Incubus’ Brandon Boyd Records Solo Album With Producer Brendan O’Brien

Brandon Boyd. Photo: Fábio Gianesi/ Flickr

Incubus took five years between albums before releasing 2011’s If Not Now, When? According to frontman Brandon Boyd, it’s going to be awhile before the band releases another record. “Incubus is taking a break. It’s going to look like a hiatus by the end of it,” he tells ROLLING STONE.

But he will have new music on the way soon, with a follow-up to his 2010 solo debut, The Wild Trapeze. Boyd says the new album, which finds him teaming with longtime Incubus producer Brendan O’Brien, is finished. “It’s done, it’s mastered,” he says. “It’ll probably come out sometime this summer. It’s ready to come out now, but logistics and stuff like that.”

The as-yet untitled album ”“ he says titles come last ”“ is unlike the music he’s made with his bandmates for nearly two decades. “It’s different from Incubus in the sense that there was a committee of two as opposed to committee of five, so it’s a lot more piano and rhythm, melodic weird pop,” he says. “It’s like oddball pop.”

He is sparse with the details at the moment, though he says there are “four or five contenders” right now for the lead single and he is certain tracks will start to appear online. One thing he is sure of is there will be live dates in support of the album. “I’m not terribly enthused about the idea of rushing back out on the road, Incubus-style, but I’ll definitely do some shows.”

It all leads up to a bountiful summer for Boyd’s admirers, as he will also be releasing his third book. “It’s all art,” he says of the upcoming collection. “The first one came out in 2003, the second one, 2007. Since 2007 I’ve just been painting a lot for exhibitions.”

Doesn’t sound like much of a hiatus, and that’s the way Boyd likes it. “I like being busy,” he says.