When we got home, we started coming up with ideas and gave ourselves eight weeks to write the record and in those eight weeks, all the songs that appear on the album came out.

Here, Brandon and Mike reflect on the personal writing process, unexpected endurance and game-changing nature of this double-platinum classic…Īfter multiple world tours in support of S.C.I.E.N.C.E, Incubus finally land back in LA to begin work on a new album with a new sound…īrandon Boyd: 'Before writing Make Yourself, we’d just come off what felt like a mild eternity touring S.C.I.E.N.C.E. For the band, it was an album that would change everything, yanking them from the realm of cult fandom and plonking them onto MTV and the world stage. A melting pot of anger, tenderness and blind optimism, it was a record that struck a generation during a fertile moment of teenage self-realisation, seeping into their psyche and staying there for years to come. Returning to their LA home with new recruit DJ Chris Kilmore in tow, Incubus started work on their third record – the genre-shifting, hit-generator Make Yourself. Stints at Ozzfest and support slots with System Of A Down and Korn helped introduce their frantic mash-up of alt.rock, jazz and DJ scratching to a growing number of fans, but with the 2000s looming, the band felt a sudden sense of claustrophobia. In the years following, the band – fronted by soulful singer Brandon Boyd and guided by nimble-fingered guitarist Mike Einziger – zipped across the world with a selection of metal’s finest. Formed in California in 1991, Incubus stormed the local nu-metal scene with their energetic 1995 debut Fungus Amongus and 1997’s funk-metal follow-up, S.C.I.E.N.C.E.

Incubus band