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,
California, decided to form a band simply because they loved to play
music – Incubus (Latin for nightmare).
They continued to play and jam. In
January, 1995, they released the demo tape "Incubus." 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, they put out their first
CD. On November 1, 1995, "Fungus
Amongus" was released.
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."
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 Incubus collaborated with DJ
Greyboy to put the song "Familiar" on the "Spawn"
Soundtrack which was released on July 29th, 1997. On this CD were a
bunch of great bands – from
KoRn, to
Filter, to
Metallica.
Incubus was now being heard by
many people who had never heard them before. The band was already
writing new material for a full length CD. They took their new songs on
the road: A 1997 European tour supporting Immortal label-mates
KoRn.
This tour was a total success. Incubus played in front of more
people then they had ever before – going on stage and winning fans
one by one.
After touring, the band released the
album "S.C.I.E.N.C.E." on September 9th 1997. After the release of
"S.C.I.E.N.C.E.," the band headed out with
311 and
Sugar Ray. They
were only supposed to be on 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. While 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.
In February of 1998 the band asked
their DJ, DJ Lyfe (Gavin), to leave the band. 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.
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. After relentless work in the studio, Incubus
released "Make
Yourself" on October 26, 1999.
Immediately after the release of
"Make Yourself," the band headed on tour with
Primus and Buckethead. 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. During this time, "Pardon Me"
was being played all over the country.
They then went on the road with label-mates
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.
In its first week, "When Incubus Attacks" sold almost 40,000 copies, and scored #41 on the billboard
charts.
The band took a short break after
finishing the Ozzfest 2000 Tour, and it was during this time that the
album "Make Yourself" went platinum, pressing more than 1
Million copies.
The band went on tour with
The Deftones
and Taproot in the fall of 2000. The band re-released the album
"Fungus
Amongus" on November 7th, 2000 with the same artwork,
and track-listing as before.
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. In 1994 the band released "Closet
Cultivation."