{"id":5514,"date":"2012-02-11T15:51:12","date_gmt":"2012-02-11T04:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=5514"},"modified":"2012-02-11T15:55:49","modified_gmt":"2012-02-11T04:55:49","slug":"jose-pasillas-of-incubus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2012\/02\/jose-pasillas-of-incubus\/","title":{"rendered":"Jose Pasillas of Incubus"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u201cWe\u2019ve never really fit into any sort of genre, we\u2019ve always stuck out like a sore thumb.\u00a0 We carved our own little path for ourselves and it\u2019s been really great because we\u2019ve been able to adapt to pretty much any tour we\u2019ve been on, from playing Black Sabbath, to doing shows with 311, or The Roots\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Nearly 6 years since their last release Light Grenades, <\/em>Incubus returned in 2011 with a new album If Not Now, When?\u00a0 <\/em>It\u2019s hard to believe that Incubus have been in existence now for 20 years, and that nearly 15 years has passed since Drive <\/em>catapulted the band onto radio\u2019s worldwide.\u00a0 During the time between Light Grenades <\/em>and If Not Now, When? <\/em>the guys undertook other pursuits,\u00a0in the case of lead singer Brandon Boyd and bass player Ben Kenney, solo albums were released, whilst guitarist Mike Einziger went back to study music.\u00a0 For a band that has always very much created it\u2019s own musical landscape, If Not Now, When? <\/em>sees Incubus returning and ready to explore the next phase of their existence.<\/p>\n

A matter of hours away from playing their final show in Brisbane on their Aussie tour, we had a quick chat down the phone line with Incubus drummer and one of the bands founding members, Jose Pasillas.<\/p>\n

Hey Jose, thanks for giving us some of your time for a chat.\u00a0 With a show in a few hours, I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve got plenty of other things you would be rather doing than an interview (laughs).\u00a0 So you\u2019re in Brisbane today, this is the last show of your tour, generally speaking, how has the tour gone for you?
\n<\/strong>It\u2019s been really fun, all of the shows have been really good, we\u2019ve been from Japan to Thailand, to New Zealand and now we\u2019ve been in Australia for the past week and a half, it\u2019s been great!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a little while since you\u2019ve been to this part of the world, I take it that the presence of Incubus is still alive and well and there\u2019s been some strong crowds and great reaction?
\n<\/strong>Yeah, it\u2019s been great, everyone is singing all the material, from the new records, all the way to six or seven records back, and it\u2019s been fun.<\/p>\n

Last time you were in Australia was for a festival run, wasn\u2019t it?
\n<\/strong>Soundwave, yeah!<\/p>\n

So for you personally, you have a show in a couple of hours, what\u2019s your usual preparation for a show? What do you like to do before you hit the stage?
\n<\/strong>Nothing in particular, it\u2019s a very relaxed sort of atmosphere in here, so before our show we\u2019re usually just hanging out, listening to music, maybe watching a movie, eating sandwiches, kind of mundane things.<\/p>\n

This leg of the tour has been going for a while, do you have a bit of a break before you start touring again?
\n<\/strong>Yeah, we\u2019ll go back to LA and have about a month and a half to two months off before we start off another round of shows in the USA and then head to Europe and see what pops up for the end of the summer.<\/p>\n

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Incubus, Festival Hall, Melbourne, 7th Feb 2012. Photographer: Lens Of Rock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Australia has been a great supporter of the band over the years, in terms of this current tour, how have you found the crowd has connected specifically with the new songs?
\n<\/strong>It\u2019s been great, we\u2019ve been playing a mix of songs from our last release, we\u2019ve got probably 80, 90, even 100 songs to choose from, it\u2019s a good mix, but they\u2019re singing along to all of them, even the new material, so it seems like it\u2019s been very welcomed.<\/p>\n

As you travel the world touring, and recognizing that the band did take a bit of a hiatus there, have you noticed that there\u2019s been a significant change in the demographic of your fan base? Or has it stayed relatively consistent over the years?
\n<\/strong>It\u2019s been mixed, it\u2019s been 15 years since we started touring so we have a lot of fans that were teenagers and now are adults, but I think we\u2019re gaining some new fans at the same time and our demographic is very much from 18 to 40, it\u2019s a pretty wide demographic so it\u2019s been pretty great.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m guessing that the existing fan base that have stuck with you, their musical tastes will have matured and in some cases will have arrived at the point that you have with this latest album as well.
\n<\/strong>Yeah, it\u2019s been great, its very fortunate that a lot of our fans have chosen to take this journey with us, we\u2019ve been a band for 20 years now so that\u2019s really cool.<\/p>\n

