Sometimes with music things are hidden in plain sight. I find it fascinating that you can be perfectly familiar with a song but then you come back to it at a later time and it impacts you in a way you never would have expected. In this case, Shaft has always been a perfectly good song, not a standout, but I revisit it now and it turns out it’s my favourite song on the album.
It writhes with nervous energy – a mounting panic attack. The rhythm section is brazen, unyielding, while Mike’s guitar needles insidiously. Brandon vocals almost portray a battle between inner and outer monologue; melodically the verses are an increasingly futile attempt to maintain composure until the chorus’ break down into a catharsis of yells, overlaid with a lamenting “We can’t let you go”. It’s this to-ing and fro-ing that makes the song so compelling, pushing everything along to its final crescendo of a chorus, the temperature rising continuously until the whole pan boils over.
Lyrically I’ve never understood what the song is actually about. It has always sounded like nonsense, albeit a different kind of nonsense to something like Take Me To Your Leader. Rather than irreverence, Shaft initially presents itself as something sincere, something meaningful. Perhaps this is merely down to the fact that Brandon delivers it in a far more natural voice than the Mike Patton pastiche found throughout the rest of Fungus/Enjoy. But what do we find when we put the lyrics under scrutiny, and most pressingly, who is Lorena and why do they need her? Well it would seem that the Lorena in question is Lorena Bobbitt, who made headlines in the early nineties when she cut her abusive husband’s penis off while he slept and disposed of it on the side of a road. While the bulk of Shaft’s lyrics give the impression of a claustrophobic identity crisis, evidently this isn’t actually the early emergence of Philosophical Brandon, whom we become well acquainted with in later albums. No, apparently the song is simply the chronicle of a teenage boy’s relationship with his genitals, which frankly is a subject I feel no need to delve any deeper into. But at least now I can be sure that the eponymous shaft is, well, a shaft. Like I say, sometimes things are hidden in plain sight.
As the opening chords of Pardon Me swell around the Red Rocks Amphitheater at the end of their 2004 dvd recording, Brandon quips “We live in strange, strange, strange, strange times, so whenever we get the chance to do this, we make the most of it”. The line has for some reason always stuck with me, and today it’s a sentiment that has never felt more true.
I write this at the end of my second day in self-isolation, as I along with millions of people attempt to come to terms with a world made unrecognisable by the omnipresent shadow of COVID-19. Each day is more bewildering than the last; the future has been erased. There is no certainty any more, just anxiety, and waiting.
It is this combination of anxiety and waiting that has prompted me to pick this blog back up. The last few days I’ve seen shared all over social media the inspiring and wonderful ways people have coped with isolation and uncertainty, many choosing to channel their energies into creative projects. Unfortunately I can’t crochet or paint, but I can do this. I never intended to let this blog fall to the wayside, I have thought about it regularly, life has just crowded it out. Now, presented with nothing but empty time, this feels like some way to claim back something positive and meaningful, even if it’s just words in to a void.
This is my way of heeding Brandon’s advice to make the most of what beauty and light is available to us. The world is bleak and it looks that it will only become bleaker in the coming weeks and months. And while I am not misguided enough to think that art and optimism will outweigh the material pain we face, I do believe there is great worth in celebrating the glimpses of goodness that are still to be found. I’m grateful that I can turn to Incubus for comfort food at this moment. A few short, distant weeks ago I got tickets to see them play Make Yourself in full at the Royal Albert Hall in June. At this point it looks entirely unlikely that will happen as scheduled, and I can only hope that postponement is all I have to worry about, but knowing that somewhere on the other side of the chaos I have something to look forward to, even something as trivial as a rock concert, that is precious to me.
I have had a draft for my next blog entry written since last summer and haven’t got round to finishing it. I’ll have it posted soon. In the meantime I’ll finish today’s post with one of my favourite Kurt Vonnegut quotes, one that Brandon echoes:
“And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmer or think at some point, ‘If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.'”
So begins You Will Be A Hot Dancer, the introductory track of Incubus’ very first studio album, Fungus Amongus. (The track was also rerecorded along with a few others for the follow-up EP Enjoy Incubus). While the song is clearly intended to be humourous, there’s enough to suggest that some genuine trepidation belies singer Brandon Boyd’s opening line. After all, these are four teenagers offering an unsteady handshake to the world, not yet entirely sure of what they are.
Over the 12 individual songs that comprise Fungus and Enjoy Brandon, Mike, Alex and José wear their influences loudly on their sleeves, aping the styles of Primus, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Mr Bungle et al. Indeed one of the biggest criticisms levelled at Brandon during this era has been for his Mike Patton-isms – not drawing inspiration so much as actively impersonating. It’s clear that Incubus still needed to form an identity of their own. But look, they wrote these songs in High School, and what High School band doesn’t just want to sound exactly like their heroes?
And let’s be fair to them, for High School kids they can really play. It’s completely unreasonable for Alex (more commonly known as Dirk Lance) and José to be as tight a rhythm section as they are at that age. Mike is a significantly more accomplished player than anyone I’ve ever come across at school. For the most part the songwriting on Fungus/Enjoy is relatively sophisticated and functions well for what it is. Perhaps they haven’t carved out their unique musical space yet, but when I think back to the high school bands I was in and the shitty Incubus and Audioslave rip-offs we were farting out then I can’t help but be impressed with what’s on offer here.
