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The core members of the band met at a very early age. Vocalist Brandon Boyd and drummer Jose Pasillas met in the 4th grade of elementary school, at age 9. In the 6th grade of middle school, at age 11, the two of them became friends with guitarist Michael Einziger. The 3 of them spent time surfing and skateboarding together and shared many school classes with each other. They had no idea that they would later in life go on to sell millions of records and travel around the world playing music. In their 10th grade year of high school, at age 15, they met Bassist Alex Katunich and began to write songs together and were asked to play at a friends backyard birthday celebration....But the 4 friends were without a band name. Michael found the word Incubus in a thesaurus next to the word "spirit". Michael has 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, Michael 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. Many of these shows were sold-out, a very rare feat for an unsigned local band.
In 1993, while the band was still in high school, Incubus met Mark Shoffner and Jim Wirt. Mark Shoffner was a tour manager, and Jim Wirt a local record producer and musician who owned a small recording studio called 4th Street Recording, in Santa Monica, Ca. Jim offered to record demos for the band during unbooked studio time. 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 for a couple of years, they were unsuccessful in getting the attention of record labels. The record companies thought that Incubus was a long way from becoming a signable rock act. So Incubus decided to put a record out themselves. Incubus released their first full length album on their own label, titled Fungus Amongus. 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.
The liner notes for Fungus Amongus states that Incubus tries to mimic their own influences, which is specifically noted to Primus, Mr. Bungle, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Incubus, later in their career in 2004, were able to share the stage with Michael Balzary (also known as Flea), renowned bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, as he played trumpet alongside the band. Balzary would also play trumpet on the band's epic piece, "The Odyssey". Ironically, Incubus has also garnered more mainstream attention than Primus and Mr. Bungle.
Later In 1995, they met Gavin Koppel, 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. The band members were skeptical at first, but Einziger said that he saw potential in what Gavin could sonically offer to the band, and 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, turned label heads and put the band in the enviable position of a bidding war. Incubus finally landed a record deal and Immortal/Epic Records emerged as the winner, understanding that Incubus was a touring live band, not an out-of-the-box, hit-single sensation, and that they were intent on building their fan base from the ground up. 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 Koppel.
After the release of Enjoy Incubus, the band completed several mini-tours in its support. Their first major tour, with Korn in Europe, became one of the greatest opportunities for Incubus to increase their already growing fan base. Incubus were playing in front of more people than ever before, winning fans from the stage one by one.
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 so well and reception was so great that 311 asked them to stay on for the remainder of the tour, totalling six weeks of arena-level shows. A huge step in furthering Incubus' career.
In the February of 1998 the band asked Gavin Koppell to leave the band. They had decided that with him in the band, they could not longer be a productive music group. This came from personal and creative differences. Michael Einziger 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, Penn. to fill Gavin's position. The band loved his style and attitudes on life, and asked him to join the band permanently. Though he only had a few days to learn the songs, most fans accepted the change with open arms once they came to realize how talented he was. After a very productive tour 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.
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 and after relentless work in the studio, 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-recieved by the radio at the time. Brandon and Michael 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, thus breathing new life into a single that months earlier appeared to be dead in the water. In response, Incubus made a video for Pardon Me that MTV picked as "Buzzworthy" and "Spankin' New Music", 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, which could be largely credited for the new success of the single. 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 "Pardon Me", "Make Yourself" hit Gold Status (500,000 copies sold) in April of 2000. The whole time, Incubus continued to tour, this time overseas and then returned home at the end of May to go back 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 once again went out on the Ozzfest, this time with friends Queens of the Stone Age, neither band fitting in with the rest of the ozzfest lineup. Einziger said "At the time we just felt like we needed to play in front of as many people as possible, even though we felt like we didn't fit on the bill. We would play a cover of "Like A Virgin (Madonna)" and people would start yelling at us and getting mad, but i thought it was fun. I would look over to the side of the stage and see Josh (Homme) from Queens of the Stone Age laughing his ass off. It was awesome! I think we did that every day for like 2 months!"
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. Due to the growing number of fans searching for the band's impossible-to-find independent album, Fungus Amongus, the band re-released the album with the same artwork and track listing as before 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. During the second night Boyd said, "I think we took this acoustic Christmas a little too seriously."
To start off 2001 the band released the third single off Make Yourself on January 15. The single, Drive, took off shortly thereafter. 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. The band took a break for a while during the first part of 2001 before returning to a studio in Malibu, California to record the follow up album to Make Yourself (which would become known as Morning View). They finally 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 from their upcoming record, Morning View, on August 21, 2001. It was called "Wish You Were Here". 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, their single, Wish You Were Here, was at #2 on the Modern Rock Charts, and Drive sat at #48 on the Hot 100 chart. Incubus then performed their new single Wish You Were Here on the David Letterman show on November 1, 2001. The band won an award for Billboard's Modern Rock Single of the Year for Drive, and played Wish You Were Here at the award show. By December, Morning View was certified platinum, the video for Wish You Were Here was at #8 on MTV TRL, #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 autumn 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.
On January 6, 2003, the band began writing for their next record. They were featured on Much Music's "Celebrity Taste Maker" on January 24, though one would have to assume that this was pre-taped since it featured Katunich and not Kenney. 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 like the one 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, in the midst of this change and renewal, the band made a decision to force their record label into renegotiations on their record contract. The band, which has been signed to Epic/Immortal for seven years, cites 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, lost the Grammy in the "Best Engineered Album (Non Classical)" category, for their work on Morning View to the Norah Jones camp. 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". However, Katunich has openly admitted in the past that some relationships have been difficult, saying "Brandon and I used to fight almost every day because I was not a morning person. First thing in the morning, don't greet me with a smile and a 'Hi! How are ya?' For, like, two years non-stop, he would do that. I was like, 'Oh my God, you've got to be deliberately doing this to drive me crazy!'" Evidence of this tension can be seen during the video of the band performing Circles live during the Morning View Sessions. Right before the song, Brandon sprays Alex with a breath freshener, and appears to miss his mouth. Alex looks visibly upset. With this and other evidence of friction (Glass was supposedly inspired by Katunich), it would seem that personality differences between band members eventually became difficult enough that no amount of "band therapy" could mend them. On April 3, 2003, the band announced that Alex Katunich would be replaced on the bass by Ben Kenney. 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.
