Before Incubus was cranking out massive hits that are still played and covered today, they were a funky nü-metal band. That era of Incubus culminated with the release of S.C.I.E.N.C.E in 1997, which launched the band into some bigger tours and even spawned "Vitamin" which still makes setlists to this day. Still, in an interview with Kerrang!, Incubus vocalist Brandon Boyd said he didn't really feel too connected to his heavy music peers back in the day.
"Once things picked up with S.C.I.E.N.C.E we started getting much bigger touring opportunities. We started to do festivals and play with much bigger bands. It was interesting to witness what was working for them and what wasn’t. It was also a period of time in music that was dominated by a kind of mindlessness.
"This is just my opinion, but there was largely a lack of substance going into popular heavy music. It was more heavy for heavy’s sake. I thought that was a missed opportunity. To me, there was an opportunity to use the power of a loud guitar and dynamic drumming to convey some larger messages."
Boyd seems to generally dislike the band's pre-Make Yourself material if you're looking at recent interviews with the guy. For instance, Boyd recently ranked 1995's Fungus Amongus and S.C.I.E.N.C.E. as his two most disliked records in an interview with Metal Hammer, saying the latter makes him cringe whenever he hears it.
"It's the one that I would assume most people would say is my least favourite. It's the one I listen to the least. When I hear S.C.I.E.N.C.E. I laugh as much as I cringe, there are some pretty sophisticated things on there for such young kids, but I still feel my palms sweat when I listen to it.
"I like the willingness to be clowns at certain moments, but also to dig ferociously for something: in hindsight, we had yet to find what we were looking for, which is why we're still a band. Also, a lot of why I don't like the album is my performance, I had yet to learn how to sing, I honestly didn't know what the fuck I was doing, I just liked doing it. I'd give it a five and a half out of 10, or a 6."
Anyway, feel free to revisit nü-Incubus below.
