Monuments & Melodies’ pushes old boundaries

Iliana Deanda

Incubus has been a band for 18 years. While many bands seem to come and go, this five piece group from Calabasas, California isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. They continuously push boundaries musically by reinventing themselves with each record they produce.

With the new release of their greatest hits record entitled “Monuments and Melodies,” it’s a must have for any die hard fan as well as new listeners.

“As a group we never thought we would come down to recording a greatest hits album,” DJ Chris Kilmore said. “I think all of us in the band love to play music and we are just fortunate to be good friends.”

“Releasing a greatest hits record must mean you actually have some hits. This album is a good album, and I think that if anyone was to first buy this record and get introduced to us, it would be a good overall history of the band,” Kilmore said.

Incubus has grown as a band and has broken many musical barriers.

Each record is different than the previous which makes them unique.

“We’re always trying to grow, we’re always incorporating new things in our life and the music comes from us.” We like to think that our music is always growing, changing, and always morphing into something new rather then changing back into something that we have already done,” Kilmore said.

As far as critics claiming the band as sell outs, it doesn’t faze them in any way.

“If a critic says ‘hey you guys sold out or you guys aren’t writing hard music’ thanks, cool, that’s fine that’s your opinion, but you’re not writing music. The music is something very special between us as a band. Anyone else can say anything they want about it. It’s not going to affect us. If it doesn’t stay interesting for us then there’s no point of playing music in the first place,” Kilmore said.

Usually when releasing a greatest hits album the artists have reached an iconic status. It could also means the end of a long music career.

“That’s how I felt when Epic Records wanted us to put out a greatest hits record when we still had another record to do with them,” Kilmore said. “It’s like most bands do greatest hits when they’re either done, falling apart, or that they see that the end of the world is coming.”

“We don’t even feel like that. We don’t even think we have written our best record yet. A greatest hits record is a good way to get to younger fans introduced as well as older fans to walk down memory lane. That’s how I wrap my head around it. We have a solid record here, it’s really cool, and it has a bunch of rarities on the b side and I’m ok with it,” Kimore said.

Touring behind “Monuments and Melodies” the band’s expectations were exceeded by loyal fans returning to their shows.

“This tour has been out of control. It has surpassed all of our expectations by a lot. This time around we are selling more tickets then last time when we toured “Light Grenades.”

“All of our tours have been pre-progressive as far as record and ticket sales. To be coming back to these venues selling more tickets than “Light Grenades,” especially with the state of the economy right now, is out of control. It surpasses everything we could have hoped for,” Kilmore said

As far as what’s next, Incubus is currently in the works of writing new material.

“We have started with a bunch of ideas with riffs and things like that,” Kilmore said. “We record songs or jams at sound check. It’s a start of our process.”

“Hopefully early next year we will start on a full album. It’s a timely thing and we will start it when we start it and we will finish it when it gets done.”

Catch Incubus at Jobing.com Arena on Aug. 25.

  • Mesa Legend Staff

    These are archived stories from Mesa Legend editions before Fall 2018. See article for corresponding author.

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