After a tremendous performance at Traxx in Charlottesville, VA, we talked to Incubus's singer Brandon. If you've never heard them before, check them at The Enjoy Incubus Site or at the Immortal Records Site.

Smother: Alright first question on our minds, what does "S.C.I.E.N.C.E." stand for?

Brandon: Hmm, let's see what will it be today. It doesn't have one particular meaning. "Social Chronology Includes Everything even Cannibals on Ecstasy". Or "Southern California's Incubus Enter Nevada Carrying Equipment".

Smother: Practice this a lot?

Brandon: Yeah, sometimes we have too much time on our hands.

Smother: So what happened with the Cypress Hill tour?

Brandon: Um, we got offered Family Values. It was sort of a matter of, well it was really weird because we've never jumped off a tour before, but it's kind of fucked up in a way. Basically they said that if we didn't take the tour that they would ask Cypress Hill to do the tour and then we'd be stuck without a tour. We wanted to do the Family Values Tour though because it would be a matter of playing in front of 1,000 to 2,000 or 10,000 people every night.

Smother: So when are you guys gonna get on that?

Brandon: It starts on the 26th.

Smother: Is anyone gonna drop from the tour to make room?

Brandon: Rammstein left and I also heard that Ice Cube left or is leaving but I'm not sure. But they didn't leave to make room for us they left for other reasons.

Smother: Any plans for a new album anytime soon?

Brandon: Um. Well soon being a relative term, yes. Sooner than S.C.I.E.N.C.E. has been out, but it'll be about another six months.

Smother: That's cool. So how much new material do you have now?

Brandon: Oh loads. We could write two new albums. We could have written five more songs for S.C.I.E.N.C.E. but we had to keep it kind of normal. We didn't want to do a two album thing.

Smother: So is it going to be similar in the vein of S.C.I.E.N.C.E.?

Brandon: Similar in S.C.I.E.N.C.E. in a lot of senses but yet different at the same time. There will still be a lot of rock heavy parts but also a lot of funk and different stuff.

Mike The Roadie: Are you guys ready to go for a ride?

(Just then the bus starts moving as Mike the roadie learns how to drive the bus for the first time. Scary.)

Smother: So you guys like touring in this big monster of a bus?

Brandon: Yeah, we drove ourselves around in a little van with a trailer all by ourselves for many many years. No crew, no help. But now we can afford people to help us. It's very nice and comfortable. After a show you don't get into a van with no heater and no air-conditioner. You don't have...

Smother: You can watch The Cable Guy.

Brandon: Yeah, we have our own bunks so you can surround yourself with your own images, pictures, things, whatever.

Smother: I heard through the grapevine that you guys might be releasing some kind of home video type thing.

Brandon: Yeah, we've thought about it. We have a lot of footage. We've recorded a lot of shows. We're probably going to do a video for New Skin. It keeps doubling. It does better every week on commercial radio.

Smother: What about a live album?

Brandon: Well actually we were gonna do one last week but we got real busy. It was gonna be a lounge album. All lounge remixes. All Vegas style.

Smother: Do you have any plans on re-releasing Fungus Amongus?

Brandon: No. I don't think so.

Smother: How many copies are there?

Brandon: Only 1,000. We made that album when we were 17 before we were signed. We made our own label and released it on that. We tried to release it on a couple of different record labels but we were so young, so we were like "Fuck you guys, we'll release it ourselves." After we had a product that people could listen to, we started selling out all our shows in L.A., and the labels didn't ignore it. So we got signed when we were 19. And here we are two years after.

Smother: So you like Immortal Records?

Brandon: Oh yeah definitely. There's a lot of good bands on there.

Smother: Yeah, they seem to be signing some bands that are a lot different than you know you guys and Korn. There's a lot of great bands that just got signed like Goodness, Bare Jr., Goldo. A lot different than the typical Immortal Records sound or whatever.

Brandon: Yeah, it's good that they're doing that. It's really smart, they could easily get trapped in the whole Korn sounding thing. We're different from Korn but we get labeled as a Korn-like band because some of us have dreads which is really ridiculous. Like I've walked into record stores before and I've seen our album advertised with the head of Charles Mulholland as "If you like Korn, you'll love Incubus."

Smother: Yeah, you gotta move it in front of Iron Maiden.

Brandon: Yeah, it should be "If you like Iron Maiden, you'll love Incubus."

Smother: Yeah, we always move your cds in front of the Iron Maiden section.

Brandon: We like Korn but every band wants to create their own identity and be unique from the bands around them. We don't deny that we're coming up in a genre of bands like Korn, Deftones, Limp Bizkit, those kinds of bands, but we feel that we're offering something different. Some may think it's the same or that it's conducive to their style of bands. We share a lot of the same fans and we're not gonna say "hey we can't play with this band or that band", but as far as content goes I think we sound a lot different.

Smother: So what are your tattoos representing on your forearm?

Brandon: (Pointing to the large circular tattoo on his forearm) This one is from the Tibetan Buddhist mantra. It says "Om Mani Padme Hum". Which means "Om, hail to the jewel of the heart's lotus". A mantra is a prayer, a Tibetan prayer, which basically is something you concentrate on during meditation. This mantra is supposed to generate compassion. This one (his other tattoo) are some of the crop circles found in England in '95.

Smother: I was wondering how long it takes to stretch out your holes in your ears?

Brandon: Some people get pierced big to begin with immediately but some stretch. I got pierced with a needle in both ears first with a 10 gauge and then you let it heal and then you put in a ring. The skin will stretch because there is no bone. You put it in the hole and begin to stretch the hole by adding higher gauges.

Smother: Thanks for doing this interview.

Brandon: No problem. Thanks for coming out.