While the early 2000s saw Incubus ascend the ranks of the alternative rock ladder, their transition to multi-platinum radio mainstays came at the expense of the quirky music that built their foundation. Long before “Drive” and “Pardon Me” exploded, the group playfully melded funk rock and nü-metal on their early releases, including their debut “Fungus Amongus“, their “Enjoy Incubus” EP and their gold-certified 1999 album “S.C.I.E.N.C.E.“.
Since then however, that scrappy era of their catalog has largely been intentionally shelved. In part, that was due to a concerted decision to revolt against the nü-metal scene that had taken over the airwaves in the early 00s. Back in 2017, around the 20th anniversary of “S.C.I.E.N.C.E.“, vocalist Brandon Boyd admitted as much while reflecting back on that era. Speaking to Spin at the time, he stated
“We played S.C.I.E.N.C.E. so much for the first 15 or 16 years of being on tour. Back when it was the album we were touring behind, we were still touring in a van and a trailer, and we played those songs like a thousand times. There was a period of years when we were knowingly rebelling against it, we were desperately trying to shake off the identity it had created around us.
Our original fans would get mad, “Why don’t you play more stuff from S.C.I.E.N.C.E.?” I think it only happened two or three years ago, when we were touring again, and started to revisit the songs casually in rehearsal studios and sound checks. We started to fall in love with them again. I think we just needed a friend break. We came back to them, and now it’s kind of amazing to play most of those songs.
There’s still a couple that we won’t touch, because they’re just terrible. The songs we really do like playing are songs like “Vitamin,” “New Skin,” and “Summer Romance.” We’ve done revisited versions of “Redefine” and “Nebula.” Songs that are sort of more definitively S.C.I.E.N.C.E. And there’s a couple of the more quote-unquote album tracks that are just kind of ridiculous, that we don’t really fuck with. One day we might.”
However, the band’s newest recruit, bassist Nicole Row, remains hopeful that the group can at some point recapture some of that era’s glory. In a new interview with the Talk Toomey Podcast, Row shared her dreams for that after the podcast’s host Josh Toomey (of the newly reactivated Primer 55) suggested the group pull out some of their early material for the ‘hardcore’ fans. Row replied:
“I know, I know, I know. Everybody wants it and we never give it to them [laughs]. So, I definitely made a comment — we were doing an interview the other day — and I made a comment about making another album like “S.C.I.E.N.C.E.“. Like, you know, let’s get back there a little bit. So, we’ll see. See if we can try to pull a little bit more funky/weird out in the world.”
At the moment, the band are moving ahead with an October 10th release date for their ninth studio album “Something In The Water“, with initial indications suggesting Row‘s hopes have yet to be realized. Ahead of that group will be back out this summer for another round live celebrations for their 2x multi-platinum fourth studio album “Morning View” with Manchester Orchestra opening:
06/25 Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
06/27 Atlantic, City, NJ – Hard Rock Live
06/28 Uncasville, CT – Mohegan Sun Arena
06/30 Toronto, ON – Budweiser Stage
07/03 St. Louis, MO – Chaifetz Arena
07/05 Welch, MN – Treature Island Resort & Casino
07/08 Kansas City, MO – Starlight Theatre
07/10 Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre
07/12 Salt Lake City, UT – Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre
07/15 Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena
07/16 Eugene, OR – Cuthbert Amphitheater
07/18 Lincoln, CA – The Venue at Thunder Vallet Casino Resort
07/19 Chula Vista, CA – North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre
10/04 Inglewood, CA – Intuit Dome
