Incubus set to stir Jakarta with its friendly brand of rock

Paul F. Agusta ,  Contributor ,  Jakarta   |  Wed, 03/05/2008 2:14 AM  |  Headlines

It's been less than three months into the New Year, and Jakarta has already been flooded by a large number of concerts by foreign artists.

My Chemical Romance, Bjork, Switchfoot, MxPx, Helloween and even the Backstreet Boys have graced our shores since 2008 began.

And tonight, Wednesday March 5, Jakarta rock fanatics will be entertained by a band that could easily be called one of the most popular bands of the late 1990's and 2000's.

Incubus, the five-piece band that hails from Calabasas, California, will play Tennis Indoor Senayan at 8 p.m.

Among the band's most successful singles since their formation in 1991 are "Drive", "Wish You Were Here", "Dig", and "Pardon Me".

The band has reached multi-platinum sales with albums such as Make Yourself, Morning View and A Crow Left of the Murder. Incubus released their latest studio album, Light Grenades, in November 2006. Their trip to Jakarta is part of the Asian leg of the Light Grenades promo tour.

The band, which is comprised of vocalist Brandon Boyd, lead guitarist Michael Einziger, bassist Ben Kenney (formerly of The Roots), DJ Kilmore and drummer Jose Antonio Pasillas, is known for creatively merging elements from various genres into their basic foundation of guitar-driven alternative rock.

Examples of their genre-bending creativity include their use of turntables and live DJ scratching and mixing.

Despite having been seriously producing music and releasing material since the mid-90's, the band didn't reach international success until the release of 1999's Make Yourself, an album that involved contributions from Scott Litt, a producer known for his work with iconic bands R.E.M and Nirvana.

When the band released "Pardon Me", the first single off Make Yourself it was initially not well-received by radio stations.

Brandon and Mike decided to contact radio stations themselves and arranged to perform live acoustic versions of the song at the few radio stations that were showing interest.

With sparked interest in the song, radio stations began playing the studio version of "Pardon Me". In response, Incubus made a video for the song and released a six song EP titled When Incubus Attacks (Vol. 1) on Aug. 22, 2000.

In its first week, the EP sold nearly 40,000 copies and scored the number 41 position on the Billboard Album Charts.

In April of 2000, due to the success of "Pardon Me", Make Yourself hit gold with more than 500.000 copies sold.

On Jan. 15, 2001, the band released "Drive", the third single from Make Yourself which rocketed up to the top of the Modern Rock Charts, eventually hitting the number 1 spot.

The success of "Drive", which may be one the most played and recognizable songs of the early 2000's, cemented the band's status as a world-class rock act destined for the history books, creating a wide and hugely fanatic global fan-base.

To the extreme pleasure of hardcore Incubus fans in Indonesia, the band is set to rock Jakarta tonight with what is certain to be one of the biggest concert events this town has seen in a while. Definitely worth catching.

Box:

Incubus Live In Concert

Tennis Indoor Senayan on Wednesday, March 5, 2008 at 8 p.m.

Ticket Prices: Festival/Free Standing: Rp 550.000; Tribune/Free Seating: Rp 450.000.

For more info call Java Musikindo at 021-57988323/4/5 or visit www.enjoyincubus.com/

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