Incubus formed in 1991 in Calabasas, California, when high school classmates Brandon Boyd, Mike Einziger, and drummer José Pasillas began playing together as vocalist, guitarist, and drummer while the three were high school students . The lineup soon expanded to include bassist Alex "Dirk Lance" Katunich and DJ Lyfe (Gavin Koppell), and the band's early sound was heavily influenced by the funk metal prevalent in early '90s California . The band's early shows were frequently at nightclubs on Los Angeles's Sunset Strip, including such well-known venues as the Whisky a Go Go, the Roxy and the Troubadour , building a devoted local following well before signing to a major label.
The band's true breakthrough came with 1999's Make Yourself, released on October 26, 1999, riding the wave of late '90s rock and earning Double Platinum status in the U.S. by April 2001 . The record spawned multiple hit singles including "Drive," "Stellar," and "Pardon Me," all of which received extensive radio airplay and MTV rotation , allowing the band to shed its early nu-metal association. The 2001 follow-up, Morning View, recorded in a rented mansion on Morning View Drive in Malibu, California, marked a pivotal evolution in the band's sound, blending nu-metal elements with more melodic alternative rock influences . The album debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 266,000 copies in its first week and eventually achieving double platinum certification from the RIAA for over two million units sold in the United States , cementing the classic lineup of Boyd, Einziger, Pasillas, Katunich, and DJ Kilmore (Chris Kilmore) as one of the defining rock acts of the era.
The band's career arc continued through significant lineup and stylistic shifts. In 2003, bassist Ben Kenney, formerly of The Roots, replaced Dirk Lance, and the group pushed into darker, more experimental territory with 2004's A Crow Left of the Murder, whose single "Megalomaniac" earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards . Subsequent albums, including 2006's Light Grenades, which debuted at No. 1 in 2006 and was followed by Incubus' first greatest hits album Monuments and Melodies in June 2009 and the band's 2011 album, If Not Now, When? , kept the band on major festival bills and headlining arena tours throughout the 2000s and 2010s. In early 2015 the band released a new single called "Absolution Calling," which would appear on Trust Fall (Side A), and February 2017 saw the release of a new single, "Nimble Bastard," in anticipation of their eighth studio album, aptly named 8 and co-produced by Skrillex , showing a band still willing to evolve rather than simply trade on nostalgia.
Incubus remains active today, having undergone its most recent lineup change when bassist Ben Kenney stepped away in 2024 following a brain tumor diagnosis, with Nicole Row becoming a full-time member, having filled in during Kenney's leave alongside Tal Wilkenfeld before Row completed the band's 29-date 2023 tour . The band has since launched a U.S. arena tour playing their 2001 album Morning View in full, alongside a rerecorded version of that album , and as of 2025 a landmark year featuring new music on the way and a global touring sprint continues to unfold, underscoring a legacy built on restless genre-blending and enduring devotion from generations of alternative rock fans.
It is fitting that a band with such deep roots in the sweaty clubs and packed arenas of the 2000s rock scene occupies a place of honor in this archive. Wayne Dennon trained his lens on Incubus across two shows between 2004 and 2007, right in the thick of the band's most explosive touring years following A Crow Left of the Murder and Light Grenades, leaving behind 75 photographs that have since drawn 56,878 views from visitors revisiting those nights through his camera.
