Right before releasing its latest EP Trust Fall end March, Incubus swept through the region with an epic tour that includes a stop in Singapore. During the much anticipated concert, Incubus teased the audience with a mini-countdown prior to appearing on stage. And by the time the clock ran down, the crowd went wild as they opened the set with the familiar radio-hit “Wish You Were Here”. The venue was perfect for a set like this. While not exactly being an arena as its name suggest, The Coliseum still managed to recreate a vibe that appeared intimate and engaging. “Anna Molly” was up next and it felt pretty surreal with the lights and Brandon Boyd serenading the audience with something so familiar. He was cheeky enough to add a few bars of the otherwise tacky rendition of “Hello” by Lionel Ritchie, into the pre-chorus of “Made for TV”. You could see a wave of mobile phones being flipped out to capture the moment onto social media.
By the time Incubus got to their signature song “Drive”, Brandon Boyd had already taken off his shirt and the crowd was mostly in spasms. Their stage presence is something you just can’t rehearse and it goes to show how these guys are such stage veterans. They followed that with an electrifying quick one-two of hits “Pardon Me” and “Megalomaniac” before exiting the stage. The band didn’t disappoint with an encore of a high-energy rendition of “Punch Drunk”, ending the set with their trademark closing song “A Crow Left of the Murder” laced with the Beatles’ “I Want You (She’s So Heavy). It was definitely a spectacle and everyone went home with minds (and ears) completely blown.
We had the privilege to catch up with Incubus drummer José Pasillas right before the show to chat about the band’s return and last hiatus.
Nookmag (N): Hey José, great to see Incubus back after your two-year hiatus. Tell us more about the two EPs that the band is planning on releasing in February and March. How does the music reflect a ‘new’ Incubus?
José Pasillas (J): I’m not really sure how it reflects us specifically. I think it is a really good representation of what we’re at now – we’d taken a couple of years of. We kind of decided to start writing music pretty unexpectedly. We weren’t really planning anything. We got in the studio and started writing within a week of having a discussion. It came really rapidly but it seems right. It started gelling and we were writing a lot of music. And the music that we’ve written so far is material that is different for us. It’s very exciting, much different than our last record where it was much mid-tempo down-tempo stuff.
This has got a lot more grit and it’s more exciting – faster-paced material. So I think it is a good representation of our excitement to write music. You can definitely hear it in the music. Maybe it’s more of a picture of where we were a few months ago and when we do the next EP, which hasn’t happened yet, it’ll probably be a different representation of where we’re at. I’m excited to start working on that one too.
N: The band took a couple of years off. Were you guys keeping in touch?
J: Yeah, we live close to each other, within 20-30 miles. Everyone loosely kept in touch when we’re home. We’re doing different projects and spending time with friends and family and stuff like that, which is really great. We stayed in contact and we’re a quick drive over a hill away, so it’s cool.
N: What brought you guys together again?
J: I think we love what we do and we know that we need time off to really appreciate what we do and each other. Even though I love my brothers and I respect them, absence does make the heart grow fonder in my opinion. So I think it’s good for us to do our own projects and explore different things. When we come back together, life has been going on and we evolve as people and when we’re together, we’re in a different place than we were a year ago or a couple of years ago. So the music that we write will definitely reflect that someway somehow. I think it’s just us knowing that we love to do this, knowing that we’re going to be a band for a long time, continue to write music, record music and play music. I think we know at the back of our minds that we want to continue doing that but we do need to take breaks.
N: Is the band concerned about the rapidly changing music scene, and how the radio is dominated by electronic beats as compared to guitars and drums?
J: I don’t think we’re really concerned about it. I mean we’ve done really well with radio, which has helped our touring career. But we’ve been touring for 15 years as well, so we have a pretty solid foundation. We know that we can always write music, tour and people will come and see us. We’ve been very fortunate about that.
What the radio does is what the radio is going to do. There is always a rock and alternative format. That will never go away. But you will see more electronic and more different genre bleed into it all, sort of mixing together – those lines are blurred. There’s always room for rock music and I think that will never change. So we’re not really too concerned about that. Hopefully people like what we do and we still have support from radio but that’s not really our main goal. Our goal is to write the best music we can and share them.
N: Fungus Amongus was the band’s first release in 1995. It’s almost two decades now that the band has been around. What’s the band’s secret to keep going for so long?
J: I think it’s an appreciation for what we do and each other. Respect, you know. We get to travel, play music and make a living doing what we love to do. I think that’s a rare thing. It’s always at the back of our heads. We know we need to take time away but we know we’re going to come back together. They are my friends, my brothers. We respect each other and that’s sort of the basis for it.
N: The music video for Absolution Calling is really fascinating. Tell us more about the experience shooting it.
J: Ben (Kenny) had the idea – rockers vs the mods sort of vibe. It was fun. We don’t take ourselves too seriously. I mean we take what we do seriously and we’re very obsessive about what we do but in a good way. When we go out there, we have a sense of humour. I think it was a fun spin to do this. It was really cool – we had a bunch of amazing dancers and there were motorcycles that I love. It was a perfect scenario all around and Brantley Gutierrez who directed the video, is a good friend of ours. I think it’s the best video we’ve done so far.
N: How was the idea conceptualised in the first place?
J: Ben threw it out there and everyone loved it. Five days later, we were doing the video. We just wanted to have fun and we did.
N: What’s life outside of Incubus?
J: I love spending time with my family. I love riding bicycles, road biking. I like to paint, eat good food. I like to play with my cats. We work hard, travel and spend a lot of time on the road but when we come home, we get to be with our loved ones and that’s the best thing to do.
