Barely Legal

Interview with Brandon Boyd

- Brandon Boyd, lead singer of California based and interna-tionally renowned band INCUBUS has toured the world, published books of his illustrations, and recently wrapped up a solo album, The Wild Trapeze.

160g has had the opportunity to catch up with Brandon and talk about his solo debut along with the judgments that come with FAME, as well as his idea of a perfect day.

Photography BEN COPE, styling N.JAYNE SEWARD assisted by CECILY HAUBNER. Interview JOYCE HO.

So Brandon tell me what projects are you currently working on at the moment ?

I am currently wrapping my arms and legs around Incubus' newest album. We are about a month or so into the process and it is proving to be as unusual and as exciting as anything we've ever concocted. I also just finished filming two more music videos for my solo jam; one for a song called 'Last Night A Passenger' and the other 'Courage and Control'. Both directed by my friend Brantley Gutierrez.

I've listened to your solo album "The Wild Trapeze" What was it like to record and perform without the rest of your band mates and how was the process of writing an album solo versus collabo-rating with Incubus?

Honestly, one of the things that have occurred to me as I've gotten older and been able to observe more accurately is the idea that people don't always give established artists new glances. We think we know what we're going to get based on the name and God forbid, "the brand" that the artist has built. Occasionally though, something slips through the cracks and genuinely surprises us! An established artist can and most likely will be hypnotized and potentially paralyzed by the box he or she has built! In order for art to remain alive, I feel like it has to continually move, shake and surprise.

I locked myself in my house, stripped myself of expectation and all of my relied upon methods and tools and wrote a family of songs that were representative of this unique intersection I had found myself in. It was fun and challenging, humbling and horrifying all at once. And thus far, I wouldn't change a thing.

Was there anything specific or different that you were looking to communicate in your music going solo ?

I wasn't trying to communicate anything consciously. I rarely know what it is I am trying to say in lyrics until well into the process. What has been revealed is a deep desire to redefine what we as a band and what I have been 'branded' as. The Wild Trapeze is a collective thought disagreeing with that monocultural precept. As naive as it may be it is an attempt to portray a mindset that isn't 'set'. A spirit that remains elastic, young, and calm at the hub of a massive, spinning wheel.

When writing music, how do you decide between things that you’d like to record with the band and things that you’d like to record solo ?

I usually share all my ideas with the band first. These guys have an uncanny ability to take the simplest piece of music and make it sound like it was dipped in gold. That being said, we were on a very real hiatus, so I took the opportunity to let these ideas unfold alone. I bounced them off of some trusted ears, then took them Upstate in New York to Dave Fridmann who helped bring them to their current form.

Apart from music you have published a couple books. Tell me a little bit about those projects and how you came to publish your illustrations ?

Yes! I have published two books! And in the works is a third. Both were the end results of many years of sketchbooks and journal kee-ping, collaging, musings, wonde-rings, complaints, photographs and clippings. It's not unique in its idea, I just felt like it offered a little window into a larger process. And I have been very lucky to have an audience interested in that process! I understand that you were enrolled in an art program while Incubus took a break.

What was it like to go from being on a world tour schedule to a class schedule?

Ah yes, I spent the first Semester of Incubus' hiatus at Otis here in California. And one semester was all it took. I am not ready to go back to homework and schedules of that manner. I have homework coming out of my ears already! I think I was chasing an unfinished dream of having an art degree. It was fun and I was able to motivate enough to put together an art show out of it. But for now I am going to leave the school to Mike. Our guitar player spent his hiatus studying at Harvard. That's all I am going to say about that.

How do you think Incubus’ music has influenced American Culture?

How has Incubus' music influenced American culture... That is a question that I never thought I would have to answer. Mostly because I never thought that anyone would think we would affect anything. I (and maybe we as a band) suffered from a terminal case of underdog syndrome for many years. We perhaps came to a place in our group psychology where we stopped wanting and caring if people liked us. We just kind of plowed forward and let anyone on the bus who wanted to go along for the ride.

If we have influenced our culture at all, it has been from a unique position of being directly beneath the crest of the mainstream. A lot of people see us as a "mainstream" band, perhaps most people. But our music only has moments of "mainstream" tendencies. Our audience is a massive cross section of humanity. Not a demographic or a particular haircut. From my perspective (and I stress the term "My" perspective) we have quietly been influencing over the past decade or so. What that influence is exactly, I have no idea. I hope it makes kids want to start bands though. I pray it makes parents nervous AND nostalgic. I hope it creates memories and inspires thoughts that are larger than any one person.

What are you listening to at the moment?

Right now I have been using my normal listening time as quiet time to write. There's a strange cacophony at work in my head and it will hopefully come out my mouth as contributions to the new Incubus record in the near future. That being said, I have been drifting in and out of the Devotchka Album 'How It Ends' and really enjoying it. As well Craig Armstrong's 'Piano Works'.

What books are you currently reading?

Yes! I just finished a book called 'The Shallows' by Nicolas Carr. It was completely fascinating. I highly recommend it, but be forewarned! As a fan of the internet and a believer in it's potential, it reveals some strange truths about how strangely we are adapting to this most unprecedented tool. But I am now about three quarters of the way through another fascinating book called 'The Next Hundred Years' by George Friedman. I really need some good fiction in my diet though!

As 160g is largely a fashion magazine, I’d love to know what your relationship to fashion is and if you have a favourite designer?

That's right! You guys are a fashion mag, huh? I've never liked the word "Fashion", but as a concept I quite enjoy it. You can tell a lot about a person by how they present themselves to the world. I don't have a particular favorite designer, no. But I love a classic American aesthetic. Which is sort of an Ambrosia Salad of styles smooshed together, run through a paper shredder then rolled into a cigarette that when lit, glows green like Aurora Borealis!

What’s your preferable place to vacation ?

My ideal vacation involves staying home and surfing. Maybe a long weekend in Paris though; then taking a train over to Amsterdam for a boat ride and some delicious treats. But yeah, staying home is amazing! I'll send you a postcard.

Joyce Ho