For a band with a name like "incubus" it's kind of ironic that they've been living the dream of so many aspiring rock stars. In a short time, the group has played with a heavy list of bands, including Staind, Korn, Sugar Ray, Limp Bizkit, among others. They also participated in the Area:One and Ozzfest tours. That covers a large chunk of the rock music spectrum and that says a lot about their appeal.
For their most recent record, "Morning View" (the name of the street where they recorded the material for the CD), singer Brandon Boyd, drummer Jose Pasillas, guitarist Mike Einziger, bassist Dirk Lance, and turntablist DJ Kilmore rented a house by the beach in Malibu in the hope of creating a comfortable creative environment. The idea has led to tremendous results. Their latest hit, "Wish You Were Here" has helped make "Morning View" a top 30 contender on the Billboard 200.
Jose and Brandon, friends growing up, took the short route onto the scene with the release of "Make Yourself". While most teen-agers were dreaming of making their marks on the world, these guys were busy paving a way for themselves. In the tenth grade Jose and his bandmates recorded their first album. Of that time (1991), Gary Fisher of Safe & Sound Designs, the shop that performed the installation on Jose's F150, says that you always knew what house party Jose was playing his drums; it was the one with about 500 people there. Interestingly, he started on the drums after hearing Steve Adler of Guns & Roses banging on his kit next door. So Jose got his own and started practicing.
Now at twenty-six years old, Jose is a celebrity in the music industry. And his success is allowing him to indulge in a few hobbies, like car audio. His main interest was to create a system that could be used to reference his music as well as that by other musicians. Like the hip-hop artists we have featured recently, he also believes that the vehicle is of major importance for critical listening during the recording process. From our point of view it's quite exciting to hear just how important their ride is in terms of their own music. Jose says he is a genuine audio nut, whether in the home, on the road, and of course in the studio. This is Jose's first car audio vehicle, but he has plans for more. However, there never seems to be enough time to enjoy the toys one can afford. Right now, he's on the road, touring with his band. He'll be in Europe, the South Pacific and here in the U.S. When he's not concentrating on material for Incubus he likes to listen to different kinds of music. A list of what he's been checking out of late: Pink Floyd's "Echos"; Led Zeppelin; JZ; DMX; The Roots; Pharcyde; Outkast; International Noise Conspiracy; and a band from Sweden called Refused. He just picked up the Simon and Garfunkel album "Bookens".
Jose is not just musically creative but also has a strong passion for drawing. He has worked on the tour shirts and CD covers and other promotional items for the band.
After finishing with various phone calls and 2-way messages on his Blackberry, Jose sat down with us (just two days after Christmas and right before he had to leave for the road) at Safe & Sound Designs' new location in Canoga Park, California and he told us about his truck.
1999 Ford F150This black F150 received the full treatment. Twenty-inch Lowenharts wrapped in 245-40-20 Michelins replaced the original setup and a Fast Bag suspension system was installed, along with a roll pan, billet grill and a custom fiberglass air dam. Lastly, the windows were tinted as well. The performance (the engine is a 5.4 triton) was upgraded via a Borla exhaust with the Hypertech chip. With these modifications out of the way it was time to sound damp the truck in preparation for the system install. About 150 pounds of Dynamat Extreme were used - which meant that the vehicle had to be torn apart. With that taken care of the installers set out to put together the heart of the vehicle.