Concert preview: Incubus odd pair with The Duke Spirit

" 'Greatest Hits' can be a band's tombstone," said Ben Kenney, bassist for Southern California-based rock band Incubus.

That is one reason the progressive-rock band called its recent album "Monuments and Melodies," rather than "Incubus' Greatest Hits."

The double album features 13 singles from their last four studio albums, as well as B-sides, soundtrack cuts, alternate versions, three previously unreleased songs and a cover of Prince's "Let's Go Crazy."

Incubus performs Thursday, July 16, at Usana Amphitheatre, kicking off a busy week for the outdoor venue that until now had only hosted 311, André Rieu and two radio festival shows this summer: George Strait performs Friday, July 17; The Fray performs

Saturday, July 18; and Snoop Dogg and Slightly Stoopid perform Monday, July 20.

Incubus -- named for a mythical demon that has sex with sleeping women -- has been able to weather the fickle tides of mainstream rock since its debut album, "Fungus Amongus," was released in 1995. With singles such as "Drive," "Megalomaniac," "Love Hurts" and "Wish You Were Here," the quintet has sold more than 18 million albums. Its 2006 album, "Light Grenades," debuted at No. 1 the week it was released.

Three years after "Light Grenades," there has been no follow-up. There is a reason for that, Kenney said: "We all want to tour." If the band had been hard at work on a new album, there would have been no tour this summer, he said.

Much of "Monuments and Melodies" was recorded before Kenney joined the band in 2003, after serving as the bassist with the Roots (now the house band for Jimmy Fallon's late-night show on NBC). His entrance has influenced his new band, as he comes from a hip-hop background, whereas Incubus began life as a high schoolers wanting to rock out.

Thus "Let's Go Crazy," a song that the band recorded in one take and included on the new greatest ... I mean, not -greatest-hits compilation.

Incubus lead singer Brandon Boyd was a fan of The Duke Spirit, a British fuzz-rock band that is much more bluesy than Incubus' progressive metal, said The Duke Spirit's lead singer Liela Moss.

"It is a bit of a strange combination, isn't it," Moss acknowledged in an interview. "[Boyd] really went onto a limb and personally invited us."

The Duke Spirit formed in 2003 in art school, and since then has released two records, "Cuts Across the Land" in 2005 and "Neptune" in 2008. "Neptune" was a head-turning adventure, because while it was written in England, the band recorded it in one of the driest places on Earth: near Joshua Tree National Park in the inland desert of California.

"We wrote it all in England, in rain-drenched bewilderment, [full of] interesting images about water," Moss said, and then added some bemused sarcasm. "It was totally f------ brilliant. We made it in a place that was f------ peculiar."

Unlike Boyd, Moss is a soulful singer and names vocal influences not common for rock bands, such as Leonard Cohen. She does her best to emulate his style, she said, by using a "broken, fragile" voice that leaves a lot of atmospheric space for the instruments to fill.

Opening in an amphitheater is still somewhat new for The Duke Spirit, but Moss wasn't too worried about facing a crowd of people there to see Incubus.

"I'm shortsighted, so I can only see the first few rows," she joked.

dburger@sltrib.com