Much like their peers in Deftones, Incubus made a concerted decision back in the early 2000s to veer away from their nü-metal associations and reinvent themselves. While their initial offerings brought them interest and acclaim with their melting pot of funk, rap and admittedly nü-metal stylings, it was 1999’s 2x multi-platinum selling “Make Yourself” that found the group veering off in a more alternative rock direction.
It was also that record that truly launched the band to new heights. Unsurprisingly, their output since has continued to chart a softer direction and, straying from the scrappier riffing and rambunctious free-for-all of their early days.
In a newly resurfaced interview over at Metal Hammer that was originally conducted back in 2001 on the album cycle for their since 2x platinum-certified fourth studio album “Morning View“, members of the band made no bones about their distaste for the nü-metal scene at the time, while also voicing their desire to transcend it.
As mentioned above, they weren’t alone. Alternative metal stars Deftones took a rather militant stance at breaking away from the genre in 2000, straining relationships with their peers at the time in the process. Looking back in 2020, Limp Bizkit guitarist Wes Borland has since admitted that Deftones made the right call.
With Incubus‘ ninth studio album “Something In The Water” headed for an October 10th release date, Metal Hammer plumbed their archives and republished the aforementioned 2001 conversation online this week. In it, several members of the band voiced their opposition to being painted with the nü-metal brush.
Guitarist Mike Einziger was the most blunt about his desire to break away that association, stating:
“We don’t want to be part of anyone’s bullshit little scene. I’ve been quoted on this before and you’re welcome to do it again, but the whole world of rap-metal is just pathetically ridiculous. It makes me wanna throw up. It’s a horrible place to be and we’ve turned our backs on it completely.”
Vocalist Brandon Boyd quipped:
“The term nü-metal is ridiculous in itself – we were even called that at a time and secretly it always made us cringe. We never identified with anyone in that particular scene. The whole business of being angry at the world has been so overplayed, so to be called the antidote to that is right on.
To an extent I agree with Mike – music is in a shit state. Take Korn as an analogy. It happens in all genres. There’s some really good stuff that dominates for a second, then you get a whole bunch of imitators who trivialize the original idea. But then if you look to the underground there’s a whole heap of great new ideas that come out as a backlash. But now we’re in dire need of a backlash.”
As for how Boyd himself wanted the band to be perceived at the time, he stated:
“Perception is a very fickle thing and it’s a fascinating thing as well because it’s constantly shifting. But if I could control it, I would want us to be perceived as neophytes, which is the opposite of a neophobe – a neophobe being someone who is afraid of change and a neophyte embraces change and is into ideas that are changing and evolving. I like to think of us as a band that’s on the move. Hopefully people will see us as a living example that anyone can pursue the things that really excite them.
When we formed as kids, we didn’t know how to play our instruments, but we stuck to our guns, we persevered and it’s continued to reward us in many different ways. People have the tendency to underestimate themselves – but as human beings, we have the potential to do anything we want. Fly, transcend, levitate… At the end of the day, we just make music that makes us happy, and I know at heart we are all nice guys too. But we have bad days – I mean, I can be a dick. Stick around, you’ll see it.”
Over the years, Boyd‘s stance has remained pretty firm in regards to being lumped into the nü-metal scene of old. Back in 2019, Incubus vocalist Brandon Boyd told Kerrang! of his band’s mindset at the time:
“It felt a little strange to be associated with some of the bands around that time who were very deeply misogynistic in their content and vibrationally kind of violent. It never felt like we were of the same ilk.
So for years it hurt our feelings that we were associated with so many of these bands who we felt we had no relationship with or similarity to.
That being said, there were a handful of those bands, like Korn, that embraced us and took us on tour. A lot of the time we were limping to each show, hungry and tired.
I remember, very specifically, Fieldy from Korn seeing us while we were looking at catering, salivating and knowing that we weren’t allowed to eat the food there.
And he goes, ‘Are you guys hungry?’ and we all just kind of looked at him like stray dogs and nodded and he said, ‘Go eat!’ And that was a huge moment. We really wouldn’t be where we are if it wasn’t for the kindness of bands like Korn.”
