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A View From The Top
10/19/2001 8:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
David John Farinella
Brandon Boyd is sitting on the floor of a rented RV, flipping through Arena magazine. He stops at a page, looks around at his Incubus bandmates, smiles, and then writes, "Jose wants this." On the page is an advertisement for some swanky clothing line with a male model decked out in all pink. Dirk Lance looks over his shoulder and laughs; Mike Einziger joins in. The last to know is the playfully chagrined, yet most likely to wear such an outfit, Jose Pasillas.
It's that kind of jocular give-and-take for the Incubus lads as they wait to get called back to the location of the "Wish You Were Here" video shoot. The quartet of singer Boyd, bassist Lance, guitarist Einziger, and drummer Pasillas grew up together, learned how to play music together, and--along with DJ Chris Killmore--have put an definitive stamp on popular music. Perhaps you've heard the tunes "Pardon Me," "Drive," or "Stellar" on the radio. Perhaps you were one of the 2 million-plus fans who bought Make Yourself. Or perhaps you've just been turned on to them by the radio-friendly "Wish You Were Here" from their latest Morning View offering.
Incubus is perhaps one of the most innovative young (hey, they're still in their early- to mid-20s) rock bands out there these days. Yet they do have a bit of a problem finding a slightly comfortable niche. "I think we've had a hard time defining ourselves, so it's interesting for us to see how other people perceive us," Boyd explains. "The only thing I know we haven't enjoyed is the association with nu-metal. Any time we've seen that or heard that we're one of the new wave of nu-metal bands, we're like, 'Wait, hello! What?'"
Dirk Lance takes it with a grain of salt as he checks in on fans in chat rooms who received a copy of Morning View months before the release date. "I was laughing, listening to kids say how bad it was," he says. "But they said the same thing about Make Yourself. The same kids were saying, 'We don't like this, Incubus has changed.' Then about two weeks later they said, 'Oh, I get it now.'"
It does take a bit of time to really get Incubus, and Morning View is no different. From the peppy first single to the vibe-o-rific "Aqueous Transmission" to the heartbreaking "Mexico," the band mixes in a number of feels without sacrificing its unique sound.
On Make Yourself, and at times here, Boyd's lyrics can be interpreted as empowering. Yet that's not really the point, he says. "My intention mostly is to write. It's a form of expression and it's one of the ways I know how to vent my own feelings," he explains. "It is very much a form of therapy for me, so I'm trying to help myself in writing lyrics. All of the kids that have read them and I've met have told me that they've been kind of empowering to them. So I guess that's a good thing, but that wasn't my initial intention. I'm not trying to be a self-help guy. I just write, and if someone can relate to it or enjoy it or hate it, make them feel anything, then I feel like I've accomplished something."
In the meantime, there's so much more to worry about--like, what will Jose wear?
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