Incubus gains career success after touring with acts as disparate as Pantera, Sugar Ray

It wasn’t.

The year was 2000, and Pasillas’ band, moody alt-rockers Incubus, for which he plays drums, was one of the main stage acts on the roving headbanger’s ball that is Ozzfest.

With its pinup model frontman Brandon Boyd and heart-on-the-sleeve radio hits like "Drive," the band was prepared for the worst from the notoriously fickle Ozzfest hordes, who’d hurl empty beer cups at Grandma if she couldn’t conjure up a mosh pit.

Instead, they chose a different tact: antagonize the antagonists.

And do it with Madonna.

"We were kind of scared of that crowd, but we would always sort of egg it on, too," Pasillas recalls with a chuckle. "Like, we’d start playing ‘Like a Virgin,’ seeing how the crowd would react. It was always cool. There’s always a few hecklers out there, but we sort of made fun of it, and it ended up OK."

Really, the band ought to have been used to it by that point anyways. These dudes have made a career out of being strangers in a strange land.

Can you name another band that’s played the Warped Tour, Ozzfest (twice), the Sno Core Tour and Lollapalooza? Incubus has toured with acts as disparate as Pantera and Sugar Ray, always managing to fit in almost in spite of themselves.

"We never had a bad experience going out on tour with a band that was different from us, because pretty much every band is different from us," Pasillas notes matter of factly.

Touring is where the members of Incubus first earned their stripes, practically living on the road for much of the first 10 years of the band’s existence. Their road to platinum-selling status was a long and winding one, and only recently have they begun to take some time off.

Last summer, Incubus embarked on a yearlong hiatus, which marked the most prolonged break the band members had ever given themselves.

"It was kind of a time for us to enjoy the fruits of our labor, which we’ve never really done in over a decade," says Pasillas, who took the time to start a family, having a baby girl. "It’s been great, reacquainting with family and friends. We had to acclimate to life at home, which was strange for us. It was a cool learning experience for us."

These days, the band is back in action, having recently released its first greatest hits package, "Monuments and Melodies," a two-disc set of fan favorites and rarities that recently debuted in the top five of the Billboard album chart.

The collection spans most of the band’s career, as it evolved from bass-heavy funk metal to a more melodically savvy brand of modern rock that pushes hard for a deeper meaning.

In a way, it’s as if they tried to develop into the U2 of the rap-rock set, though Incubus only ever existed on the far outer fringes of that scene with its Fishbone, Primus and Red Hot Chili Peppers roots.

"In our early works, our influences were pretty distinguishable," says Pasillas, who got his start in music by playing air drums to Prince’s "Purple Rain." "Now, we’ve gotten better at melding all that stuff together, and it’s kind of like this cool, original thing that encompasses so many different genres. We’ve smoothed it out a little bit. If anything’s forced, we tend to recognize that and stop. If anything’s laborious for us — because usually music comes out pretty freely for us — we have to step back. A lot of times we just move on."

And it’s only been recently that the band has taken a bit of a pause.

Now, the break is over.

Still, with the release of a career retrospective, Pasillas can’t help but reflect on the past a bit.

He’s found fame and fortune in Incubus, but most importantly, he’s found himself.

"Success to me is such a subjective word," he says, contemplating what the band has managed to achieve. "To me, in getting a record deal, we were successful. Selling out our first club, we were successful. Being able to be at home and not have to worry about my next mortgage payment and how my daughter’s going to eat, that’s a success to me.

"So on many different levels, I’ve felt it all along to this point," he adds. "Even if I was barely getting by but able to play music, that’s a success in and of itself, too."

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476.