In terms of interpreting the songs now in a live environment with some of the older songs, do you find yourselves changing the arrangements a little bit, just to keep it fresh for your own purposes as well as the crowd?
\n<\/strong>We tend to mess around with the older material, just for fun, to keep it interesting for us as you said, but for the most part we play the songs as is, and there are certain songs that we take liberties, we improvise a little bit here and there and keep it fresh, and entertaining for the crowd so it\u2019s kind of a little bit of everything.<\/p>\n

Going back to when you did take a bit of a break, when you did get back together again and started chatting about what you wanted to do with the new album, what was the overriding vision, were you pretty clear on what it was you wanted to achieve with the album or was it more a case of letting the songwriting evolve?
\n<\/strong>We never really sit down and conceptualize, we just get together and start the process and where it takes us, we\u2019re never sure of. \u00a0So just completing it is our goal, once we\u2019ve finished we know we\u2019ve achieved our goal and where that ends up, is completely unknown to anybody. \u00a0It\u2019s an experiment, and it\u2019s a challenge, that\u2019s how we look at it and take that challenge with every record.<\/p>\n

As far as where Incubus fits within the musical landscape these days, is that something you guys take much notice of and pay attention of, particularly considering how much things have changed in the years of your existence?
\n<\/strong>Not really, we\u2019ve never really fit into any sort of genre, we\u2019ve always stuck out like a sore thumb. \u00a0We carved our own little path for ourselves and it\u2019s been really great because we\u2019ve been able to adapt to pretty much any tour we\u2019ve been on, from playing Black Sabbath, to doing shows with 311, or The Roots, we\u2019ve been able to adapt and we\u2019ve got a lot of material that encompasses so many different types of music so it\u2019s been our own path and it\u2019s been really great and successful.<\/p>\n

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Incubus, Festival Hall, Melbourne, 7th Feb 2012. Photographer: Lens Of Rock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During the hiatus, Ben and Brandon released solo albums, Mike went back and studied music, what did you do personally to keep yourself occupied?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I recorded a couple of records for a friend of mine, I\u2019m always playing drums and I\u2019m always painting and drawing and I\u2019ve got a family at home too, so there\u2019s plenty of things for me to stay busy with at home.<\/p>\n

The bands got a thing called the Make Yourself Foundation, for the benefit of those that may not be aware of what that is, here is a chance for you to explain what that\u2019s all about.
\n<\/strong>It\u2019s an organisation that we started about 9 or 10 years back, that we thought was a good opportunity for us to give back, to help raise money for different charities. \u00a0We just pool our money together into the Make Yourself Foundation whenever its receipts from tickets, auctions, whatever it might be, and at the end of the year we delegate the money to different charities. We\u2019ve probably raised a million and a half dollars, so far and it\u2019s been a really good opportunity for us to help out where we can.<\/p>\n

I was at the Melbourne show and taking photos, one of the unusual things that I haven\u2019t experienced before, as far as taking photos, we were allowed during songs 4, 5 and 6. \u00a0Given that I missed songs 1, 2 and 3, I guess the question is what happens during songs 1, 2 and 3 that I would\u2019ve missed and we couldn\u2019t photograph?
\n<\/strong>Probably a lot similar to 4, 5 and 6! \u00a0Maybe dusting the cobwebs off a little bit more but that\u2019s about it (laughs)!<\/p>\n

Well I won\u2019t keep you much longer as you\u2019ve got a show to prepare for, but lastly \u00a02012 sounds like there is still plenty of touring ahead and lots of life in this new album yet?
\n<\/strong>Yeah, this record is still sort of new, it\u2019s been out about 6 or 7 months, so we\u2019re going to continue to support it and play a lot of shows, and there are a lot of places that people want to see us perform so we\u2019re going to try to get to as many as we can and have a really good time!<\/p>\n

Click this link to check out photo’s from the Melbourne Incubus show at Festival Hall, courtesy of Lens Of Rock…<\/a><\/p>\n

Essential Information<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

From:<\/strong> Calabasas, California<\/p>\n

Band members:<\/strong> Brandon Boyd – Vocals , Mike Einziger- Lead guitar, Jose Pasillas – Drums, Chris Kilmore – Keyboards, Ben Kenney – Bass guitar<\/p>\n

Website:<\/strong> www.incubushq.com<\/a>\u00a0&\u00a0www.makeyourselffoundation.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Latest Release:<\/strong> If Not Now, When? (2011, Sony Music Australia)<\/p>\n\n

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