Incubus to play at Assembly Hall on Tuesday

Photo Courtesy of Tara Melega

Photo Courtesy of Tara Melega

By Christina Peluso

From their breakout hit album Make Yourself to their follow-up Morning View, which featured such hits as “I Wish You Were Here” and “Nice to Know You,” Incubus has morphed and evolved with each CD they’ve made.

Their newest disc, A Crow Left of the Murder, follows the band’s pattern of taking each new CD in a different direction – there’s always a completely new sound that is unlike their other CDs.

Incubus will play tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. at the University’s Assembly Hall.

DJ Chris Kilmore said one of the band’s main goals is to constantly push themselves to explore new ways of creating music.

“We don’t want to repeat ourselves or sound like another band,” he said.

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Though the band does not like to put limitations on their music, this is the one limitation they all agree upon.

Incubus is now out promoting their latest CD, A Crow Left of the Murder, which included the controversial track “Megalomaniac,” which featured images of president Bush and Hitler in the music video. While recording Crow, Kilmore said the band’s existence was up in the air.

The Roots’ Ben Kenney replaced original bassist Dirk Lance in 2003 after Lance left because of musical differences. The band was also fighting with its label. Kilmore said these events could have led to the band’s downfall, but it helped them grow instead.

“It strengthened us as a band,” he said.

All of these events also stimulated creativity. Kilmore said that during this time, the band felt they had no limitations. They explored that to its fullest extent and ultimately created their most adventurous and aggressive CD to date.

Since putting out Crow in February, the band has been touring almost nonstop. Their latest tour ends Nov. 19, for a short Thanksgiving break.

Lynn Klopp, junior in ALS, is going to see Incubus for the second time Tuesday. Klopp, who owns all three of Incubus’s hit CD’s, said she’s excited to see the band again and hear their new material.

Local musician Josh Waller says Incubus is a great band because they’re innovative and show true musicianship.

“They’re not just good at writing songs. They’re musicians; they’re talented at playing their instruments,” Waller said, “Also I think they play one of the best live shows out there.”

Kilmore, who calls the band’s show a “musical roller coaster,” credits the band’s constant touring as something that has helped them all stay grounded.

“Rock bands have more of a work ethic,” he said. “They have to tour and build a fan base that isn’t as fickle.”

Kilmore said that Incubus has been touring almost non-stop for the past seven years. That, along with great families, has helped the band stay in check. He also said that as a group, all the band members make sure they don’t get out of control.

Incubus’ slow track to success also helped keep them humble, Kilmore explained.

“Pardon Me,” the band’s first single, took a while before it hit number three on the Billboard Modern Rock charts. The band’s next two singles, “Stellar” and “Drive,” hit spots number one and two on the Top 40 and Modern Rock charts, respectively, but still the success wasn’t immediate.

“We got time to enjoy each single…we got enjoy it each step of the way,” he said.

Through it all, Incubus has tried to maintain their ideals and vision for what they want their band to be.

“We try to stay true to writing what we want. We want people to like us for our music,” Kilmore said.

But don’t be mistaken – Incubus would never write a song in attempts to gain a larger fan base.

Kilmore said while the band was fortunate that people are still listening to them, they don’t care about success. The band makes music for themselves and they’re just glad people like it, he said.

Kilmore said the band’s music is more complex than most bands out right now. It takes a little more to get into, but our music grows on you, he added. That goes right along with one of Incubus’s main goals: to open people’s minds. They want people to realize there’s a lot of ways to view things and be willing to explore that idea.

“You have to have an open mind to appreciate good things,” Kilmore said.