Incubus’ Brandon Boyd Has a Solo ‘Mostly Covers’ Album in the Works
Though Incubus will eventually get around to recording new music, singer Brandon Boyd has been using quite a bit of his pandemic downtime to work on a new solo record, which he reveals has mostly consisted of covering the works of others.
When asked about a new solo record by NME, Boyd stated, “That’s probably gonna happen sooner rather than later because I’ve spent the whole of lockdown mostly recording cover songs, which is something I’ve never really done before.”
He explained, “The covers – and this was unintentional – are almost all written by women. I think maybe it’s a voice thing. I think my voice is more in that range than it is when trying to emulate most male singers. There are so many songs that I would love to cover but they are so complete on their own. Like there’s certain Leonard Cohen songs that I’ve always wanted to cover, there’s certain Jeff Buckley songs I’ve always wanted to cover, but those songs do not need reinterpretation. If someone does it’s usually kind of insulting. You’re like, ‘Why did you do this?’"
He continued, “I’ve been looking for songs to reinterpret that almost feel unrealized. They’re beautiful but there’s something about them that the artist themselves weren’t fully aware of so I’m trying to see it through a different pair of eyes.”
Boyd went on to state that the album won't be entirely covers, but admits he's loved the challenge. "I’ve been writing music for 30 years and I’ve never put out an album or EP that was just interpreting other people’s songs. It’s been all original work,” says the singer.
At this point, he envisions his next solo set, which is "almost done," will arrive before another Incubus record. "It’s not going to be as involved as an Incubus record obviously because it’s me, by myself, mostly just playing an acoustic guitar with some accompanying keys and my voice,” says the singer.
As for Incubus recording again, he explained, “We’re definitely gonna make more records. It’s just the coronavirus situation has kept us from being in a room together. Our band room is sitting there disinfected and just pregnant with potential, but we haven’t been able to get in there yet. So as soon as we can get in there, we are going to be very excitedly writing because there’s a whole universe of things to write about.”
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