Hello everyone, and welcome to entry number 10 in my Drummers I Love series! This week’s drummer brings me right back to my roots as a musician. I grew up listening to his band’s music well before I even became acquainted with any instruments. Their songs were the first I had tried to learn on my own once I learned a few drumming fundamentals from playing Rock Band. I owe all of my earliest style choices and beat influences to this band and drummer. He is no other than…
Jose Pasillas – Drummer for Incubus
Taken from https://www.moderndrummer.com/article/january-2010-incubuss-jose-pasillas-tour-stage-making-work-road/
Although my music taste has gotten significantly more progressive over time, I do find myself coming back to Incubus and grunge-era bands that I grew up on quite frequently. I also give Incubus the credit for starting me on the progressive rock and metal trend, as much of their music sits on a fine line between alternative and progressive rock. Between Mike Einziger’s expert choice of odd chords on guitar, Brandon Boyd’s nearly flawless and smooth vocal delivery, (formerly) Dirk Lance’s funky bass riffs, and the inclusion of DJ Kilmore’s sound effects, Incubus were truly ahead of their time upon their debut with funk-metal EP Enjoy Incubus and full album Fungus Amongus in 1995. With each of these band members bringing their own unique style into the incredible musical project that is Incubus, it is important to make note of Jose’s style and why it is paramount to their sound.
In short, Jose is a groove master. He is definitely capable of playing technical parts, but he seemingly prefers to keep true to the music and play whatever fits best and will be the most memorable. Although my personal style has changed and I am more intrigued by the idea of complex parts that work properly in a song, I have to look back at Jose’s drumming to remind myself how important groove is. As I matured as a drummer, learning his parts was such a blast. Compared to some of my current tastes, I use drummers like Jose to remind myself that sometimes less is more. It is not always crucial to play complex patterns; simply fitting the music can be far more effective. For example, let’s take a look at “Privilege” off the album Make Yourself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOarft2T-l4
For the most part, Jose keeps it simple and to the song. The chorus has me headbanging, and the verses have me grooving. The hi-hat keeps the beat, the bass drum picks up the minor shots, the snare stays on 3, and the fills are kept short and sweet whilst leading up to a major shot. This may all seem very textbook, but it takes proper feel to understand how to deliver something like this effectively without making it boring. Groove is not a simple concept by any means. The audience can only properly feel the groove in the beat if the musician themself feels it too. Call me crazy, but I can simply feel how much fun Jose was having while recording this and many other Incubus songs. To contrast this slightly, let’s take a look at a more complicated song by Incubus; here is “Pendulous Threads” off the album Light Grenades:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BU4cVftcMWg
This song starts out with a very odd guitar line with many effects added to it; pretty characteristic of Einziger’s genius on guitar. However, Jose takes a different approach than most songs and chooses to do a drum solo that slowly builds up beginning with just a snare, eventually incorporating the bass drum and ride into the mix, and finally ending with lots of crash cymbal. This drum solo is quite reminiscent of a beat you might hear in a drum and bass song, but played on actual drums and used in the context of a build-up; a brilliant idea by Jose. A large majority of the rest of the song goes back to Jose’s general ideas of creating a groove to fit the song, but he does add small embellishments in the form of hi-hat bursts, ghost notes on the snare, and small breaks to further accent the major shots. The bridge/guitar solo brings back a groove very similar to what Jose does in the intro, although slightly more structured by adding consistent ghosts notes and a ride hit on each beat. This allows him to not clash with Einziger’s guitar work, but maintain the same intensity that existed in the intro during yet another build-up. This is a great demonstration on how expansion of a simple idea can lead to numerous effective results. I would also like to add that this song ends the same way it starts, although with a fade out on the groove rather than a build up.
Jose’s versatility, concept of groove, and devotion to the music at hand is what has kept him as such a relevant drummer for me over the years. Although there may be slight bias in Incubus as a source of nostalgia for me, their music contains many infectious elements that help it stand the test of time for me. There are so many hidden elements and layers to their songs that demonstrate their attention to detail and accentuate their prowess as phenomenal musicians. Sometimes while writing a part for a song, I think back to Incubus and Jose’s work to remind myself that groove is almost always more important than technicality. Thank you for your amazing work Incubus, and I cannot wait to hear what new music you all still have in store for us after 25 hard-working years. If you made it this far, thank you for reading and have a wonderful day! I will conclude this post with one of my favourite Incubus songs: here is “Sick Sad Little World” off the album A Crow Left of the Murder:
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