Brandon Boyd

Brandon Boyd (born February 15, 1976) is the lead vocalist of the American rock band Incubus.

Quotes

We have all the elements of being the worst band in the world: a bass player who’s got some slap-bass shit, heavy riff guitars, a DJ scratching on the songs, a crazy drummer, and a singer who’s in touch with his feminine side. Even our band name is the worst name ever: it evokes imagery of ‘Incubus’ in death-metal writing, with bullet belts across our chests.
- RS, being satirical on how his band ‘comes off’ from his most objective view

She is a girl so I wouldn’t slap her. I would lock her in a room full of spiders and let her think about what she’s doing to the youth of America.
- On what he would do if he met Britney Spears

The girl I find who wants to talk about quantum theory in a bar is the one I want to marry.
- Rolling Stone, on his “ideal” soulmate

Female artists are the perfect example of a creator: They know how to make life and art with their bodies. Life comes from their bodies, so on a very basic level, they have more to write about.
- RS, on some of his favorite female artists such as Ani DiFranco and Bjork

Men have a lot less to write about, unless you're somebody like Tom Waits or John Lennon. And the female voice is much more suited to melody. Men have this barky thing-we're domesticated apes with a microphone.
- More on why his favorite singers are mostly women

I learned from a very young age that if I pursued the things that truly excited me, that they would reward in more important ways, like happiness
- MTV's Diary, on his motivation

We don't know much about him. We do know that he came from a sperm meeting an egg. Actually, his name is Charles Mulholland. We don't know what he does, but he sure looks like he knows something.
- On Chuck, Smother 1997

She has a fascination with Mayan prophecies, and she's writing a book that's sort of her remembrance of her past incarnation. Whatever she applies herself to, she makes it this beautiful, glorious world around her. All of us kids have always been artistic because of her influence.
- on his mom, Dolly Wiseman. Spin (October 2001)

When we're making music together, it's like five men making love-in a very platonic sense. It's very erotic, because your spirits are intermingling, you're becoming one. It's also why it can get so heated. You're tapping into this electricity that's very primal.
- citing reasons for the band's group therapy Spin (October 2001)

Morning View is I think collectively probably our favorite record that we have made as a band because it was the most effortless... um... in its conception... you know? It was a lot less slaving over parts and trying to just get together in this big beautiful room with a view of the ocean and parts and sounds and melodies and lyrics would just happen... they would just sort of spill out of us without us really trying... so to me that's sort of the most amazing way to write music or do any kind of art, which is by letting it happen... but one of the most important parts in any sort of.. uh... journey so to speak.. Is uh... the ride... and we've had a really good time riding to where ever it is we are going... and I don't even think any of us know particularly where it is going to take us... But it's been really fun sort of chasing it.
- Discussing Morning View on Boogie TV interview was done the day of their concert at Vega, Copenhagen

Jose just got a tattoo of an ass tattooed on his ass the other day. It's actually quite fascinating. Confusing, but fascinating. When you come to the show, ask him about it. He'll show you.
- Brandon, Rockline interview

If I forgot some stuff, please excuse me; I ate the brown acid at Woodstock '69 and can scarcely remember my own name.
- In his "Thanks" for the MV album

I was in a bookstore, browsing through an old Life magazine, when I saw a picture of what the article called spontaneous human combustion. There were an old guy's legs and shoes, perfectly intact...then, right around his knee area, was just a pile of charred ashes. I was going through some turmoil in my life, both good and bad, and the image struck a chord, so...I wrote a song about it.
- On writing the song Pardon Me

I attribute a scab to the present state of society. The way the scab looks in its worst state is gross and chaotic and horrible, that's now, but when it breaks away, there's a brand new piece of skin that's stronger than before. It's like creation out of chaos.
- Meaning behind the song New Skin

Lyrically speaking, I know that there were a lot of things going on in and around the world and there were some very specific people in my mind coming dangerously close to having megolomaniacal tendancies and so I did my best to write those thoughts down."
- On the song Megalomaniac

I was on an airplane last year when a talk show began playing on the TVs. I decided to start narrating for the people, which is a really great game if you're ever bored enough. I realized a time will probably come when television will watch us if we're watching it, if that hasn't already happened, figuratively or literally. It sounded like some sort of pseudo-Big Brother nightmare, so I wrote it down.
- His influence on writing the song Talk Shows on Mute

I think perhaps love thrives on unlikely circumstance and chance : life thrives on these principles, and is life not love? And love not life?
- Excerpt from his book White Fluffy Clouds.

