Brandon Boyd On Why New Incubus Album Is ‘Better Than Anything We’ve Done In A Long Time’

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In a new interview with Vegas Seven, Brandon Boyd discusses the new album’s progress.  Much of the interview discusses Brandon’s artwork as well.   Incubus also tweeted a somewhat recent GrammyPro.com. interview with Brandon Boyd discussing becoming obsessed with songwriting and with the songs themselves.  Incubus are currently working in the studio on their new album, their first new material since last year’s EP Trust Fall (Side A) as Alternative Nation has reported earlier this year.  Perhaps the singer is feeling that obsession currently.

“It’s been going wonderfully. You know, everybody is at least 40. We have one member left who is 39. There’s a lot of mellowing out that’s been happening over the past couple of years. It takes humans about 35 to 40 years to get their shit together. We are lucky enough to get our group together and make music. It’s been more enjoyable this time around than I can ever really remember. We are doing better work than I think we [have] done in a really, really long time and we are having a much better time doing it. So it’s a lovely balance we struck.”

On the album’s sound:

“There are a lot of things at play. One of the biggest things is everybody is at a place in their life, where it’s like, “Holy shit, look at our job. Why should this be anything but fun?” (laughs) And interestingly, it’s turning out to be one of the heavier records we have ever written together, as far as sonically and riffs and the arrangements. There’s this big, full circle, in a way. It’s just been really, really fun.”

And from the recent interview with Grammy Pro:

“We’ve written quite a few albums together. I’ve written a couple of albums on my own and they’re always different. When you make a record, it’s definitely like there’s a level of obsession that goes into it. You have to become quite literally obsessed, almost to an unhealthy degree, where you become almost single-minded about these ideas. And I’m super obsessed; like I stay up in the middle of the night and my eyes are closed, but I’m pulling words and phrases out of the ether, cutting and pasting and moving them back and forth. It’s always a spiritual process in a way, not in a religious sense, but it’s like you’re mining your emotional experience and your hopes, dreams, fears and lessons. Everything is fair game, everything. That’s why it’s fun to write with one of my best friends, because we have so much history together.”

GrammyPro: It’s interesting you use the word obsessed about writing when you’ve been concentrating so much on the art as well.

“The only way that I know how to write a song or paint a picture is to be single-minded about the process, which sounds very Zen. And there is a sort of Zen element to being single-minded and doing one thing exclusively for a period of time, but it’s an area where it’s almost like a safe container for obsession. I let myself get completely obsessed with the song that we’re writing. I’m probably kind of annoying with it. “This part here has to do this, the voice is gonna go here, then there’s this thing over here.” The whole thing is mapped in my mind, so I probably seem like a crazy person. I’m sure the other guys in the band have their own styles of obsession. But we get to be a jolly bunch of obsessive freaks together, and that’s one of the reasons it’s still fun, ‘cause we don’t really dictate to each other how you’re supposed to do you. It’s fun to bring these core ideas Mike and I come up with to such talented musicians and then have them listen to them, critique them, point out what they like, what they don’t like and then put all our heads together at that point and take it through a blender. It turns out usually completely differently than you imagine.”

GrammyPro.com’s interview focuses on his songwriting obsession and how it differs from his visual art. They followed up with questions on their extended hiatus, other band member’s activities and what it’s like to actually release the music to the world when it’s time. Check out the full interview here:

https://www.grammypro.com/professional-development/article/brandon-boyd-talks-creativity-art-and-songwriting?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=g-interview&utm_content=pro-brandon-boyd

For a reminder of their most recent material on Trust Fall here’s the last music video they released: