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,[2] Hans Zimmer,[3] Skrillex,[4] Tyler the Creator, Avicii,[5] Damian Marley,[6] Jason Schwartzman[7] (Coconut Records) and Steve Martin[8] among many others.
[9] Incubus has sold over 23 Million albums worldwide,[10] and in 2013, Einziger co-wrote the hit song "Wake Me Up",[5] alongside Avicii and Aloe Blacc.
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.
In 2003 Einziger contributed to Ziggy Marley's debut solo album Dragonfly alongside fellow Incubus member Chris Kilmore as well as Flea and John Frusciante of Red Hot Chili Peppers.
In 2007, Einziger produced Nighttiming, the debut album of long-time friend and former Phantom Planet drummer and actor Jason Schwartzman's Coconut Records project.
[14] The album featured appearances by Kirsten Dunst, Zooey Deschanel, and Robert Schwartzman, and was recorded at Einziger's own home studio in Malibu, CA (Casa Chica).
Einziger began crafting an orchestral composition "End.>vacuum" following surgery in March 2007 for carpal tunnel syndrome, a repetitive-strain injury to his left wrist.
The piece consisted of nine musical movements (approximately 40 minutes total) and was performed by a chamber orchestra led by renowned Los Angeles conductor and Einziger's longtime collaborator Suzie Katayama.
According to Einziger, "End.>vacuum" makes reference to his perception of the outer edge of human understanding, "the finite place where rational scientific knowledge stops and pure speculation ensues…The event horizon between what we know and what we don't know is what keeps me awake at night, but also gets me out of bed every day.
[17] On June 17, 2008, Einziger took a personal tour of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland with British physicist Dr. Brian Cox.
Einziger helped premiere the song live at Ultra 15 along with bandmates Jose Pasillas, Ben Kenney and country music legend Mac Davis.
[20] Mike has cited his early guitar influences as Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, John Frusciante, Steve Vai, Paul Fried and Frank Zappa.
Early on, Einziger played Ibanez guitars, and sometime around the making of Enjoy Incubus (1997) he switched to Paul Reed Smith (PRS) (Custom 24's).
Einziger is a multi-instrumentalist and, in addition to guitar, has played piano, Mellotron, pipa, analog synthesizers, Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer, and many other instruments on his recordings with Incubus as well as his other projects.