Incubus, the funky and trippy rock band, is back with a new album. "Make Yourself," their third major label effort, [second full-length to be exact] hit shelves on October 26, 1999. They went on to tour with Primus, a long time influence on the band, and put the crowd into a crazy frenzy each and every night with the melodic vocals of Brandon Boyd and the intricate music of guitarist Mike Einziger, bassist Dirk Lance, drummer José Pasillas, and turntablist extrodinaire DJ Chris Kilmore. I got the chance to speak with frontman Brandon Boyd on November 17, several hours before their show at Detroit's State Theater. We speak about everything from philosophies, politics, the millenium, and most imporantly, their new album. Read on to find out more about one of the coolest, experimental bands out there.

Meilani: Hey, what’s up?

Brandon: Nothing, how are you?

M: Good, where are you!?

B: I’m in Detroit. I’m sitting in a hotel room looking at all of these lovely buildings around me.

M: Sounds fun.

B: It’s scary. (laughter) M: How is the Primus tour going?

B: It’s been awesome. Couldn’t be better. Every show has been sold out so far, everyone is singing the words, and going crazy during our sets. It’s really cool, it’s been really amazing. After we’re done playing and the whole wonderful experience of that, we get towatch Primus play.

M: Which I’m sure is really cool...

B: Probably one of the coolest things that we could ask for and actually Buckethead, who plays before us, is really amazing. It’s a trip. He comes out with Primus every night and does crazy antics and shenanigans. It’s really fun.

M: How did you get on the tour with Primus?

B: As far as I know they asked us and we accepted.

M: Did you freak?

B: Well, I was very happy and I’m sure the rest of the band was too. Primus is one of our first influences as a band going way back. To be asked to go on tour with them was one of our dreams as a band, to go on tour with Primus. We’ve always wanted to go on tour with them.

M: And there you go, you reached it.

B: Yeah. :)

M: I’m glad to hear that everything is going well. I’m really depressed that I missed the show a few days ago in Philly...

B: Aww... really? I’m sorry.

M: Do you guys have a stage setup?

B: As of right now, because we’re opening up for Primus and we’re setting up in front of their gear, it’s just us and our instruments. Very stripped down punk rock stylee. But when we do our own tours, we bring out neato little thingamabobs that vary between tours. Last headlining tour we had some really cool “sacred geometry” or very intricate geometric shapes or powerful symbols surrounding the stage on weird banners and stuff like that. On the instruments too, to lend a very esoteric, cool, like Led Zeppelin-y feel to the whole thing. It was fun.

M: You’re a very descriptive person.

B: Thank you.

M: I don’t think I’ve ever seen you headline. Always opening up, like for Soulfly, Ozzfest, etc....

B: We predominately, so far on our touring experience, have been opening up. But we have done, I believe, three or four headlining tours. Two or three which have been in the states and one headlining tour in Europe which was off the hook.

M: I know it’s way early, but do you have any plans or ideas for the next tour(s)?

B: This tour ends the end of this month and then we’re doing radio shows until Christmas. We are definitely going to go on tour for a year and a half. We don’t know what tour we’ll be on yet though. Maybe a headlining tour, we may go over to Europe, we’re definitely going to go to Japan this time around as well. It’s all jumbled on an agenda, but no real chronology of anything yet.

M: I was just wondering because I’m dying to see you again and I’m really depressed that I missed that [Philly show on 11/3].

B: You’re from Philly?

M: Sort of. Outside of it.

B: Where about?

M: Easton. It’s just this little town like an hour and a half away north of it. I’m like in between New York City and Philly, exactly. I’m like the cream of the Oreo cookie. So I get lucky and sometimes get to see two shows in a row.

B: Oh, ok. That’s cool. We’ll definitely be back very soon.

M: What has the set list been like for this tour?

B: It’s only about 43 minutes, but we open up with “Redefine” from S.C.I.E.N.C.E.. then we play “My Favorite Things,” then we do a little bit of the new record, like “Privilege” and “Make Yourself.” We play “A Certain Shade of Green” from S.C.I.E.N.C.E., then we do “The Warmth” from Make Yourself, then “New Skin,” “Pardon Me,” “Idiot Box,” and “Vitamin.” That’s the set.

M: Have you guys recently played anything off of “Enjoy Incubus?”

B: We just did a CD Release party in LA and we played some songs off of “Enjoy...” We play, most predominately, “You Will Be A Hot Dancer” because it’s a cool, jam song that we get to like, indulge our jam and musical side of this band. We occasionally play “Shaft” too.

