By Robert Duguay

It has been over 20 years since Incubus released its acclaimed album Morning View. The band has rerecorded it under the name Morning View XXIII.

Ever since the troupe formed in Calabasas, California during the early ’90s, Incubus has been one of the most innovative bands in all of alternative rock. Over the decades, its core members — vocalist Brandon Boyd, lead guitarist Mike Einziger, drummer Jose Pasillas, and multi-instrumentalist Chris Kilmore — made a number of stellar albums. Their fourth full-length recording, 2001’s, Morning View, turned out to be among the band’s most acclaimed. It has been over 20 years since the disc’s release, and Incubus has rerecorded it under the name Morning View XXIII while bringing new bassist Nicole Row into the fold. Touring to support the rerelease, Incubus will be headlining a show at the TD Garden on August 31. Nyack, New York prog-rock phenoms Coheed & Cambria are going to kick off the evening at 7:30 p.m..

Ahead of Incubus’s performance, Pasillas and I had a talk about how the rerecording came to be, what it is like to perform in Boston, and what the new, original tunes that are due out next year are going to be like.

The Arts Fuse: What inspired the rerecording of Morning View? And why the new title, Morning View XXIII?

Jose Pasillas: We had been talking about rerecording both Make Yourself and Morning View for some time, so we started down that path. We talked about doing a livestream for Morning View to celebrate its 20th anniversary and we were going to do a tour in support of it, as we did for Make Yourself. But Covid happened and it pushed everything back. At some point, we revisited doing the livestream, which we ended up doing. And then, as we were rerecording the album, we all thought that the livestream had come out really well so we decided to use it as the basis for a rerecording. We used that as an opportunity to delve deeper into the material. Brandon wanted to rerecord his vocals. We also have a new bass player, Nicole Row, who wasn’t part of the livestream (that was done by our old bassist Ben Kenney), so we thought it was a great chance for her to do her thing on it.

Everyone eventually rerecorded all their parts except for myself. My drums were the only live recording retained from that stream; we polished it up and it sounded amazing. This was a project we had talked about and we finally did complete it — it was released in an odd year, hence the title. The celebration doesn’t have to be a round number of 20 years or 25 years; we’re really happy with the product and the end result.

AF: Did you all make a conscious effort to make the recording session similar to the one that you guys did for the original album? You did return to the Stern House in Malibu. Or were these rerecordings done in a different way?

Pasillas: Most of it was done in a different studio. Like I said, the drums were rerecorded at the Stern House from the livestream we did. Once we started figuring out that we wanted to rerecord all of the instruments, we were on tour, so parts of that was done on the tour bus and dressing rooms. When we got back from that summer tour last year, we went to Henson Studios in Hollywood, where we do our recordings now. We finished up there. Recordings can be done anywhere, but I think the biggest factor to keep in mind is the drums, especially if you want a big sound. I know there’s plug-ins for all of that, but we like the real thing, so it was nice to be able to record again in that house and in that big, large room for the percussion.

AF: There must have been a lot of reflecting going on throughout the whole process. Can you talk about feelings evoked during the livestream as well as the rerecordings that followed?

Pasillas: When we got to the house to do the livestream, all of the memories started flooding back. I hadn’t been on the property in over 20 years, I don’t think any of us had, so it was pretty amazing to come back there. During the drive there the memories come flooding back: our experiences, the views, everything really sparked. That was a remarkable time for us, a period that inspired the coolest memories we have of recording an album. Living, writing, and recording in a place for a handful of months — it was a really special time. We’ve been playing a lot of those songs for 20 years and, for me, whenever we touch base with any of those songs, memories naturally come to mind, so they’re not lost. But they rushed back when we went back to the location.

AF: Given that your home base is California, what are your thoughts when it comes to coming across the country to perform in Boston?

Pasillas: Boston has always been one of our strongest markets; we’ve always had such a big draw there. Even when we were playing clubs and theaters, Boston was always a super special place to perform in, so we’ve always looked forward to coming back. I love playing in Boston. The crowds are always great and my wife is from Massachusetts, so we have family there and it’s cool.

Incubus today. Photo: Shawn Hanna

AF: After this run of shows in support of Morning View XXIII, what are the band’s plans going into 2025?

Pasillas: We’ll definitely have new music. We’ve already recorded a few songs and we’ve got a whole bunch on deck, so we’re going to finish up this summer and come back in the fall. Then we’re going to dedicate our time to finishing up a record. Sometime in ’25 we’ll have new music and a new tour. We’re going to be performing in international markets that we haven’t visited in a while. It’s going to be a big year with some new product.

Rob Duguay is an arts & entertainment journalist based in Providence, who is originally from Shelton, CT. Outside of the Arts Fuse, he has also written for DigBoston, Aquarian Weekly, Providence Journal, Newport Daily News, Worcester Magazine, New Noise Magazine, Manchester Ink Link, and numerous other publications. While covering mostly music, he has also written about film, TV, comedy, theater, visual art, food, drink, sports, and cannabis.