Interviews

Interviews: Incubus

This interview was conducted by me and Jimmy at the show on March 22nd with Far. The show was awesome as hell and you can check out some pictures of the show down below. Also these pictures are copyrighted and if you would like to use them for your web page please let me know and I'll probably let you as long as you link to Smother or whatever.



Smother: So, you guys got started at a young age?

Brandon: Yeah, we started when we were about 15. We sorta turned into the neighborhood entertainment. By our senior year, we were selling out shows, and we got signed one year out of High School. I'm 22 now, and the rest of the guys are 21. Immortal has been cool. They promote really well, but they don't overflood everyone. You almost have to reach for it to get into this scene. It didn't happen for us overnight, it was very gradual, and it's been at a bearable pace.

Smother: Who the hell is that guy on your cd covers, and where did he come from?

Brandon: We don't know much about him. We do know that he came from a sperm meeting an egg. Actually, his name is Charles Mulholland. We don't know what he does, but he sure looks like he knows something. He was in Predator 2 as a reporter, but he had grey hair and no mustache. I've gotten letters saying he's been in a few Marlboro ads, that he's a porn star, and that he's the leader of some cult.

Smother: Did any of you guys take lessons?

Brandon: Not really. Our bass player was in jazz class in high school, but they kicked him out because he couldn't read notes. Our guitar player had a few lessons, and I took 3 or 4 voice lessons, but other than that, none.

Smother: What do you think about the current state of music?

Brandon: I think that it's on a threshold, and that something's about to happen. I would love to be a part of it. I think that bass and drum music was overhyped in its day, but now that it's coming back slowly, it'll be cool.



Smother: Who was your favorite band to play with?

Brandon: Actually, there's been three. We got to play one show with Primus, and that was cool. The whole 311/Sugar Ray tour we just got off of was really fun, and it was also fun on our first tour with Korn.

Smother: We saw a divider in a record store devoted to your band. What do you think about that?

Brandon: I always get the butterflies in the stomach thing, thinking, wow, we're out there. I always do this, and it would be cool if you carried on the tradition. I like to move the divider and our CDs in front of Iron Maiden.

Smother: How do you feel about being on Ozzfest this year?

Brandon: We were asked to be on it last year, but we passed it up due to a lot of other things going on. We get to play the first week of Warped Tour this year, and then we're jumping on to Ozzfest.

Smother: What would you do if you met a guy named Carbomb?

Brandon: (after much deliberation) Umm, I don't know, try and defuse him?

Smother: What's the best part about doing this for a living?

Brandon: You get to see the world. You're someplace new everyday, and there's tons of new faces. We've been to Europe 3 times, and it's neat to see people who speak another language singing along in English. I love Europe and overseas. It's neat, though, since I'm a vegetarian. I've learned to say vegetarian in about 8 languages so I can stay healthy abroad.

Smother: What are your influences?

Brandon: Bjork, roni size, Ani DiFranco, Faith No More, Foo Fighters, Jazz, Beastie Boys, Primus, just good music. Books as well.

Smother: Heard any good jokes lately?

Brandon: American Politics.

Smother: How has the internet helped Incubus?

Brandon: More than we know. It's a great way to promote. I love E-mail.

Smother: Why did you change DJs?

Brandon: Basically, we couldn't get along with DJ Life anymore. It was really hard to kick out a friend, and it was a 4 to 1 vote that we move on without him. The new DJ is working out better than we could have ever imagined. A mutual friend hooked us up. He used to be in the whole Battling DJ's scene.

Smother: What have been the coolest shows you've played and why?

Brandon: Our first time in Paris, there were about 5,000 kids at the show. We started off with A Certain Shade of Green. We weren't really looking up, but when we did, we saw the crowd thrashing around and just going nuts. When we played with 311, we got a lot of bras thrown at us, so that was kind of interesting.

Smother: Who's mom?

Brandon: Earth. And respect your mom.