Incubus has hit the 20-year milestone. Brandon Boyd formed the band in 1991 with Mike Einzinger and Jose Pasillas.
In a lead-up to the Australian tour bass player Ben Kenney who joined the band from the Roots in 2003, reflected on the uneasy feeling of regrouping Incubus after a 5 year hiatus for a new record and wondering if they were still relevant in 2011.
“The making of music wasn’t the hard part,” Ben tells Noise11.com. “For us it was ‘are we going to be relevant’, ‘are we going to able to keep doing what we are doing because everything is changing so fast around us’. Music is getting louder and louder and louder and it seems like we are not part of that whole thing. It was very scary doing this whole thing. We were jumping off a bridge kind of”.
A 20 year history has not gone unnoticed in the band. “It was 20 years ago this year that the guys started the band,” he says. “Of course they were like 12. There is a lot of time leading to this moment. It’s a good 20 because we don’t look like a band who have been doing it for 20 years”.
Despite quickly heading towards becoming a “heritage act” Ben says he is yet to hear Incubus on classic rock radio. “Not yet but I hope they do soon because classic rock radio is one of the few places left where you can hear music,” he says.
Incubus will return to Australia in February 2012.
Dates are:
February 3, Sydney, Hordern Pavilion
February 6, Adelaide, AEC Theatre
February 8, Melbourne, Festival Hall
February 10, Brisbane, Convention Centre
Incubus will tour Australia for Michael Coppel Presents