Last time Incubus played here was while supporting Korn on their "Life is Peachy" tour. The band had just released a mini ep called "Enjoy Incubus", and despite some tours in North America, they were totally unknown here in Europe. What everyone thought to be another faceless act, turned out to be one of the most innovative and original bands of the so called crossover universe. Their new album was released in September, but shortly before that, they toured the US with 311 and Sugar Ray. Today, in a cold but sunny afternoon, I have the opportunity to meet bassist Alex here in Milan and talk a little about their current shows in Europe, once again with Cali mates Sugar Ray.

Me: Last time we saw you was with Korn.....and now you are here 12 months later with Sugar Ray. What happened in the meantime?

Alex: Last year we finished the tour with Korn, and then we came back to the States and we made the record S.C.I.E.N.C.E.....and that took a couple of months. Then we toured through the rest of the year, from summer to the fall....

Me: Touring, touring and touring...

Alex: Yes, basically we stayed on tour for the last 8 months.

Me: Cool....and this time you didn't cover only the Cali area but all the US...

Alex: We went all over the country 3 times, and actually we came back to Europe to play some festivals....but we didn't have the chance to play in Italy.

Me: You toured the US with 311 and Sugar Ray, which was a big chance for you. Many people got to know the band, and you won some new fans......How was that experience?

Alex: It was a good chance for us to play in front of a lot of people. Each night was basically in front of a few thousand kids, from 2000 to 6000...it would take us 3 times and maybe more to play in front of all those people. It was really cool, because those bands are awesome...Sugar Ray is great and 311 is amazing. The whole tour was really, really cool.

Me: 311 recently cancelled their European dates.....what about you, are you planning to come back soon?

Alex: I know from them that they tend to focus on the US. I want to be able to focus on the United States and on Europe, but it is so expensive to come over here that sometimes it takes some time. It's the 3rd time we've been here so far, and i'd like to come at least 3 times a year. Hopefully sometime towards the end of the summer we'll come back to play festivals again. And then at some point we'll come around and we'll do our own club tour where we'll spend a lot of more time in each country.

Me: What about the definition many people give you...."funk-metal". How do you deal with that?

Alex: It's always difficult to take something that is really complex and try to sum it up in two or three words. Yeah, it probably is "funk-metal" in the sense that there is a lot of funky stuff on the record and there are songs that are hard....but i think there is a lot more in that, like jazz.....People try to sum up 20 songs in two words, but i don't think you can really do that. I don't really know how you could sum up 45 minutes of music into 2 or 3 words.

Me: What about the new California scene? Bands like Korn, Human Waste Project, or Deftones started in local clubs over there, and now they are bringing their music all over the world....but in the early 90's the scene seemed dead....

Alex: It really was. In the early 90's there was nothing in L.A. and the scene has just started to come back. They always talk about Southern California and Orange County for ska and punk music....but i think that anywhere you go in L.A. you can have a good mix, and up to me that is what a good scene is. There was a time when all you had was hair bands doing heavy metal stuff... There was nobody really coming out of L.A. What started bringing L.A. back even before Korn was Rage Against The Machine.

Me: So... any new band you would like to recommend to us?

Alex: Good question......I would say (Hed)pe, a new band from Orange County. Then....Human Waste Project, System Of A Down....

The conversation is now interrupted by Incubus drummer José, who helps his bandmate to find some cool bands to mention...

José: Snot....

Alex: I am trying to think about the bands we played with....

José: Sevendust?

Alex: Oh yeah...they are good....but I would definitely say (Hed)pe.

The couple is thinking.....and the silence is broken by one name....

Alex: Far!!

Me: I heard you released a vinyl with them. Could you tell us more?

Alex: The record company decided that it would be a good idea for us to put out something together as a promotional thing. We did a 7" with a song from us and a song from them, and you can buy it over the Internet. The new Far record is amazing.......really really good.

José: I can see them doing really well over here.

Me: What about the lyrics on the record....who writes them? Are they as important as the music?

Alex: Brandon writes basically all the lyrics. Obviously, I have my take on what he writes and my own personal interpretation, which maybe is a little bit different from his... But when it comes to writing, usually the music comes first and then Brandon would try and match it with something that is already written or he would write something new, based on what we came up musically. We are not like other bands that write the lyrics and then try to put music to it... for us the music comes first and that is where he gets the inspiration.

Me: What's next for Incubus?

Alex: We are gonna spend hopefully half of '98 supporting the new record and trying to get people to be aware of us. We are gonna try to come back here a couple of times and play, and to get people to know the name, to hear the record and hopefully to start enjoying the music...

Me: Tell us about the title of the new record.....does it have any particular meanings? It reminds me of A.D.I.D.A.S. from Korn....

Alex: It stands for a lot of different things.....like....

José: Some Cocks In Everglades/Europe Never Come Easily (big laugh)...or....Sucking Cocks Is Every Necrophile...

Alex: It's basically anything you want it to be......we did it because anytime anybody ever asks us about it we can make up something different everytime... but S.C.I.E.N.C.E. was a cool word and a cool way to describe what we thought the record was and putting the periods just made it better....