Editing Incubus (band) (section)

===''A Crow Left of the Murder...'' (2003–2004)===
[[File:Brandon Boyd of Incubus live 2004.jpg|thumb|left|[[Brandon Boyd]] in [[San Sebastián de los Reyes|San Sebastián]], Spain, in 2004]]

On January 6, 2003, the band began writing for their next record. The next month, on February 7, the band began to renegotiate their record contract. The band, which had been signed to [[Epic Records|Epic]]/[[Immortal Records|Immortal]] for seven years, cited the fact that state law limits the amount of time that an artist can be bound to a company. The band had been signed to the label for 7 years, and used California's [[de Havilland Law]] as a negotiating tool with Epic/Immortal. After releasing three successful albums, the band had been compensated poorly compared to the revenue that they had generated for [[Sony BMG Music Entertainment|Sony]]. The band entered a lawsuit against their label in order to break from their contract, to which Sony responded with a lawsuit of their own.<ref name="latimes2003"/> On March 1, Einziger, along with [[Scott Litt]], Dave Holdredge, and Rick Will, was nominated for a [[Grammy]] in the "Best Engineered Album (Non Classical)" category, for their work on ''Morning View''. On April 3, after weeks of circulating rumors about Dirk Lance's departure from the band, an official announcement was made by the band. A decision had been reached amongst members of Incubus in a face-to-face meeting at the end of the ''Morning View'' tour to discuss his involvement in the band. The band said that the split had become necessary due to "irreconcilable creative differences".
Almost immediately after the announcement of a new bass player, the 2003 Incubus vs. Sony case had been settled. The two sides settled on a new contract that delivers three albums to Epic/Immortal with an option on a fourth. The first album would be worth $8&nbsp;million in advances to the band, with another $2.5&nbsp;million for each one thereafter.

[[File:Incubus (Logo).png|thumb|200px|right|The Incubus logo from the ''A Crow Left of the Murder...'' era]]

By December the new album, which was recorded at Southern Tracks Recording Studios in [[Atlanta]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] was recorded live, opposed to recording each instrument at separate times, and was produced by [[Brendan O'Brien (music producer)|Brendan O'Brien]] ([[Pearl Jam]], [[Soundgarden]], [[Rage Against the Machine]], [[Stone Temple Pilots]]) was completed and scheduled for release. Titled ''[[A Crow Left of the Murder...]]'', the album was to be an [[enhanced CD]] with behind-the-scenes video. In the videos, Einziger and Boyd discussed their new songs. Einziger described them as "like the old shit, but older. It's very different. It's very energetic and fast, and a lot of it is more technical. I guess maybe in the vein of more of our older songs; they don't sound like our older songs. They are more exploratory." It was the last Incubus album to be labelled as "[[alternative metal]]" by the media,<ref name="newspaper">[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wPxJAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Mx4NAAAAIBAJ&pg=1319,1624724&dq=incubus+alternative-metal&hl=en Incubus Fail To Mature With Fifth Installment] Michigan Daily - February 10, 2004. Retrieved March 7, 2013.</ref><ref name="AMGCrow">{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/a-crow-left-of-the-murder-mw0000696273 |title=''A Crow Left of the Murder...'' – Incubus |website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=May 6, 2011 |last=Erlewine |first=Stephen Thomas |author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine}}</ref> with subsequent albums from the band diverting even further from this sound. On December 15, 2003, the first single, "[[Megalomaniac (Incubus song)|Megalomaniac]]", was released. It raised controversy when it was said to be an attack on the [[George W. Bush|Bush]] administration, and was banned from daytime view on MTV (despite the band saying that it was not an attack on a particular person, rather a comment on some people's negative attitudes). However, the band was actually pleased with this nighttime viewing restriction. Says Boyd, "When we heard our video had been relegated to late night rotation, I think that all of us were secretly like, 'Yes!' ". Pasillas reflected Boyd's sentiments, saying, "I think it's okay if people think that we're trying to make a political statement. Whatever anyone conjures up or takes from our music is good; I mean, our point is to get people thinking."

''A Crow Left of the Murder...'' was released in 2004, showcasing a new turn for the band. The second single released was "Talk Shows on Mute", featuring a video that was inspired by [[George Orwell]]'s ''[[Animal Farm]]''.

Incubus toured worldwide in 2004 with many bands, including [[Ben Kweller]], [[the Walkmen]], [[Hundred Reasons]], [[the Music]], [[Brand New (band)|Brand New]] and [[Sparta (band)|Sparta]], to promote their new album after their original support act [[The Vines (band)|the Vines]] pulled out due to exhaustion.<ref>{{cite web|last=Wiederhorn |first=Jon |url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1488281/vines-drop-off-incubus-tour.jhtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120210181750/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1488281/vines-drop-off-incubus-tour.jhtml |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 10, 2012 |title=Vines Drop Off Incubus Tour, Citing Exhaustion - Music, Celebrity, Artist News |publisher=MTV.com |date=June 9, 2004 |access-date=March 7, 2013}}</ref> One song left off the album, the 27-minute-long instrumental entitled "The Odyssey", was later featured on soundtrack for the video game, ''[[Halo 2]]''.

In November 2004, the band released a live DVD entitled ''[[Alive at Red Rocks]]'', filmed in [[Red Rocks Park]], [[Colorado]], during their world tour for ''A Crow Left of the Murder...''. Along with the DVD came a bonus CD featuring five tracks, including a studio version of live favorite "Pantomime", "Follow" (a lyrical version, different from the First Movement of the Odyssey version), and the UK [[B-side]] "Monuments and Melodies". Two live tracks were also included. The performance was also sold in high definition via [[Blu-ray]] Disc. A high definition version of the entire song "[[Pardon Me]]" is also available for free download from the [[PlayStation Store]], an online service for [[PlayStation 3]] users.

In December 2004, at a gig in Los Angeles the band played [[the Police]] hits "[[De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da]]", "[[Message in a Bottle (The Police song)|Message in a Bottle]]" and "[[Roxanne (The Police song)|Roxanne]]" with [[Stewart Copeland]] and [[Andy Summers]] from the former band.