He is a poet, he is a writer, he is a musician, he is a painter, he has the soul of an artist and he is also the singer of Incubus. Let's meet this beautiful guy Brandon Boyd.
(Photo: Keilen)
1. His full name is Brandon Charles Boyd and he was born on February 15, 1976, in Van Nuys, California.
2. His parents Priscilla "Dolly" Wiseman and Charles Boyd who were involved in Show Biz supported and nurtured Boyd's artistic side.
3. In addition to his parents, Boyd was greatly influenced by the rest of his family who was involved in music, his younger brother Jason Boyd was a singer in an alternative rock band and his cousin was a flamenco guitarist and composer.
4. In high school, Boyd formed a band with his classmates, guitarist Mike Einziger, bassist Alex Katunich, and drummer José Pasillas.
5. They played in clubs and small bars along the Sunset Strip without any name and only at a later stage when asked who they were, did they invent the name, "Incubus".
(Photo: Con Keyes)
6. Boyd is the one who designed the flyers for the band. At first, he used pictures from a sex education magazine, but seeing that the audience was getting a different impression of the band's genre, he began to paint the drawings on the flyers himself.
7. Boyd graduated from high school in 1994 and in 1995 the band released their first EP named "Let Me Tell Ya 'Bout Root Beer" with only two songs.
8. That same year "Incubus" released their debut album "Fungus Amongus" which was heavily influenced by the punk metal style. They even wrote in the album's booklet graduate to the bands: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Primus, and Mr. Bungle. On this album, they gave themselves fake names like Happy Knappy, Salsa, Fabio, and Dirk Lance.
9. A year later, with the rise of Nu-Metal, the band signed a seven-album contract with Epic Records.
10. Boyd, who started college in 1995 but saw his band gain momentum and signed a record deal, decided to drop out of school and dedicate his life to music.
11. In 1997 the band released their second EP, "Enjoy Incubus" which aimed to promote the band during their tour as an opening act for the band "Korn".
12. Later that year "Incubus" released its second album (and the first on a major record label) called "S.C.I.E.N.C.E." Here the band began to change its musical style to a heavier style with riffs from the Nu-Metal. The album was not a great success but sold relatively well compared to an album that did not receive any radio or television exposure.
13. After a short break, the band released their third album "Make Yourself" in October 1999. This is the album that brought them the big breakthrough with the hit "Drive" played on every radio station in the US. Here the band has already started going more in the direction of Alternative rock and "pop" Rock.
14. In 2001 the band released their fourth album "Morning View" which was also a great success with
the singles "Wish You Were Here" and "Nice to Know You".
15. That same year, Boyd was named "The Hottest Guy in Music" by Teen People magazine.
16. In 2003, Boyd published his first book, "White Fluffy Clouds", a book that combined drawings and pictures that Boyd had created as well as lyrics and reflections from his ministers in the band.
17. In the same year, Boyd and his friends founded an organization called "The Make Yourself Foundation" whose goal is to support and contribute to various charities and organizations for the benefit of the environment and society in the United States and around the world.
18. In 2004 the band released their fifth album "A Crow Left of the Murder..." and it continued the band's success from the previous two albums.
19. In 2006 the band released their sixth album "Light Grenades" which was their first album to reach number one on Billboard.
20. In 2007 Boyd published his second book "From the Murks of the Sultry Abyss".
21. Boyd held his first art exhibition in 2008 in California where he exhibited paintings he painted at different times of his life.
22. Boyd set up a painting and photography studio inside his Yurt (a round tent made of wood and canvas sheets) in the heart of a small jungle in his garden.
(Photo: Kirk McKoy)
23. In 2009 the band released a compilation album called "Monuments and Melodies".
24. Boyd's first and only solo album called "The Wild Trapeze" was released in 2010. In the album, he gives himself a free hand to experiment and create with any tool that comes to his mind. He plays all the instruments except drums and keyboards while writing the entire album on his own.
25. In 2011 the band released their seventh album called "If Not Now, When?" Which is a completely different album from anything the band has released up to that time. But it is an amazing one!!
26. In 2013 Boyd published his third book "So the Echo" which contains mainly works of art created by Boyd. In the book, he expresses his works in the context of environmental responsibility.
27. That same year Boyd co-founded with the famous producer Brendan O'Brien the band "Sons of the Sea" and together they released an EP called "Compass" and a single album bearing the band's name. A very instrumental album and very different from Boyd's other works.
28. In 2017 the band released their eighth album called “8”. An album that took them in a rough, raw, and stinging direction. We have said it many times, "Incubus" is a band that knows how to reinvent itself whenever it wants to. A refreshing, kicking, and very sweeping album in our personal opinion !! For this album, they teamed up with the famous dubstep musician Skrillex.
29. In the band's shows Boyd loves to play different musical instruments Didgeridoo and Djembe.
30. Boyd is an artist at heart, he creates in a lot of different ways and he is without a doubt a very talented artist!!
You are welcome to listen to his solo album on: Spotify, Apple Music