M: About the bio, I know it was written by you. I was wondering, did you write any of the previous bios?

B: This is the first one I’ve written. Bios are, in my opinion, ridiculous. Usually the record company writes one for the band or they have someone who is good at making anything look or sound good, write one for the band. I’m under the impression that everyone could see right through a bio just because I could and I think they all turn out just so ridiculous when they are taken too seriously. So, I wrote a bunch of them actually. We agreed on the one that was the most kosher. There were ones that were really smart ass and harsh. What you now have is like the edited version of what I wrote.

M: That was a nice touch.

M: This is kind of a stupid question, but I’ve been asking a lot of bands recently just to hear their opinions. You kind of can’t avoid it, but what is your view on the millennium hype?

B: Hmmm... I don’t believe in the apocalyptic vision, so that sort of touches on the topics that a lot of people are worried about. I think that there is something though that exists, that’s called self-fulfilling prophecy. That when enough people believe something is going to happen that they might bring that occurrence into action. Be it whatever it is. Which in turns leaves me to this statement: People, like large groups of people, are stupid. Individuals are smart and can deal with things and can make things last and work, but when people get together in big crowds they’re stupid. They turn into sheep, then you have major situations. So knowing that, for me, that’s just my opinion, I don’t want to be in any big city during the millennium because I think it only takes a few dummies to make a really bad situation. So, I’d like to be somewhere slightly remote with my girlfriend and some close friends having a glass of wine and laughing, hopefully. If I am completely wrong and the world is going to end, I won ’t necessarily feel like I have been cut short because I will have been able to have been with my loved ones and have that nice glass of wine and be laughing.

M: Which is the best way to go out if you go out, but we hope not.

B: Exactly. We’ll see though. I think that everything will still be here the next day, although we may have some frustrated computer owners.

M: Did recording everyday for nine weeks drive you crazy?

B: No, we love it. It’s really fun. It’s really cool. Plus we had a basketball and a hoop outside and we had some friends of ours. 311 were recording next to us, they were mixing their record. The guys in Jurassic 5 were mixing their record too. Then the guys in Coal Chamber were mixing their record as well. Beck was in and out of there, Fiona Apple was in and out of there, and LeAnn Rimes was in there. Never a dull moment in that studio.

M: And I’m sure you kicked everyone’s ass right?

B: Oh, we schooled all of them in basketball no matter what they tell you.

M: Was that how S.C.I.E.N.C.E. was recorded also?

B: It was done in six weeks straight through, but it was a much different atmosphere. It was in a very small, charming studio in Santa Monica. Very different experience, but equally important on this band’s existence.

M: Does performing “Battlestar Scralatchtica” live have a future?

B: Definitely. We haven’t done it yet but it definitely will be played live. Probably mostly in Los Angeles because we would like to gather the DJs who performed on it to perform with us. So, that would be Cut Chemist and New Mark from Jurassic 5 and then Kilmore. Yeah, we’ll definitely play that one live. It’s a fun one.

M: I know in the bio it says that “Drive” is basically about fear, I was wondering what is your biggest fear and/or regrets in life so far?

B: No regrets. Never never any regrets. Everything has been an experience and has led me to now. Everything has been important and essential. Fear... I’m afraid of what people, including myself, are capable of, but it also excites me. I’m afraid of the atrocities that we are capable of and the things that can happen if everyone makes decisions based on fear, which we have been doing for a long long time now. In human history, we have been making almost all decisions; be it political, spiritual, religious, economic, based on fear of some type of consequence. So, I am very excited and interested, but also ironically afraid of what would happen if we didn’t make decisions based on fear. It would be very interesting to see what would happen if people lived through a different philosophy.

M: What is your spiritual standpoint?

B: I’m positively agnostic, if that makes any sense. At this point in my life, I believe for me that there is something bigger than all of this and I don’t think that it has effects. So, I don’t think that it is a male entity of some kind and I think possibly by human beings personifying it, whatever it is, possibly we limited it and the idea of it. So, I like to just call it, it or all. Because it is something that probably just exists everywhere and all around us at all times and everything we see is a piece of it, including us. That’s probably one of the things I am looking for in all of this as an individual. But I’m not looking for a person, not looking for some thing that you can buy in a shop. I’m not looking for some secret that some person has for me. It’s mostly searching myself, if you know what I am saying.

M: Where do you stand politically?

