Incubus’ Brandon Boyd Gets Brutally Honest

by Natasha Wolff | September 20, 2013 12:00 am

Incubus frontman Brandon Boyd has been hard at work on his latest solo project, Sons of the Sea[1]—a collaboration with famed producer Brendan O’Brien—and he has a rather poetic way of describing his songwriting inspiration for the record.

“There arrives a moment when the front door swings open and Muse shows up unannounced with all of her bags and her entourage! Then like a whirlwind, she dances around in my living room, knocking over all of the stuff I set up for her. She drinks all the expensive booze in my house, doesn’t make her bed, leaves the toilet unflushed, draws on the walls in purple lipstick, rearranges the furniture without asking, takes the car then doesn’t put gas in the tank, and even occasionally she’ll draw cryptic words on my face after I am asleep,” he says.

“She’ll do all of that but somewhere amongst all the chaos and bad houseguest etiquette, I’ll have one slow dance with her around my living room. She’ll sing an otherworldly melody into my ear, audible only to me and in a dialect only the two of us understand. She’ll finish the song, kiss me on the mouth, then as quickly as she arrived, she is gone, leaving only the mess she created and the distinct sensation of love at first sight, pitter-pattering in my heart.”

The result? A self-titled debut album from Sons of the Sea, which hits shelves September 24. We were so intrigued by Boyd and his new album, we tasked him with filling out our DuJour Questionnaire.

What was the best day of your life?
The day they told me how they really felt about me.

The worst?
The day they told me how they really felt about me.

If you could spend a day in someone else’s shoes, who would it be?
It’d be fun to be Bruce for a day or two. Maybe three. He’s my dog, or should I say, the dog that lives with me that I feed and share space with. He has such an interesting experience of being alive in the world: Every thing that he meets showers him with love and affection. Literally, everything. People, other dogs, cats, bees, spiders, wind, birds, you name it. I think it must be really beautiful to have that kind of experience. He’s like an evolved being.

What’s your favorite hour of day?
Now.

If you could relive any day in history, what would it be?
Just now was really beautiful. I got to imagine what it would be like to be Bruce, and it filled me with love. He just farted and looked at me, and now I’m writing about it.

Did you break a sweat today?
I did indeed. Rode my bicycle this morning!

What was the best conversation you had today?
Well, considering my day only began about three hours ago, my choices are limited. But for the sake of this conversation, I’d say writing about this with you has taken the cake so far. Thanks!

If you wore a uniform every day, what would it be?
I’d be a camp counselor at a Nudist Hugging Retreat for 23- to 55-year olds. So my uniform would be…well…flip-flops—and an open mind.

I didn’t want to, but today I _________.
Concerned myself with the music business—if only for a moment.

How would you spend your last day on Earth?
Surfing with my friends, eating delicious, hi-vibe food, laughing at the beauty, complexity and brevity of human life, drinking tea and discussing Zen and the Tao, playing music, and finally, reclining in a lawn chair pointed in the direction of the oncoming meteor, wearing old school Ray-Ban Wayfarers while holding a big bullseye over my head. That would be the cool, collected version of what I’d do.

The uncool, panicked, “I don’t wanna die!” version of this day would look more like me crying on the phone with my mom, refrigerator door open all day with stuff dripping onto the floor, small bonfires smoking around my house being stoked by random personal artifacts like pictures and high school yearbooks, all of this to the soundtrack of “When I’m Laid in Earth” by Jessye Norman, (Soprano). You pick!

MORE: 

Mayer Hawthorne Makes His [2]Thriller
[3]Alison Goldfrapp on Her New Album [4]Tales of Us
[5]Dido: The Girl Who Got Away[6]

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