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 F150
This 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.
A Panasonic CD player was custom mounted in the custom leather center console. The signal goes through an AudioControl line driver (which provides six volts of output), mounted also in the console, out to Planet Audio P68NEO speakers in the front and rear doors. The carbon fiber set has 6.5" speakers in .4 cubic ft. fiberglass enclosures in the doors. The tweeters were flushed into the panel. The enclosure was hand made with four ounces of mat and Mar glass.
When not listening to music Jose can check out a DVD on the BOSS DVD4000 which was installed in the rear of the center console. A BOSS BV6.8 monitor was custom molded into the factory opening for the radio. The bezel was matched to the factory texture and color. A BOSS BV8 flip-down screen on the ceiling serves the rear passengers. All the switching is done individually at each monitor; they all have three inputs each.
The low frequency would also be handled by Planet Audio. Two 12" Vector models rated at 700 RMS were blow-through slot loaded in a sealed enclosure measuring 3.2 cubic ft. The box was made of 3/4-inch MDF and was fiberglassed for extra strength. The front wall is made up of inch-thick acrylic. The inside is finished with granite texture coating. The bass response is excellent. The goal was to make it sound good enough for a drummer's ears and that was achieved. The bass is tight and has excellent low-end extension. Between the subwoofers resides a second BOSS BV8 8-inch monitor, on which you can watch DVD's when the tonneau is open.
Planet Audio dominates in the power category as well. A 4-channel PA4004 (100 watts x 4) fuels the front and rear door speakers. The unit has a built-in crossover at 55Hz and up. It rests on an amp rack below the box opening. The rack was made of 1/2-inch MDF and fiberglass. The PA 1200D monoblock amp with a power rating of 1200 RMS and 1500 peak serves the subs. For a nice touch the amps are highlighted with black neon lights. Total system wattage is 2000 watts at 4 ohms. While we're on the subject we should note that the F150 received an alternator upgrade of 180 amps. And the factory battery was also replaced by a Optima yellow battery.
The bed of the truck was entirely custom built out of 3/4-inch MDF, fiberglass, bondo, Mar glass, and covered with House of Color Black Pearl lacquer. Speaking of which, about all the panels were painted with the same color. It came out to about a gallon's worth of paint, which is enough to cover 1.5 cars. In addition five gallons of resin and eight yards of 4 oz. mat went into the installation.
For security Jose had the guys at Safe & Sound put in a Prestige APS885. It features remote start, window up/down, and pager. Jose can also hit switches on it for the Fast Bags suspension system, allowing the truck to lower or elevate itself.
In a test run the vehicle did a 147 SPL. With a little work this F150 might be able to hit the road on a different kind of tour than those Jose is used to: the dB Drag competition circuit. But first there are other modifications that need to be taken care of. Future plans call for shaving the doors and larger wheels (23-inch Lowenharts)! And why not, the guy's a rock star. Certainly with the success the band is having it won't be a question of money. With the right people working on it, it's money well spent. So Jose would like to thank Gary Fisher, Brad Haber, Jeremy Wolfe at Safe & Sound and Darkside Motoring's Kenny Fong. And if readers would like to follow up on what's happening with the band they can check out www.enjoyincubus.com on the Web.