Incubus’ Brandon Boyd: ‘I loved what Radiohead did’

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Incubus front man Brandon Boyd recently spoke to Aussie publication The Age about his band’s place in the music scene and the possibility that they might cop Radiohead’s unconventional album-release scheme– he has a refreshingly optimistic perspective and it kinda makes me want to hug him. Ok, I may have ulterior motives for the hugging bit, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that the man has a good head on his shoulders.

“There are more mini-booms going on. There are a lot of bands having minor successes, whereas 10 years ago, we were lucky enough to be in that time and place where we could have great success on the last wave of that ideal in the music industry.”

“I’ve been listening to some of these younger bands coming out and their music doesn’t have a long attention span. They are fast, scattered hybrids of indie music and metal and hardcore and punk and soul — all of these mushed together. I don’t really understand it and I don’t understand how we are relevant in that scope of what’s going on in music right now.”

“It’s exciting — I don’t care if people buy our music or not, I just want them to hear it. The way record deals are organised, bands are never really going to make any money off albums. To make money you probably have to sell a million copies so the chances of making money are astronomically low. So why should you care? I loved what Radiohead did. In my ideal world, we would give our albums away and if fans liked it enough, they could buy it.”

THAT’S THE SPIRIT! Observant, adaptable, and not desperately clawing at flash-in-the-pan trends.

You know what’s strange? I’m not a huge Incubus fan but I always buy their CDs (the actual physical copies) because I love the artwork. That’s one of the few bands I can say that for.