As for Hot Dancer itself, from a musical standpoint it’s not hard to see how Boyd came upon the preening protagonist of the lyrics. As the track begins Mike’s guitar line slinks out from behind a red velvet curtain, leading on to the drunken pole dance of José and Dirk’s angular groove, before the chorus trips over it’s own trousers in an embarrassment of flailing limbs. Brandon groans and huffs his way through the song in a voice that rarely sounds comfortably his own. It’s goofy and ungainly, attempting to simultaneously amuse and seduce with it’s teenage belligerence.
At this point you’d be forgiven for thinking I have a less than favourable opinion of this song, but the truth is that I actually still enjoy Hot Dancer a lot. I mean, I’m confident that if I was discovering it for the first time in 2019 I would not like it at all. But instead I came upon it 16/17 years ago when I was already a fully-fledged Incubus fanboy, and nostalgia obliges me to overlook my many criticisms.
It’s really fun. The bassline makes me shake my butt. For all that I’ve said about Brandon so far, I will always sing along to every word of this, mimicking every inflection (I can’t wait until these syllables beeeend).
The instrumental mid-section is noteworthy, as the Fungus version starts with a percussion break before launching into Mike’s solo. With a drummer like José and a lead singer with an penchant for african drums it’s surprising that Incubus’ early music didn’t feature more percussion sections like this, instead being relegated to the occasional intro or outro. As for the Enjoy version, this section is inhabited by newcomer DJ Lyfe’s turntables, begging the question of whether something more was always intended for the section.
The guitar solo is a highlight for me. It strikes a great balance between being quirky and being catchy and melodic. Of everything going on in the song, it has the strongest sense of unique character. You Will Be A Hot Dancer is the perfect opener for Fungus and Enjoy. Not only is it a strong song, and not only does it set the table for the rest of the record, but it’s a quintessential insight into the band’s internal confusions. A band too funky for the metal crowd and too abrasive for the funk crowd. A band that wants to be taken seriously while acting like they don’t. Brandon wants us to sympathise with the titular marmaduke because it’s him, longing to feel at ease with his ostentations.
On my harsher days I wonder whether Incubus have ever quite resolved this identity crisis. It feels to me that the band’s perception of themselves often doesn’t quite line up with the reality. It’s a theme that I’m sure I’ll explore more as I move further through their catalogue. But perhaps Hot Dancer is apt as an introduction not just to Fungus and Enjoy but to the band’s career as a whole.
P.S. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the skit at the end of a song. I generally don’t care for skits on albums, they’re rarely good and even if they are amusing they’re not any more by the third or fourth time you’ve heard them. But the skits here are so deeply embedded into my brain that it’s hard to imagine the album without them. Here, a boy harrasses a department store Santa, and apparently gets his comeuppance. “How’d you get so fat, fatass?” is a line that I still regularly get going through my head. I used to imagine that in the ensuing chaos the boy was being eaten by Santa, but I guess really he’s just being physically assaulted, so… cool? The last thing we hear is a muffled cry from Santa, which I prefer to hear as “FUCKER!”.
Welcome to Enjoy Incubus?, a blog dedicated to the discussion of the band Incubus and their music. This blog actually began life as a podcast of the same name, in which a friend and I would discuss one of the band’s albums for an episode at a time. At time of writing we only managed to get organised enough to record two episodes, but the project had the upshot of really getting me thinking about the band. A lot.
Anyone who has more than a passing relationship with music will know what it is to have that one special artist who stands above the rest. That artist who becomes entwined in your identity, whose music is an inextricable part of your personal testimony. For me that band is Incubus, and they became my obsession around the time of my 12th birthday. For several years as far as I was concerned they were the absolute pinnacle of musicianship, songwriting, creativity, artistry. They helped me navigate all of those uncharted teenage emotions, gave form to the kind of person I could become during such a malleable stage. Incubus changed my life.
Needless to say however, time marches on, tastes change. I discovered different music, and though Incubus have always remained close to my heart, I no longer hold them in such unimpeachable standing. With the benefit of hindsight I can see more clearly their flaws and pitfalls, but also can appreciate what made them and still makes great.
And so it feels like I’m at an interesting point in which I can truly work through how I feel about the band and the many years of history I have with them. My plan with this blog is to write about each individual song in order of their release. On the one hand I will be discussing the songs critically, but will also be reflecting on what they meant to me as a teenager, what they mean to me now, and recalling all the memories that I associate with the band. And I won’t be limiting myself strictly to the songs, I will likely throw in some pieces about concerts, band history, etc etc.
Ultimately my aim is to approach this blog simply as a fan. As you can already tell, I am no writer, though this does provide a great opportunity to practice that skill and I hope that if you choose to follow this blog you will see improvement. Whether or not I have particularly profound thoughts on the output of Incubus is to be seen, but hopefully I will encapsulate the heart of what it means to love a band and in that you may find something that resonates with you. I’m going to aim to be generously positivite – it’s far more fun to read something enthusiastic and open than it is to read someone’s complaints. That being said, I also want to be honest and wrestle with any disappointments I may have.
There are bound to be contradictions and thoughts that don’t quite make sense. That’s just what happens when you have a longstanding emotional connection with art. Frankly I love those little inconsistencies and arbitrary lines we draw, and while you’re welcome to call them out and discuss them with me, don’t expect any apologies.
If you love Incubus, or music in general, then I hope you find value in these thoughts. Please interact and offer your own opinions, I welcome any chance to chat about this band.
It’s so much better when everyone is in. Are you in?
Enjoy Incubus? 