INCUBUS RETURN TO WELLINGTON

Incubus: The American funk rock band with a penchant for flourishes of Indian, Aborigine, African and Chinese musical instrumentation. Incubus: The stadium packing, multi-platinum record selling rockers with a taste for techno, rap, trip-hop jazz and beyond. Incubus: The big band whose name, if mentioned around a group of girls, will more often than not, elicit a softly cooed call of “Brandon” or “Hi Brandon” followed by a licking of lips. The Brandon in question (and also object of desire) is of course Brandon Boyd, the lead singer of the band, and beyond a big voice and set of eyes to gaze into, also a talented writer and painter of sorts.

A disclaimer: I’m far from an Incubus fan, about as far as you can humanly get actually. However, next Wednesday, Incubus are performing in Wellington at the TSB Arena, and you can purchase tickets by clicking here. And while I’m not excited about this event, and won’t be attending; a hell of a lot of other people are.

Back in December, when Incubus’ current New Zealand tour was hitting its first wave of promotion, Sony Music offered me some interview time with Incubus drummer José Antonio Pasillas, and naturally I agreed to have a short phone conversation with him. Having taken an extended break from the band to raise families and concentrate on other interests, which in Pasillas’ case include draw and painted artwork and design (with an eye to publish a book or two), after coming back together to record their well received 2011 album If Not Now, When? the band decided to hit the road again. Pasillas assures me the shows have been great, the stage chemistry is tight and Incubus is very excited about heading down under again.

Twenty one years into the game, these guys aren’t taking anything for granted. And yes, for concerned fans, you can expect to hear spot on renditions of Incubus standards like ‘Drive’, ‘Pardon Me’, ‘Wish You Were Here’, ‘Are You In?’, and ‘Dig’, as well as songs from their latest offering, including ‘Adolescents’ and ‘Promises, Promises’. Enjoy yourself everybody!