Photo by Philip Cosores
It’s okay, America, Brandon Boyd is here to save you.
With a new Incubus album on the way — not to mention, a killer summer tour alongside Jimmy Eat World — the veteran singer-songwriter has been making the press rounds. Recently, he sat down with his pals over at Forbes Magazine and talked about everything from being in a band for nearly 30 years to keeping things mostly in-house when it comes to collaborations. Naturally, Trump’s America came into play, and as expected, Boyd was fairly forthcoming about the topic:
“It is definitely one of the most interesting times politically and socially, interesting being the operative term or lack of a better term. I feel like the kind of creative sentiments that are going to be the most beneficial are the ones that are a little bit more lovingly subversive. Yes, there’s the need for open protests, like go into the streets protest.
I did the women’s march downtown, it was one of the most beautiful afternoons I’ve ever spent in my city here. I was so proud of Los Angeles, I was so proud that many people could peacefully gather and walk in the streets in opposition to so much of what the coming administration stands for.
But, from my point of view, I feel like the types of ideas that are going to be the most lovingly effective and lasting are the ones that people don’t even realize they’re being infected with. So people in Trump country are like, ‘I love this song.’ And they’ll be infected with this kind of west coast ethos.”
Maybe we’re being a tad cynical, but the odds are very slim that citizens like this are spinning S.C.I.E.N.C.E. or A Crow Left of the Murder on a regular basis. Still, it’s good to see someone approaching this political nightmare from an optimistic (if not fairly idealistic) point of view, but that shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s familiar with the oft-optimistic Boyd. What might be surprising to some fans, however, is how Beyoncé’s Lemonade had an impact on the singer, specifically her song “Sandcastles”.
“I just heard the song today funnily enough and I heard the same thing. I was like, ‘Wow, I’ve never heard Beyoncé kind of crack, I’ve never heard the grumble in her voice before and it makes me like her more.’ It’s interesting because we live in this time of incredible technologies where any person can go into a recording studio and go, ‘Ah, ah’ into a microphone and a producer can turn that into a hit song.
So there’s something fascinating about that, but there’s also something that’s lost in that, where we have to remind ourselves sometimes we’re human beings with instruments and we’re making sounds out of nothing. I think that’s something that Dave helped us chip away at hopefully on this record and hopefully our listeners hear the album and pick up on that.”
So, what did we learn today? Simply put, Boyd’s a pretty chill dude, and you’ll hear more from him come April 8th, when Incubus releases 8. In the meantime, revisit the album’s stellar comeback single “Nimble Bastard” below.
