Considered for OZZfest in '97 but unable to participate because of prior touring commitments, Incubus saw that "bummer" turn to elation when the band was tapped for the second stage this summer. With first full album S.C.I.E.N.C.E., released last fall, under their belts as well as considerable road experience, these five friends from Calabasas, CA are ready to rock, and will, vocalist Brandon Boyd hopes, "be able to draw more people."
Attracting crowds was apparently no problem for Incubus on their spring trip to Europe, their fourth overall but first there as the headliner. "The response has been really amazing. Only one or two shows haven't been completely sold out," enthused Brandon, calling from Nice, France (they'd stopped on the Riviera en route from Barcelona, Spain to Bologna, Italy and got to go to some Cannes Film Festival-related parties). He was looking forward to playing for 30,000 at the Dynamo Festival in Holland the following week, and spending the summer entertaining hundreds of thousands on OZZfest. "We're huge fans of Tool, and good friends of Snot and Sevendust," said Brandon, especially eager to meet and be on the same bill as Ozzy, whose Blizzard of OZZ was one of the first albums he'd owned. "I remember rushing home from elementary school to listen to Ozzy," he recalls.
By the time he was 15, Brandon and his buddies José Pasillas (drums), Mike Einziger (guitar), and Alex Katunich (bass) had formed the band (spinner DJ Lyfe came aboard in 1995), and hastily chose the name Incubus from a thesaurus days before their first party gig. "We'd been learning about it in 10th grade English class, [and thought,] 'That sounds sinister! Cool!'" No matter that the name doesn't really fit the music, which many assume must be death metal. In fact, there are other Incubuses (Incubi?) of the death metal ilk, "but we're the only one with the international trademark on it. We're the farthest thing from death metal. The name has never fit us but what we kind of enjoy about that fact is it's just a name and the music speaks for us. The name is just there to call us by. We don't seduce women in their sleep, not that we know of at least," Brandon quipped.
He continued in a jocular mode when he responded to a question about what he'd do to get noticed on a 16-band bill: "Bite the head off a bat?," he suggested before answering, "Musically, we're a little bit different from the majority of bands that are playing," Brandon said, calling their sound "hard and eclectic but also very energetic." Live, "Our bodies are the vehicles for it to come through, we sort of lose our minds collectively in a controlled manner, it's like a controlled chaos. Call it the one hour Incubus workout video."
He's glad that "there's a great diversity on the OZZfest this year, moreso than last year I think, which is cool, and we're proud to be part of that. We hope to turn some heads, make some fans. It will be fun just to play in front of a lot of people every day."
Playing during the day is actually a plus for Brandon: "I actually like playing outside during the day more, you get to breathe oxygen rather than cigarette smoke. And oxygen makes me able to sing better. I enjoy playing outside and being in touch with the elements around us."
Some more outdoor shows may be in the offing after OZZfest, as Incubus plans to play at more European festivals, in England, Belgium, Germany, and elsewhere. But that could change if Primus offers a slot on their U.S. run. "We played in Barcelona and Primus was gonna be there the next night. I left Les [Claypool] a not---we played with them two years ago and I think he enjoyed it because he asked about us later on---saying, 'Hey Les, this is Brandon from the band Incubus would you take us out in August, please?' I figure it was worth a shot." In any case, "We're gonna be touring, whether it's by ourselves or with another band."
The follow-up to S.C.I.E.N.C.E. will have to wait. "We're all quite antsy to make another record but we have at least another six months of touring behind this one. We have yet to release a commercial single, and we are going to release one, 'New Skin,' sometime between August and September. [Epic Records will] do the commercial push in late summer, see how it goes. Up to now it's been mostly underground."
Incubus has been moving up from the underground thanks in part to their cyberactivity, which has increased awareness. "We're very pro-active on the Internet. We have an official site and there's probably a dozen unofficial websites as well. We make friends with people all over the world and keep in contact with a lot of them that come to our shows via e-mail. We keep them updated, exchanging information and ideas," noted Brandon, who expects to keep that up while on tour.
As for other plans, "We'd like to colaborate with some very artistic directors, and hopefully end up with some cool music videos. We're very into doing soundtracks. Spawn was our first one and only one to date but it was a really cool experience," said Brandon, noting that Mike Einziger recently worked with Quincy Jones Jr. on a remix of a Morcheeba track. "We're trying to spread ourselves out in music and in the art world. There are artists in the band," he pointed out, referring to José and himself. "There are things we'd like to do as far as putting out books of art and poetry alongside the music. There's a tiny taste of it in our CD extra, but I'd like to do some kind of a book to go with the next CD. We're all about trying to redefine some of the rules."