To think that one's actions could please the masses is indeed a notion bound in irony; someone will inevitably find something wrong in almost everything. So do what it is that you do best and remember to have enough tolerance for two.
- Excerpt from White Fluffy Clouds.

I need a new pair of shoes : I need a new shiny car : I need to buy until I fry : I can not name what I'm trying to : I want my cock an inch bigger : I want new, flawless tits : I'm not enough as I was made, please complete my partial mind : I want my money back, this product has a hole.
- Excerpt from White Fluffy Clouds.

In my opinion, so much of it is really about what you had in mind when you got into it: was it only that you wanted to be a rockstar and see your name in lights? I never really had those kinds of dreams. I knew I loved music and I knew that when I sang in a certain way it made my chest and my whole stomach tickle and I liked it. It still does that same thing to me; I know I’m doing it right when it makes my core tingle a little bit. I get the same feeling when I’m painting a picture or when I get into that almost hypnotic state of writing – those things are incredible and those are the kinds of things that attract me to creativity.
- When asked about intention for a magazine in Berlin (http://www.pulse-berlin.com/)

Lyrics

S.C.I.E.N.C.E. (1997)

Imagine your brain as a canister filled with ink,
Now think of your body as the pen where the ink resides.
Fuse the two - Kapow! What are you now?
You're the human magic marker, won't you please surprise my eyes?
I'm sick of limiting myself to fit your definition.
On the surface you hate, but you know you need me.
You can't make me think like you, mundane.
You act as if there's blinders on your eyes!
Can someone please explain to me your ever-present lack of speed?
I think I grew a grey watching you procrastinate!
You've been raised in limitation, but that glove never fit quite right.
Too bad the things that make you mad are my favorite things.
When we get there,
We're going to fly so far away
Making sure to laugh while we experience
Anti-gravity.
Society must let the artist go, to wander off into their nebula.
Your tangerine of electricity is ripe and on a vine!
I'm born,
I'm alive,
I breathe,
In a moment or two I realize,
That the sphere upon which I reside
Is asleep on its feet,
Should I go back to sleep?

Make Yourself (1999)

the day you were born, you were born free. That is your privilege.
Maybe if I looked in my heart, I could find a back door.
Will I ever get to where I'm going?
If I do, will I know when I'm there?
If the wind blew me in the right direction,
Would I even care?
I would.
It seems as though I'm going nowhere really fucking fast.
You think that you're on the brink? The shit hasn't even begun to hit the fan.
Consequence, you'll see, will be stranger than a gang of drunken mimes.
Don't let the world bring you down.
Not everyone here is that fucked up and cold.
Remember why you came, and while you're alive,
Experience the warmth before you grow old.
It feels like trading brains with an imbecile.
Just when you thought it was safe to think, in comes mental piracy!
What I'm looking for cannot be sold to me.
What I want, and what I need, is and will always be free.
Meet me in outer space.
If you let them make you,
They'll make you paper mache.
At a distance, you're strong, until the wind comes
Then you crumble and blow away.
If you really want to live, why not try and make yourself?
Sometimes I feel the fear of uncertainty stinging clear.
Lately I'm beginning to find that I should be the one behind the wheel.
When I drive myself, my light is found.
Whatever tomorrow brings, I'll be there with open arms and open eyes.
I'd sooner sleep by an open fire and wake up fried.
I need a map of your head, translated into English, so I can learn to not make you frown.
I've had all that I can take and exploding seems like a definite possibility to me.
Pardon me while I burst into flames
I've had enough of the world and its people's mindless games.
So pardon me while I burn and rise above the flames.
Pardon me, pardon me.
I'll never be the same.
I've been thinking of combustication as a welcome vacation from the burdens of planet Earth - like gravity, hypocrisy, the perils of being in 3-D, and thinking so much differently.
To resist is to piss in the wind.
Anyone who does, will end up smelling.
Knowing this, why do I defy?
Because my inner voice is yelling.
There is a fist pressing against
Anyone who thinks something compelling.
Our intuit we're taught to deny
Yes, our soul, we're told's for selling.
Get out from under precipice and see the sky.
If you let them fuck you, there will be no foreplay.

