Michael Einziger

Biography

Michael Aaron Einziger (born June 21, 1976) is an American musician, songwriter and producer. He is best known for being co-founder and guitarist of the rock band Incubus and has also co-written, produced, and collaborated with a wide array of artists including Pharrell Williams, Hans Zimmer, Skrillex, Tyler the Creator, Avicii, Damian Marley, Jason Schwartzman (Coconut Records) and Steve Martin among many others.

 Incubus has sold over 23 Million albums worldwide, and in 2013, Einziger co-wrote the hit song "Wake Me Up", alongside Avicii and Aloe Blacc. As an entrepreneur, Einziger is the co-founder and co-chairman of the wireless technology platform MIXhalo, and also the co-founder and CEO of the biotechnology startup Versicolor Technologies. Einziger received his education at Harvard University.

Einziger co-founded Incubus with Calabasas High School classmates Brandon Boyd, Jose Pasillas II, and Alex Katunich in 1991. Incubus has sold over 23 million albums worldwide and has been nominated for two Grammys, MTV Music Video Awards, American Music Awards, MTV U Woodie Award, and the Billboard Awards. 

Incubus has performed sold-out concerts at The Hollywood Bowl, The Great Western Forum, Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, Wembley Arena in London, and Araneta Coliseum in Manila, Philippines.

Outside of his work with Incubus, Einziger founded his own project Time Lapse Consortium in 2003. The group featured Incubus musicians Jose Pasillas II and Ben Kenney (who was not a member of Incubus at the time), Neal Evans of the band Soulive, and long-time collaborator Suzie Katayama contributing string arrangements.

 The band had their debut show at The Roxy in LA and would go on to play Jimmy Kimmel and the Knitting Factory in New York City.

Einziger's career as a film score composer began in the early 2000s, first with the short film Miss Gentilbelle, and then the independent comedy film Sol Goode, which also featured Jared Leto of the band Thirty Seconds to Mars. He has sporadically continued to compose background music for films.

Mike has cited his early guitar influences as Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, John Frusciante, Steve Vai, Paul Fried, and Frank Zappa.

 He claims "infatuation" with Björk's voice. Mike was also heavily influenced by the music of Black Sabbath and Metallica. Mike said that some of the music he was most proud of was the music he had worked on with Avicii.