Members of Incubus and more sat down to provide an oral history of their 2x multi-platinum album “Make Yourself“, which they have been touring on the 20th anniversary of lately. Speaking to Grammy.com, the band detailed the touring on ‘Ozzfest‘ that preceded the record, distancing themselves from “S.C.I.E.N.C.E.“, the creation of certain songs, adjusting to fame and more.
Some excerpts from the feature can be found below, with the full read available here.
On touring ‘Ozzfest 98‘:
Chris Kilmore: “[Ozzfest] was like summer camp for rock and rollers. A lot of things happened on that tour that you definitely could not get away with today. All of us are pretty respectful guys with parents that taught us morals, but we were like, wow, this could get crazy if we let it get out of control.”
Jose Pasillas: “We saw crazy shit go down that I think would make anybody feel uncomfortable, we were [like] freshman in school watching the seniors go crazy. But it didn’t really shake us on our beliefs and how we viewed the world, we knew what we wanted to be and what we didn’t want to be.”
Brandon Boyd: “It was wild. The internet existed but not in the way it does now. A lot of stuff was taken on 35mm disposable cameras, so there’s ridiculous pictures of those, “I dare you to…” moments. I never partied very much so there was probably a lot of stuff that happened that was unbeknownst to me, but I don’t regret not participating in that way. I’ve always been more of a quiet observer.”
Mike Einziger: “That tour was us, System Of A Down, Tool, Megadeth and many others. It was heavy. We all liked heavy music, we all grew up listening and playing heavy music, but we wanted to be different to the male, aggressive, testosterone-fueled music that was happening at that time. So ‘Make Yourself‘ was our attempt at going a different path.”
On “Drive” hitting it big:
Boyd: “The album cycle was done. We’d finished touring ‘Make Yourself‘ and we were very actively working on what would become ‘Morning View‘. Our heads were in a different place, so when that song started getting played on television it was an unexpected surprise.”
Einziger: “We toured behind ‘Make Yourself‘ and we sold about a million albums. I remember when the album went platinum. ‘Drive‘ came out after that and on the back of that we sold another million albums. It was a really exciting time for us, the success just kept piling up and it all made perfect sense to me at the time, but looking back on it now I kind of can’t believe it.”
On how the audiences changed following their mainstream success:
Kilmore: “During ‘S.C.I.E.N.C.E‘ our crowd was all teenage kids wearing black and they were all men. Once ‘Pardon Me‘ started getting some traction the crowd turned into half-girl crowds. Then when ‘Stellar‘ and ‘Drive‘ came out, those half-girl crowds became all screaming teenage girls in the front row.
Boyd: “It was very interesting. I never knew what it felt like to be objectified, and so after I had my shirt off on television, if I didn’t do it at shows you’d hear women yelling, “Take your f**king shirt off.”
It was an interesting experience, but I just kind of rolled with it. A lot of undergarments were coming on stage around that time. What the message is, where young women, or women of all ages don’t feel like they need to be wearing their undergarments, the logic behind it, it was a very unusual thing. The other fascinating thing is, like, did they bring an extra pair with them?
It’s underwear, how did they get those off in the audience? Some magical ‘Zoolander‘ trick? I remember in the original ‘Zoolander‘ movie: in the walkoff scene where Hansel puts his hands down his pants on the runway and gets out of his underwear, I’ve always assumed that’s how women were getting out of their undergarments and throwing them up on stage.”
As previously mentioned, the group are currently out touring on the 20th anniversary of the record with the below dates remaining. Pick up tickets here.
With Elise Trouw:
10/24 Phoenix, AZ – Comerica Theatre
10/26 Los Angeles, CA – Greek Theatre
10/27 Los Angeles, CA – Greek Theatre
With Le Butcherettes:
11/08 Pittsburgh, PA – Heinz Hall
11/09 Akron, OH – Akron Civic Theatre
11/11 Cincinnati, OH – Taft Theatre
11/12 Madison, WI – The Sylvee
11/14 St. Louis, MO – Stifel Theatre
11/15 Louisville, KY – The Louisville Palace
11/16 Indianapolis, IN – Murat Theatre at Old National Centre
11/18 Oklahoma City, OK – The Criterion
11/19 Austin, TX – ACL Live at The Moody Theater
11/20 Austin, TX – ACL Live at The Moody Theater
11/22 Irving, TX – The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
11/23 Irving, TX – The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
11/24 Houston, TX – Revention Music Center
11/26 New Orleans, LA – Fillmore New Orleans
11/27 Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium
11/29 Orlando, FL – Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts
11/30 St. Petersburg, FL – The Mahaffey Theater
12/01 West Palm Beach, FL – Kravis Center
12/03 Atlanta, GA – Coca-Cola Roxy
12/05 Raleigh, NC – The Ritz
12/06 Charlotte, NC – The Fillmore Charlotte
12/07 Myrtle Beach, SC – House of Blues Myrtle Beach
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