incubus at The Roxy, The Troubadour, and The Whiskey before they graduated highschool. Through Joanne's friendship with Producer Jim Wirt and his wife Kathleen, Joanne arranged free recording and studio time at 4th Street Recording. It was there "Fungus Amongus" was produced and recorded. In 1995, Gavin Koppell (known by stage name DJ Lyfe) joined them. The band's first major-label release was 1997's six-track EP Enjoy Incubus, created so the group would have something to sell while touring with Korn in Europe.


S.C.I.E.N.C.E. (1997—1998)

S.C.I.E.N.C.E., Incubus' second studio album, was released on September 9, 1997, and Incubus opened for bands like Korn, 311 ^{311 (band)} , and Sublime ^{Sublime (band)} . DJ Kilmore (first name Chris) replaced DJ Lyfe. On August 4, 2007, Incubus played on the first day at Baltimore's Virgin Festival along with bands such as The Police and Beastie Boys.

Michael Einziger had been suffering from Carpal tunnel syndrome and although he had an operation that has corrected the problem, he needed to recuperate for a few months, hence recent tour plans were postponed. Incubus apologized to fans and continued the tour in the summer and autumn.

In February and March 2008, Incubus hit the road again starting in New Zealand and headlining the Soundwave Festival in Australia alongside The Offspring and Alexisonfire, and toured Asia performing to sell-out crowds. In Singapore, they met fans at a Meet and Greet session at Changi Airport and performed at Fort Canning Hill.
In April, Incubus performed at the Festival Imperial in Costa Rica, along with the bands The Smashing Pumpkins and Duran Duran, and later in Venezuela at the Poliedro de Caracas.
Incubus will also be performing a number of shows throughout Europe this summer including the Rock am Ring and Rock im Park Festivals in Germany, the Nova Rock Festival in Austria, Pinkpop Festival in the Netherlands and the Download Festival in England. In July 2008, the band played in a VH1 tribute to the Who alongside Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam and The Flaming Lips.


Hiatus (2008)

In April 2008 the band took a break from touring and recording while its members concentrated on school, family and other activities. Brandon Boyd enrolled in a university art program, while guitarist Mike Einziger went to Harvard music school to study composition. Drummer José Pasillas was also "having a baby, so there's a lot of normal life stuff going on right now—school, babies, mortgages," Boyd said. "I'm of the mind to say it wouldn't be a bad thing to disappear for a year or two years," he said. "A lot of people would say culture moves too fast and you need to remind people, but I would argue there's not any rush."


Monuments and Melodies and seventh studio album (2008—present)


In mid January 2009, Incubus posted a video to their official site, describing what each band member was currently occupied with (eg. Mike Einziger's experiences studying music at Harvard University) in the form of letters to each other. The resolution of the video was that the band was planning on getting back together soon, excited to create new music with their diverse experiences over their respite..

On March 11, 2009, Incubus posted an update to their official site detailing the new Greatest Hits album, Monuments and Melodies. The first single for the album is "Black Heart Inertia" expected on April 7, 2009 with the album coming two months later on June 16, 2009. Disc one of the album includes the new singles "Black Heart Inertia" and "Midnight Swim" as well as the top radio hits of the last decade. Then Disc 2 of the album contains songs that have not been released officially on an album, or were rejected demos on prior albums, as well as an acoustic version of "A Certain Shade of Green," and a cover of the Prince ^{Prince (musician)} song "Let's Go Crazy." The band also announced many confirmed dates for a Summer Amphitheater Tour of the US.

On March 26, 2009, it was announced that Incubus would be a performing at the second annual Mile High Music Festival. The band is scheduled to play during the first day of the two day event, which is held at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado.
On April 1, 2009, the band posted a fake "making of" video for their upcoming single, "Black Heart Inertia." In the video, Brandon and his double "swapped places". Brandon fetched coffee for his double, and his double also imitated Christian Bale when the DP annoyed him, shouting at and violently chasing him out off of the set. After the short film, the first full stream of "Black Heart Inertia" was uploaded, clocking in at 4:17. On April 2, the full song was streamed on the band's official site. The song has peaked (to this date) at #7 on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart, making it the band's 15th Top 10 standing on the list.

On June 16, 2009, the official Monuments and Melodies Greatest hits CD was released to the public. The first CD includes singles of the previous albums and the second CD includes rarities and music never released on any albums.

On June 25, 2009, Monuments and Melodies opened at #5 on the Billboard Music Charts, this is their 4th album reaching at least #5 on the charts.

On July 1, 2009, Boyd stated to North County Times, "We are definitely going to be writing ... in hopes of putting out a record sometime in 2010. That's the hope. We can never force anything. I definitely have the suspicion that we're going to get on the road together this summer, and we're just going to start playing and stuff is going to start brewing, and we're going to light that fire again."Over the course of their career, Incubus has utilized elements from a variety of genres and styles; with many critics praising the band's ambition, it has also made them difficult to correctly classify, though most conclude that Incubus is, at its basis, an alternative rock band. The band has used many unique instruments, including a djembe, sitar, didgeridoo, and bongos ^{Bongo drum} on many of their earlier tracks and during live performances, and with the use of a pipa (played by Einziger) in the song "Aqueous Transmission". The pipa was lent to the band by guitarist Steve Vai.;Current members
*Brandon Boyd - lead vocals, rhythm guitar, percussion ^{Percussion instrument} (1991-present)
*Mike Einziger - lead guitar, piano, backing vocals ^{backing vocalist} (1991-present)
*Jose Pasillas II ^{Jose Pasillas} - drums ^{drum kit} , percussion (1991-present)
*Chris Kilmore - turntables ^Turntablism , keyboards ^{keyboard instrument} (1998-present)
*Ben Kenney - bass guitar, backing vocals (2003-present)

;Former members
*Dirk Lance - bass (1991 – 2003)
*Gavin Koppell - turntables, keyboards (1995 – 1998);Studio albums
* Fungus Amongus (1995)
* S.C.I.E.N.C.E. (1997)
* Make Yourself (1999)
* Morning View (2001)
* A Crow Left of the Murder... (2004)
* Light Grenades (2006)


Number-one singles