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Paul Mann: Incubus Rocks Sold-Out Show at Santa Barbara Bowl
On a sultry and balmy night last Friday, the atmosphere was thick with humidity drifting in off the ocean from the remnants of Tropical Storm Blanca as one of Santa Barbara’s favorite bands, Calabasas-based Incubus, took the stage at the Santa Barbara Bowl.
Most of the crowd, decked out in their latest summer fashions, lingered out front by the bar while opening act The Duke Spirit played a short early set. It was a shame that most fans were busy socializing while this band of stellar musicians played on.
Handpicked by Brandon Boyd, lead singer of Incubus, to be the band’s opening act, The Duke Spirit is a new English band with a very retro sound. Lead singer Liela Moss, looking and sounding a bit like Kim Carnes (“Betty Davis Eyes”), belted out bluesy tunes while her band played solid traditional riffs.
Moss cites old-school influences such as legendary singer Leonard Cohen. A 21st-century band, founded in 2003, the band has an old soul rooted in 20th-century blues, rock and soul music. In an era rampant with synthetic music, it’s good to see a new band of accomplished musicians who can play intricate jams, with traditional but original rhythms.
The band has ties to Southern California dating back until at least the 2006 Coachella Festival. The band played to a large crowd there in the tradition of great British rock stars playing under adversity, such as Pete Townsend of The Who, famous for playing with a slashed and broken hand until blood flowed on the stage. Emulating this fierce focus was bass player Toby Butler, who broke his elbow during drunken antics at a Las Vegas hotel the night before. The band valiantly played on, and it may have been this experience that inspired them to return to the Southern California desert to record their album Neptune, released in 2008.
By the time Incubus arrived on stage early, in a sultry twilight with an exploding light show, the fashion show was over and most fans had taken their places in the crowd.
Incubus often reminds me of an early R.E.M., in the way that lead singer Boyd blends complex lyrics into a trance-like dance, synchronized to an ever-changing rich atmosphere of sound that the band produces. In fact, Scott Litt, the producer for some of R.E.M.‘s best-known albums, took an interest in the band early on and helped them produce 1999’s album Make Yourself, including the hits “Drive” and “Stellar.”
The band has always been a maverick of sorts, selling more than 100,000 copies of their first album Science, virtually by word of mouth alone — with no help from radio stations or MTV. The band has had a long love-hate relationship with MTV, which, after ignoring the band’s early work, used its song “Privilege” on MTV Sports Play Station releases. Subsequent music videos followed until the band released a video for their 2003 Megalomaniac, which MTV viewed as an attack on then-President Bush and banned the video. But by then, the band had become too popular to control and had a subsequent Grammy nomination, multiplatinum album sales and a much-publicized break with Sony.
Through it all, the band continued to grow musically and emotionally, and each subsequent album offered a new layer of sound and compelling lyrics. In 2003, bassist Ben Kenney of The Roots fame joined the group, adding a new funky layer to the music. His hip-hop sound is reminiscent of master Les Claypool at times.
The band played a compelling set at the Santa Barbara Bowl, traveling through the time line of their rich catalog of material. Original drummer Jose Pasillas II and guitar player Mike Einziger laid down seamless rhythms, belying their strong ties taking them all the way back to high school. Chris Kilmore, with the band since 2003, added layers of keyboards and turntable skills, melding the complex music into new and adventurous territory. Kenney changed up the beat and at times seemed to lead the direction of the music. Boyd lead the creative flow with a unique and impeccable voice and and trance-like dancing that seemed to leave him possessed by, well, maybe an Incubus.
— L. Paul Mann is a Noozhawk contributor.
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