B: As far away form politics as possible (laughing). I have never had a lot of patience for politics because politics usually deal with things political and they don’t necessarily make decisions based on what’s best for the people they’re supposedly representing. They’re usually making decisions that are helpful to their career.

M: Oh definitely. They never help the people. For the people, it’s never been like that...

B: You’re very right. There’s usually never anyone worth voting for. The only reason I’ve ever voted is so someone else doesn’t get elected. I vote so someone else can’t get into office. I think it’s one of the problems in the world today, politics. I think that if people took a lot more responsibility for themselves, their own lives and their own actions, we would not necessarily need governing bodies.

M: Do you think we’re capable of being completely free without government, as a whole?

B: I think that the idea exists, so it’s probably possible. We can imagine it, it’s probably possible. It’s a long shot because people are capable of being very stupid and idiotic, but I think that with possibly a restructuring of core philosophies and a rethinking of everything or possibly a starting over of everything from day one, we could make things work. Because people have made it work before. In nomadic societies, early on before modern civilization, people would concentrate more on themselves and improving their own lives first rather than criticizing other people and blaming other people for their hardships, things will be a lot better. But, now I’m sounding political. [laughter]

M: Do you think we are free in society today?

B: That would be a question to ask each and every person. I’m sure that some people believe that we are free. In some respects we are, we’re more free than other cultures. In some respects we’re a lot less free because there are much more devious oppressions that exists in America than in other countries. They’re not purely visible and they’re not right there in front of you, but they exist in much more devious forms, like in some forms of entertainment, some forms of work environments, and consumer culture and stuff like that. There is a lot to be said that there’s a lot out there in America that could go on the argument that we are not a free culture, that we’re definitely being led by something other than ourselves. In some respects we are, yes. Once again we have the idea, a very Swiss cheese-esque idea, of freedom and so I think that it is possible.

M: What is the greatest thing you have learned from being in Incubus?

B: To let be what will be. Sometimes when I want to take something too seriously to say, ‘Fuck it,’ and let whatever is going to happen, happen and sort of ride with it. Something being in this band has taught me is to accept each situation and each occurrence in my life as the right occurrence. Whatever happens, as chaotic as it sounds, is the right thing and is perfect and was supposed to happen for me in order for me to grow as an individual. It’s sort of a spiritual philosophy, that being in this band is helping me to understand.

M: What has been the highlight of your career so far?

B: There has been a few. Working with Scott Lit has been one of them. Being on tour with Black Sabbath. Primus has been a highlight. Hearing myself, hearing our band on the radio across the country has been very very strange and very enlightening. They continue to come everyday, I wouldn’t say that there has been one experience that is like, ‘Oh my God, that is the bomb.’

M: Do you guys have any pre-show rituals?

B: Yes, we usually listen to either Maxwell or something of drum n’ bass just to get everyone kind of like buzzy feeling and I warm up every night before I sing. Right before we go on stage, we do this certain type of hand shake, like a real gung-ho type of thing. [Brandon goes on to explain it, using reference to the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, “Total Recall”]. We call it The Claw. We all “claw” into each others hands and go ‘Have a good show boys.’.

M: It’s weird but weird is good.

B: Right, we’re sort of weird like that sometimes.

M: Weird is original.

B: There you go.

M: Have you ever taken a vocal coach or vocal lessons or anything like that for your singing? Or is it 100% I’m doing it now and that’s it?

B: It’s about 98% that. I believe I took four singing lessons when I was 15. I couldn’t afford it anymore because it was $30 a lesson and that was way more than what my allowance allowed. So the teacher basically taught me just the basics about where to sing from. It took me about a year and a half after that to really realize the right place to sing from. I sing a lot in the shower and in my car, those were the breeding grounds.

M: What is your opinion on the Internet and do you think that it had a full impact on the music industry?

B: I think that the Internet is a very exciting, dangerous, scary, beautiful, thing that is really just starting to rear its head. It’s so new and so untapped that people are just really beginning to really discover its capabilities. I love it personally because it allows me to communicate with my loved ones and my friends and family. It allows me to get information in a split second, instantaneously from anything that you could ever imagine. As far as an information resource I think it’s brilliant. I think it’s dangerous because it is a marketing person’s dream. It will only further our decent into consumer culture, but I think it’s beautiful because there are not huge censorship laws on it yet. We have very dangerous information, which is good as far as I am concerned, right at our fingertips if we know where to look. For bands, it allows bands to become noticed sometimes without the help of a record label. So it can be dangerous for the record label too. Once again, it’s another tool for marketing and prom otion for the record label. For me, as far as I am concerned, it is a really good thing. I’m very excited about it.