Morning View (2001)

Perspective prys her once-weighty eyes and it gives you wings.
I lean against the wind, pretend that I am weightless, and in this moment I am happy.
The world's a rollercoaster,
And I am not strapped in.
Maybe I should hold with care,
But my hands are busy in the air!
I am bottled, fizzy water, and you are shaking me up.
Temporaryism has been the Black Plague and the Jesus of our age.
Forgive my indecision. I am only a man.
Seeing you is like pulling teeth, and hearing your voice is like chewing tin foil!
Kudos to those who see through sickness.
I suggest we learn to love ourselves before it's made illegal.
My biggest fear will be the rescue of me.
On the back of every right, there's a wrong looming.
I refuse to kneel before the sights you choose to see.
If this is right, I'd rather be wrong. If this is sight, I'd rather be blind.
I marvel at the stars, and feel my heart overflow.
Floating down a river named Emotion...will I make it back to shore, or drift into the unknown?

A Crow Left of the Murder... (2004)

If I met you in a scissor fight, I'd cut off both your wings on principle alone.
All of us are heaven-sent, and there was never meant to be only one.
Look. Find. Free.
Even straight roads meander.
Put down your hollow tips,
And kiss your lover's lips,
And know that fate is what we make of it.
It's just another day in the life of apes with ego trips.
You're so much more endearing with the sound turned off.
The world is a drought when out of love.
I have an open-door policy when it comes to blame.
My secret arsenal is an infinite, ageless ink well. It's a fountain of youth and a patriot's weapon of choice.
If you're looking for an open book - Look no further, I am yours.
It pains me to believe that you have never stepped out of the skin you live with.
This island isn't big enough for both of us...so who will swim in eel-infested oceans?
Price tags advertise your pride.
Since when did what we paid for colored cloth gauge our gravity?
Insecurites are about as useful as trying to put the pin back in the grenade.
This isn't coincidence. There's no such thing.
This party is old and uninviting
Participants all in black and white
You enter in full-blown techincolor
Nothing is the same after tonight.
Your love is a verb here in my room.
I wouldn't change a thing now that you're here.

Light Grenades (2006)

Some people fall in love and touch the sky. Some people fall in love and find quicksand.
Bring your mouth and selective irreverence - We'll both see stars.
Kill your doubt with the coldest of weapons: Confidence.
If I turn into another,
Dig me up from under what is covering the better part of me.
Sing this song.
Remind me that we'll always have each other
When everything else is gone.
Girl, it's time we met and made a mess.
Wait, there is a light, there is a fire, illuminated attic. Fate or something better, I could care less,Just stay with me a while
To get their attention, start lobbing the light grenades (That burst and blind them with the truth! An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth!)
Have a heart and try me, cause without love I won't survive.
I'm not an alarmist, but someone should break the glass, and pull that red T-Lever down!
Before you swim, you gotta be okay to sink.
Just undo yourself and see a second sun ascend.
Give it time, girl, the fire feels divine.
The sweetest things, they burn before they shine.
I'm keeping an eye on the future, an eye on the past, and the present in my pocket.
Songs of liberation echo from the dust.
You're about as reliable as paper shoes in bad weather.
On a burning bridge, your options are minimal at best Depending on where you're standing And how much breath is in your chest If it came down to it Would you high-tail home and hide? Or dance on fire and enjoy the ride?
Life's a match in a gas tank. Don't ever mourn the ebbing tide.
There's so much more to get than wronged.
Earth to Bella - You're treading water successfully.
But are you really?
Don't you want to see the deep?
It's not so hard.
Just forgive yourself and feel the water open in.

External links

Wikipedia

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Brandon Boyd