WhatzUp

Dirty Sexy Knights in Pario
Audiovent
by Andrew Driscoll

It’s Audiovent, not Audiobus. It’s not Incuvent either, but Audiovent is made up of two brothers of, yes, Incubus. That would be Jason, brother of Brandon Boyd, and Ben, brother of Mike Einziger. Just knowing that these guys were taking the roles of their older brother into their own band was enough for me to try to roast them as much as I could, but I can’t. The truth is even though these guys are brothers of Incubus, they are not trying to sound like them ... too much.

Audiovent is made up of Jason Boyd on vocals, Paul Fried on bass, Ben Einziger on backup vocals and guitar and Jamin Wilcox on drums. Straight out of Calabasas, California, these four best friends have been playing together for nearly a decade since they were in junior high.

The band’s influences go from Led Zepplin, The Beatles and David Bowie to Stevie Wonder. Before being signed, they indepently released Papa’s Dojo and played numerous gigs in California. Soon after they were signed by Atlantic and released Dirty Sexy Knights in Paris and have since toured with Bush.

Having grown up in a very influentual time in rock n’ roll, the early 90s, Audiovent try to bring back the sound that somehow got lost with all the Korn’s and Creed’s out there. You know, band’s like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Nirvana — but somehow what I hear are mostly echoes of Fuel and Nickleback. And Incubus. Lots and lots of Incubus. Jason Boyd’s vocals sound very much like his brother Brandon’s. The only song in which the singing doesn’t sound like Incubus is “Underwater Silence,” but the music itself sounds straight off of Make Yourself.

The first single “The Energy” is catchy, yes, and is personal to Boyd, being a story of a break-up and devoting ‘energy’ to being dependent on someone. This 12-song album has energy all the way through and, yes, is catchy all the way through. After listening to it a few times you may actually start humming along.