M: I know “Pardon Me” is the first single off of “Make Yourself,” I was wondering did you guys have a video for it yet?

B: Just made it. Two weeks ago. It’s being edited as we speak.

M: What’s the concept of the video?

B: Very abstract. Very interpretive. Actually includes Charles Mulholland, that mustached guy on all of our records. In the video he plays an older version of me. Basically the video is supposed to be taking place in my mind and there is a corridor, a big white corridor, and the older version of me is standing at one end of the corridor and I’m standing at the other and we’re walking towards each other while we’re like singing the lyrics and stuff like that. In a nutshell, we step through each other, and I become the old version of him and he becomes the younger version of me and then we step into this big weird, artsy, flaming room with this little red box on fire and rocking out to the chorus. It’s really cool. It’s very strange.

M: Was that your idea?

B: It was the directors idea. Stephan M... I don’t know how to pronounce his last name and I am universally apologetic for that. He is an unknown director with Bonfire Productions but he is very creative, very talented.

M: Do you guys have any plans for a home video or a live video?

B: Yes, we have hours and hours and hours of footage of shows, nudity, road things, recording. We have enough for like three videos, but there will only be one within the next year.

M: Who’s idea was it for the cover? [of “Pardon Me”] What exactly is it? I stare at it and I see like different things at different times.

B: It was a collective idea of the band. The art company is called The Attic. It’s a graphic design company. We stumbled across one of their graphic design periodicals that they put out every year and fell in love with it. We asked them if they wanted to do it and they said absolutely. It was very expensive but very worth it. Basically we told them we wanted to see a bio-organic organism of some kind and it was my preference to see some type of jellyfish with a weird exoskeleton on the cover so they gave me just that.

M: Oh, that’s what that is! I just thought it was a really fucked up spine.

B: Yeah, it’s like a weird jellyfish with like a weird exo-spine or something.

M: That’s cool, I guess everyone has their own interpretation of it.

B: That’s good. It’s doesn’t have to be a jellyfish, whatever you see is what it is.

M: Back to Chuck, there were rumors that he was your father...

B: That’s the best rumor yet.

M: Have you ever heard that one?

B: Yeah, I’ve also heard that he is a porn star, I’ve also heard that he is the leader of an alien cult in the Midwest, I think my favorite one though is that he taught girls cheerleading. Truthfully, I don’t know what he does. I know he is one of the fucking coolest guys I have ever met because I just met him at the video shoot. I just found a bunch of pictures of him. I know he did acting and stuff like that in the 70s. Coolest guy I ever met. He is like total hip older dude. He’s rad. But he didn’t tell me like what he does.

M: I would like to ask you about DJ Lyfe, because I was never clear on why he is no longer in the band.

B: About two years ago, the four original members of the band voted him out of the band. It was a very hard, trying time. Basically what it came done to is that we felt, and his story will definitely vary from ours, but we felt that his level of commitment to music and to this project was nowhere, not even in the ballpark to our commitment. We were basically ready to give up our lives for music and he was not. We put this band as our first priority and this band was probably his fifth priority in his life. Even though he was making the same amount of income as everyone else, which at the time was nothing, it was a really hard time. He’ll have you believe we fired him for more money for ourselves, but truth of the matter was that there wasn’t really any money going around in the first place.

M: Yeah, plus you hired another DJ anyway.

B: I’m glad for the situation now because we met DJ Kilmore who is now a healthy, happy member of this family.

M: How did you meet him?

B: We had heard about him. He was with a DJ Batttle Crew called the Jedi Knights in Los Angeles. He had never heard about Incubus but he heard that we needed a new DJ and he basically came and tried out for the band and we loved him, and we loved him as a person too. So we asked him to join.

M: What is the best advice that you can give to your fans?

B: That’s a good question. I would say ask questions and read books.

M: Reading, very fundamental.

B: Yeah, I know it sounds stupid but people take it for granted. I know I did for quite a while. I started reading heavily at about thirteen and when I started getting into it I thought, ‘My God, I had all this time exploring this avenue.’ As far as expanding your mind, reading everything you can get your hands on is probably the best thing to do. If one is interested in growth and personal growth.

M: Knowledge. Knowledge is power. It’s corny but it is true.

B: Absolutely. I know it sounds like an infomercial.

M: Thank you. I appreciate this whole half hour that we had.

B: Yeah, thank you too. It’s been nice talking to you.