S.C.I.E.N.C.E.
S.C.I.E.N.C.E. is the second studio album by American rock band Incubus. It was released on September 9, 1997, by Epic and Immortal Records. The album was certified gold by the RIAA, and is the second and final release to feature Gavin Koppel (known as DJ Lyfe), who first appeared on the 1997 Enjoy Incubus EP. It has been occasionally considered the band's proper debut album, due to the nature of their independent release Fungus Amongus.[1]
This article is about the album by Incubus. For the album by the Thomas Dybdahl, see Science (album).S.C.I.E.N.C.E.
Background[edit]
Production[edit]
After recording their independent debut album Fungus Amongus, Incubus signed a seven-record deal with Epic Records/Sony-affiliated Immortal Records.[2] An EP titled Enjoy Incubus was released by Epic/Immortal at the beginning of 1997, and Incubus would go on a European tour with labelmates Korn for the next few months.[3] With Enjoy Incubus, the label's strategy was to build the band's fanbase through touring rather than radio airplay.[4] Their first full-length major label effort S.C.I.E.N.C.E. was recorded during May–June 1997. Singer Brandon Boyd said "S.C.I.E.N.C.E. was done in six weeks at 4th Street Recording, a very small, charming studio in Santa Monica. Very different experience, but very important on this band's existence."[5] During the recording, the band utilized older analogue gear that they described as having "phat sounds and spider webs."[6] Incubus chose Jim Wirt to produce the album, since he had worked with them on earlier recordings.[6] Guitarist Mike Einziger believed that Wirt helped encourage their creativity during the recording of S.C.I.E.N.C.E., saying in 1997, "he helps us come up with strange stuff and he likes it when we do. He doesn't try to change what we do, he tries to enhance it."[6] Einziger added that, "when we signed our record deal and started working on this album, we were worried that someone would come along and tell us to hold back, and try and make our songs a little more palatable. But that never happened. They kinda just said, 'do whatever you want'. With that kind of support, we just let everything kind of run wild."[7]
When S.C.I.E.N.C.E. was in the process of being recorded and mastered, the band went on some local mini-tours, in addition to appearing on the soundtrack for the movie Spawn.[4] The soundtrack was released on July 29, 1997, by Epic/Immortal, and featured a collaboration with DJ Greyboy called "Familiar".[8] This song also briefly appeared in the movie itself, which was released to theaters on August 1, 1997.
Musical style and influences[edit]
Musically, S.C.I.E.N.C.E. has been described as alternative metal,[9][10] nu metal,[11][12][13] funk metal,[14][15] and rap metal.[14] The album incorporates elements of multiple genres, including heavy metal,[16][17] funk,[16][17] hip hop,[16][18] techno,[16][19] jazz,[17][18][20] and electro.[20] According to Rolling Stone writer Rob Kemp, S.C.I.E.N.C.E. "links funk metal to the rap-metal".[14] "Magic Medicine", described as a trip hop track, samples a recorded reading of a children's book.[21] Though sometimes retrospectively associated with it, the term nu metal was not yet in usage when S.C.I.E.N.C.E. was released, but rather terms such as alternative metal, funk metal and rap metal. In 1997, Boyd said "people are real quick to put labels on music, so I'm sure they're going to do that with us. But we think we're doing something cool, and judging from the responses that we've gotten from all over the world, others do too."[6] Einziger has since stated that Incubus were not part of the same Southern Californian scene as bands like Korn and System of a Down during their independent years, despite having similar influences.[22] In interviews from the late 2010s and 2020s, Boyd has said that he dislikes the nu metal label and doesn't consider the band's early work to be part of the movement.[23][24] In a 2022 Metal Hammer interview, he remarked, "we weren’t trying to fit into a particular niche at a particular time. We were just kids being influenced by a small handful of bands that we grew up with."[25]
The album as a whole has been labelled as a "weed-and-mushrooms influenced funk/metal freakout."[19] Revolver describe Brandon Boyd as vocally "drawing on the eccentric funk-rap" of Faith No More, Primus and Red Hot Chili Peppers.[26] They consider him to have a "goofy yet also badass presence" on S.C.I.E.N.C.E.[26] Boyd has cited Faith No More's vocalist Mike Patton as being an influence from since he was an early teenager, as well as Patton's side project Mr. Bungle, who were also known for mixing a wide array of genres.[27] In a 1998 interview, Boyd commented, "there's a definite influence from Faith No More. All of us have been listening to that band since when we were really young. We were like 14 or something when that album [The Real Thing] came out. They were an awesome band, they did some really groundbreaking things in their time, and it's kind of a bummer to hear that they broke up."[28]
The band also became interested in emerging forms of electronic music around the making of S.C.I.E.N.C.E., with their previous full-length album Fungus Amongus having no influence from electronic genres. While playing at European festivals with Korn during early 1997, they recall being exposed to foreign electronic acts such as The Chemical Brothers.[22]
