Concert pics: Julian Graham
The Mother City was entertained by the incredible rock legends Incubus on Wednesday night, February 28 2018, commencing with their world tour to promote their highly anticipated new album, 8. They graced the stage at the Green Point A Track in Cape Town after a stunning performance in Pretoria. Bryyn, Retro Dizzy and Southern Wild rocked the stage while we caught up with the bassist, Ben Kenney. KAT MANNE reports:
WS: How has it been in SA so far?
Ben: It’s been awesome. We’ve been here for a few days and before we were here, we were in Joburg and we got to do some fun stuff up there. So, this whole thing has been just amazing for us. And these are our first few days off on this tour so we’re taking advantage of that, getting outside and not getting on aeroplanes and it’s awesome.
WS: So, you’ve been relaxing for a bit?
Ben: Yeah, kinda relaxing but we’ve been going out and today, we went for a boat ride earlier that’s why I’m all sunburnt right now. We’ve been busy but busy doing non-work stuff.
WS: The new album. What did you guys decide to bring to the table or was it more spontaneous than that?
Ben: We just got back together because we spent a little bit of time just kinda on our own and then we just got back together with the intention of writing music. I guess what we brought to the table was fresh ideas from getting away from it for a little bit.
WS: About that time that you guys spent away… it’s referred to as your ‘sabbatical’?
Ben: Yeah, I mean you can call it that. I guess any time you do something over and over again, tour, record, tour and record, as soon as you stop that wheel from spinning life starts up again and you kind of have to catch up and learn how to be a human being and like do all those things and when you get back into it, you’re refreshed. So, I guess it’s like a sabbatical, in a way.
WS: What do you mean when you say that? “Learn how to be a human being again”…
Ben: Oh. Well, touring is kinda like Groundhog Day. You get up. You go through your routine. You do soundcheck, you do a meet and greet, you do a concert. You get in a van, you leave or you get in a tour bus and you go to the next city. You do it again and you see your family – the people you tour with, all the people backstage – you see them every day and they’re doing the same things every day in different cities, you know? Setting up the stage, setting up equipment and you go, and you play your songs and it ends up having a rhythm. A very consistent rhythm. You get into that and it feels almost machinelike in its consistency. So, when that machine stops moving, you go home, and you have an empty refrigerator and an overgrown front yard and all these other things that are kind of more grounding human things. You go, and you do these things and you learn on how to live day-to-day again, you know. Then at some point, you go back out and you’re in the machine again and there’s food here, I don’t have to go find food, I don’t have to go make dinner, you know, so it’s kind of not that human.
WS: So Skrillex pulled through to listen to the album and then ended up messing around. How did he influence the sound?
Ben: Oh yeah. We got together, and we wrote all these songs together and then we recorded all these songs together. Even those two parts, they were different processes. From sitting in a room creating and like recording demos to actually going and getting it on tape. Then the third chapter was – after we recorded everything – Skrillex came and he took what we recorded, and he did some edits to some of the songs and he changed the mix. He just kinda had his way with what we recorded, took the raw material and just treated it like… the way he processes music, it’s a lot different. It’s not often that he has a band to deal with and those sounds to chop up so he had a blast doing that and creating a record out of what we recorded. So it’s mostly the same music but some of the songs are a little bit shorter, some parts are longer, some things feature different instruments where they were more in the background and he just took his ear and shaped it to that without us getting in the way.
WS: It sounds like you guys really enjoyed the process and it was almost more about the process.
Ben: It always is though. Well, we’re older and we’ve gotten a lot of time to go up and give it a shot. In the repetition of that, we’ve gotten an appreciation from every chance to go do it. When you’re young and you’re doing it, it’s just coming out of you so fast and you don’t really realise how special it is to go make a record with other people that you enjoy being around and to make something that you’re gonna turn around and share with other people. And every chance we get to do that now is like, whoa, we’re gonna get to do it again. Especially other bands that we grew up with, they’ve come and gone. They don’t exist anymore and we’re still here doing it so it’s like, cherish that, you know? You’re gonna look back one day and you’re gonna be like: “Man, you made a bunch of records and they’re still there and people heard ‘em.” And that’s a lot more than you can actually ask for.
WS: Brandon mentioned that you guys don’t like using a lot of tech when composing which was why having Skrillex mix was a little different.
Ben: It was a juxtaposition because when we got together to make the record, we set up our instruments in a room and five days a week, we’d go in the morning, sit with our instruments and play and we played everything and it wasn’t a very computerised process. We knew that we would have to get on stage and do it and we kinda got our confidence together and we were like: we’re gonna make some music that is us working our instruments. That’s a kind of analogue process, it’s a performance thing. So, we’re creating a performance and then he came and altered the performance rather than sitting in a studio and coming up with a flowchart of goals to achieve or something. Rather than doing that or like sitting at a computer and just pressing buttons until you have a song, we sat with each other.
WS: There was a point where you decided that this is what you wanted to do. What were you listening to that made you realise that?
Ben: I was at home, I was with my parents and my brother and I was watching a video, a VHS cassette of Duran Duran performing live. I was probably eight years old and as they were playing, I was watching Simon Le Bon run around on the stage and the people going wild. That was the first time that I said I wanna be that, I wanna do that. Up until that point, I just wanted to do what my Dad did. I wanted to be him and when I saw Simon Le Bon, I was like: “Well, that looks pretty cool too,” but yeah, you know, my Pop is really psyched for me and he comes to all the concerts and hangs out. He told me once, when watching me play, he feels like he’s up there. It’s kind of reciprocal.
WS: I would say that tracks or performances that affect people in that way all over world harbour something like a golden ratio. Do you think that you guys have found that and if so, what’s the secret?
Ben: Well, I know that we are still invited to the party for some reason and that is not to be taken for granted. Like I said, I have a number of friends who now do something else for a living and we still do this. I’m almost afraid to look you directly in the eye ‘coz I don’t know if I say it, if I’ll understand it or if it will make me corrupt. It’s heavy. It’s a bit of a dream. Just kinda respect it when it comes around, hope it doesn’t end and don’t be a dick about it. I think that’s kind of our M.O., like okay, this is a big deal, every time you get a chance to do it, it’s a big deal, so, treat it right. And it’s still going, so, if it’s gonna end sometime soon, I’d be like, “Okay I got more than the average bear out of it.” I’ve seen people who are more talented come and go and I’ve seen people who were more beloved come and go and just all around, it’s like chaos and somehow, we’re still pushing on.
Visit: Incubus
WS
