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Alex Katunich
Alex Katunich
Birth name	George Alex Katunich
Also known as	Dirk Lance
Born	August 18, 1976 (age 48)
Origin	United States
Genres	Alternative rock, funk metal, alternative metal, nu metal
Occupations	Bassist
Instruments	Bass, keyboards
Years active	1991–present
Labels	Immortal Records, Epic Records
Formerly of	Incubus

George Alex Katunich (born August 18, 1976) is an American musician. He is best known as the founding bassist of the Californian band Incubus. He left the band in 2003.^[2]

Since high school, Katunich has used the stage name of Dirk Lance.

Personal life

Katunich's paternal grandfather George was born in Indiana, to Croatian parents from the town of Ozalj.^[3]

Career

Incubus

Katunich was a member of Incubus from 1991 to 2003, playing bass guitar on the albums Fungus Amongus (1995), Enjoy Incubus (1997), S.C.I.E.N.C.E. (1997), Make Yourself (1999), and Morning View (2001). The decision to leave the band was made in October 2002,^[4] towards the end of the touring cycle for Morning View, and his final performance with the group was on November 1, 2002. His departure was first announced to the media on April 4, 2003, through a statement from lead singer Brandon Boyd.^[5]^[6]^[7] He was replaced by The Roots bassist Ben Kenney, who started performing with Incubus in July 2003.^[8]

After Incubus

Katunich later entered the video game industry with Stickman Entertainment. He has worked on titles like WWE Smackdown.^[9] In 2012, Katunich joined forces with his first bass teacher Stray Deuce and Germany native Alexa Brinkschulte to form Willie's Nerve Clinic.^[10] In September 2013, Katunich and former bandmate Jose Pasillas II, along with former Pharcyde MC Slimkid3 and Jurassic 5's DJ Nu-Mark, under the name 4 Player Co-Op, released the song "Picture Perfect Phantasy", inspired by the video game Rayman Legends.^[11]

Katunich spent the 2010s with Willie's Nerve Clinic before joining with Kyle Mortensen to form his current band and latest collaboration East of June in 2019.^[12]^[13]^[14]

Style and influences

Katunich's playing is heavily influenced by funk music. He said he had been exposed to funk music from a very young age, and that one of the first records he owned was an album of Disney songs done in Disco-style.^[15] As he grew older, he began to be influenced by bassists from funk metal bands, including Robert Trujillo of Infectious Grooves, Les Claypool of Primus, Trevor Dunn of Mr. Bungle and Billy Gould of Faith No More. Katunich has mentioned Faith No More's 1989 album The Real Thing as being an important early influence on him, saying "you could hear the bass, and it was just front and center."^[15]

References

^ Family Tree Legends
^ INCUBUS Part Ways With Bassist
^ "United States, GenealogyBank Obituaries, Births, and Marriages 1980-2014," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKTL-PXWC : accessed 4 November 2023), Alex Katunich in entry for George Katunich, Indiana, United States, 09 Apr 2008; from "Recent Newspaper Obituaries (1977 - Today)," database, GenealogyBank.com (http://www.genealogybank.com : 2014); citing Post-Tribune, born-digital text.
^ Incubus Online, 2003. via [1]
^ Dansby, Andrew (April 4, 2003). "Incubus Replace Bassist". Rolling Stone.
^ Billboard Staff (April 4, 2003). "Update: Incubus Bassist Out Of Band". Billboard.
^ "INCUBUS Part Ways With Bassist". BLABBERMOUTH.NET. April 4, 2003.
^ https://www.guitarworld.com/features/ben-kenney-on-incubus-anna-molly
^ Rampton, Mike (October 19, 2019). "A Deep Dive Into Incubus' Pardon Me Video". Kerrang!. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
^ Lucchetta, Nicola. "Willie's Nerve Clinic il ritorno dell'ex Incubus Dirk Lance". Music Attitude. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
^ "Eden Artist Profile: Alex Katunich". Eden Amplification. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
^ "Former Incubus Bassist Dirk Lance Debuts New Band". Bass Magazine. October 11, 2019. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
^ Magazine, Alternative Press (October 11, 2019). "Dirk Lance (ex-Incubus) releases video from new band, East Of June". Alternative Press. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
^ "East of June". East of June. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
^ ^a ^b Katunich, Alex (2024). The SBL Podcast.