Songs[edit]
About the opening song "Redefine", Boyd said in 1997:
Touring[edit]
Shortly before the release of S.C.I.E.N.C.E., Incubus played a handful of shows with rap rock bands Phunk Junkeez and Shootyz Groove. To support the album, Incubus went on tour with 311 and Sugar Ray for the remainder of 1997.[4] Incubus were initially only meant to perform on the first leg of this tour, but the response to them was so great that they were asked to stay for the rest of the tour.[4]
In February 1998, DJ Lyfe was fired by the band, and was replaced by DJ Chris Kilmore. The reasoning given for his firing was because of creative and personal differences, and because Incubus could no longer be a "productive family" with him in it.[4] Kilmore was originally from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania,[32] and had moved to Los Angeles, where he was struggling to support himself.[32] Prior to joining, Kilmore recalled sometimes not having enough money for electricity, telling Spin in 2001 that "It was cool, I just used candles at night."[33] Kilmore was recommended by a friend of the band, and received a phone call on Friday February 13, 1998, where he was asked to audition. The audition took place the next day at the Sound Arena Studios in Reseda, Los Angeles.[34] Kilmore remembered in 2019 that, "we sat around for 45 minutes just talking", adding "little did I know they were really just trying to get an idea of my personality. So we were talking everything from girls to aliens — all kinds of crazy stuff."[34] During the last 15 minutes of the audition, bassist Alex Katunich (known by the stage name Dirk Lance) asked Kilmore to showcase his turntable skills. The other members of Incubus were impressed with Kilmore's playing and attitude towards life, with Einziger saying at the time, "after letting go of Gavin, I wasn't even sure if I wanted to acquire another member into the band, but then we met Chris and my opinion instantly changed."[32] Following the end of the audition, Kilmore was given a cassette tape with 16 live recordings of Fungus Amongus and S.C.I.E.N.C.E. songs, as he had not heard any of the band's music at that point.[33][34] In 2019, he recalled "later that night, they said, 'Can you come rehearse on Sunday?' I was like, 'No. It’s Valentine's Day, and I’m dating a Dominican redhead from Queens. So I cannot miss that.' So then, they were like, 'Well can you learn all these songs on Monday? Because we have a show on Tuesday.' I said yeah."[34]
In 1998, the new lineup played shows with Far, Limp Bizkit and British band One Minute Silence, in addition to performing at the 1998 edition of Ozzfest, and at the inaugural edition of Korn's Family Values Tour.[35][36] According to Kilmore, the band played a total of 305 shows between the time he joined the band and the end of 1998.[34] Boyd found out that his long time girlfriend was having an affair while he was away on tour for S.C.I.E.N.C.E., inspiring the lyrical themes for Incubus's next album Make Yourself, which was noted for having a more melodic sound.[37][38]
Regarding the change in direction on Make Yourself, Kilmore reflected in 2002, "I think what it was when we were touring behind S.C.I.E.N.C.E. was seeing all these other bands out there who were ripping off bands like Korn and the Deftones and 311, bands that we enjoy and that we love, I think when we realized that and we went into the studio to write Make Yourself, we said 'OK, let's not do that.'"[39] Kilmore also recalls that, "during S.C.I.E.N.C.E. our crowd was all teenage kids wearing black and they were all men. Once 'Pardon Me' started getting some traction the crowd turned into half-girl crowds. Then when 'Stellar' and 'Drive' came out, those half-girl crowds became all screaming teenage girls in the front row."[40] Einziger stated, "It was a very masculine time in music and we were associated with that. We would be playing Ozzfest tours with all these different bands who were our good friends and there was pressure to be like that. I think the tenderness and emotional side of the [later] music was a reaction to all that aggressive music that was happening at that time. Our reaction was to go in the other direction."[37] According to Boyd in 2019 it "felt a little strange to be associated with some of the bands around that time who were very
deeply misogynistic in their content and vibrationally kind of violent."[41]
Live performance[edit]
Incubus did not often perform songs from S.C.I.E.N.C.E. between the mid-2000s and early 2010s, with Boyd telling Spin in 2017, "there was a period of years when we were knowingly rebelling against it, we were desperately trying to shake off the identity it had created around us. Our original fans would get mad, 'Why don’t you play more stuff from S.C.I.E.N.C.E.?' I think it only happened two or three years ago, when we were touring again, and started to revisit the songs casually in rehearsal studios and sound checks. We started to fall in love with them again. I think we just needed a friend break."[59] He also said there are "tracks that are just kind of ridiculous, that we don’t really fuck with. One day we might."[59]
Notes
Incubus
Additional musicians
Production