The band were formed in 1990 why they were in the eighth grade at school. They started their live playing Metallica, Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Megadeth covers at party gigs. By 1994, they began recording and writing their own music. This led to their debut demo Closet Cultivation. Their first full-length album on their own label. It was called Fungus Amongus. They toured to promote its tracks and met many influential music industry figures while doing so. The band’s shows quickly brought them a reputation as an impressive live act and they started to win more and more fans.

There are two theories about how Incubus got their name. The first is that the band desperately needed to find a band name before taking to the stage for their first ever live show, and Mike opened a thesaurus and found the word. The guys thought it was a good choice, simply as it had something to do with sex. A less interesting theory is that they took the name from the song Mr Nice Guy by Mr Bungle, which goes: "Incubus in disguise, lord of the flies".

By 1998, Incubus started to attract mainstream attention for their latest album Make Yourself. Its single Pardon Me started to get airplay on major radio stations and MTV started running its video. The interest in the single led the album Make Yourself to achieve gold certification. A second single, called Stellar continued their mainstream takeover and was even played on MTV’s hit show TRL. By 2000, Make Yourself had turned platinum, the band had officially made it.

In 2001, the album’s third single from the album, Drive, was released and soon hit number one on the modern rock charts (and its video was later nominated for an MTV Video Music Award for Best Group Video), more chart singles followed. That year, it was announced that Make Yourself had now impressible turned double platinum. Around this time, the band started to tour Australia and Japan, taking their music worldwide.

More success followed and the band released the lead single, Wish You Were Here, from their new album Morning View in summer 2001. It reached number two on the modern rock charts. Its video was played on MTV and VH1.

At the Billboard awards for that year, Incubus took home an award for Modern Rock Single for the Year (for Drive), this helped their Morning View album to turn platinum. Late that year, a DVD was released featuring their popular music videos along with live and backstage footage.

In 2004, the band debuted a brand new sound on their album A Crow Left of the Murder. It showcased a sound combining both experimental and mainstream sounds.

It’s rumoured that their sixth studio album, featuring 17 tracks, will be released in late 2006. Its tracks are said to include: Dig", "Oil and Water", "Pendoulus Threads", and "Punch Drunk."