Part 6 of 8:
Simply For The Love Of Music - The History of Incubus
Incubus' last performance in 2002 (November 1st)
brought several era's for the band to a close. Their last show of the
tour would be their last show touring behind 2001's Morning View,
as the band looked on to playing new music. The show would also
prove to be their last with bass player Alex "Dirk Lance"
Katunich, who was asked to leave the band due to creative and personal
differences. Dirk was quietly replaced by former Roots bassist Ben Kenney,
who immediately began working with Mike Einziger on new songs for a
'Psychedelic Jazz Funk' side project named 'The Time Lapse Consortium'.
Incubus ended the year on the charts, having "I Wish You Were Here"
at #10, "Warning" at #16, "Nice To Know You" at
#26 on the Alternative Rock Format Chart, "I Wish You Were Here"
at #25 and "Nice To Know You" at #36 on the Active Rock Format
Chart, "I Wish You Were Here" at #16, and "Nice To Know
You" at #34 on the Rock Format Chart, while Morning View
was the 40th best selling album of 2002.
On January 6, 2003 the band began writing for their next record, and
were featured on Much Music's "Celebrity Taste Maker" Fri. January
24th, though one would have to assume that this was pre-taped since
it featured Dirk Lance not Ben. Mike, Ben and Jose appeared at
the Roxy Theatre on January 24th with Suzi Katayama and the 'Time Lapse
Consortium'. The act, which features an 11 piece orchestra, also includes
Neal Evans of Soulive. Suzi Katayama has worked with Incubus in the
past on orchestral arrangements like the one in 'Aqueous Transmission'
and 2000's "Almost Acoustic X-Mas" performance. The show will be the
first performance of the group, which describes its music as "An Instrumental
Voyage into the world of psychedelic funk."
On February 7th, in the midst of this change and
renewal, the band made the decision to force their record label into
renegotiations on their record contract. The band, which has been signed
to Epic/Immortal for seven years, cites the fact that state law limits
the amount of time that an artist can be bound to a company. The band
had been signed to the label for 7 years, and used California's "Seven
Years Law" as a negotiating tool with Epic/Immortal. After
releasing 3 highly successful albums, the band had been compensated
poorly compared to the revenue that they had generated for Sony. The
band entered a lawsuit against their label in order to break from their
contract, to which Sony responded with a lawsuit of their own.
On March 1st, Mike Einzinger, along with Scott Litt,
Dave Holdredge, and Rick Will, lost the Grammy in the "Best Engineered
Album (Non Classical)" category, for their work on Morning View, they
lost the award to the Norah Jones camp. On April 3rd, after weeks of
circulating rumors about Alex "Dirk Lance" Katunich's departure from
the band, an official announcement had at last been made by
the band. A decision was reached amongst the band members in a face
to face meeting at the end of the Morning View Tour to end Dirk's involvement
in the band. The band has said that the split became necessary due to
"irreconcilable creative differences". However, Dirk has openly admitted
in the past that some relationships have been difficult, saying "Brandon
and I used to fight almost every day because I was not a morning person.
First thing in the morning, don't greet me with a smile and a 'Hi! How
are ya!' For, like, two years nonstop he would do that. I was like,
'Oh my God, you've got to be deliberately doing this to drive me crazy!"
With this and other evidence of friction ('Glass' was supposedly inspired
by Dirk), it would not be overly presumptuous that personality differences
between band members eventually became difficult enough that no amount
of 'band therapy' could mend them. Almost immediately after the announcement
of a new bass player, on April 11, 2003 Incubus vs Sony had been
settled. The two sides settled on a new contract that delivers three
albums to Epic/Immortal with an option on a fourth. The first album
will be worth $8 Million in advances to the band, with another $2.5
Million for each one thereafter.
Mid 2003, after overcoming difficulties earlier
in the year, the band was looking forward to playing the newly resurrected
Lollapalooza circuit alongside Jane's Addiction, Audioslave, Jurassic
5, and a band that Mike had praised while earning a reputation at Ozzfest--The
Queens of the Stone Age. The band looks forward to performing some of
their new material, and possibly recording somewhere down the road.
