Have you guys ever played Vegas? Man, I’ve never even been to Vegas in my entire life. I’m so excited to go there. We always got routed up through Reno on our way through the Southwest. We’re pretty excited. The only thing I’m bummed about is, I’m a huge Mariah Carey fan and I was going to stay an extra day and take in that show, but she doesn’t start [again] till next year. Oh well.

I noticed that most of your upcoming shows are arranged into one-week blocks with a couple weeks in between. Why is that? This has been a pretty crazy year for travel, with All Hands coming out at the top of the year, we did a big U.S. tour to start things off; we did a big Europe tour, and for the end of the year we just wanted to take a little break. It wears on you, especially with a group this big and so many different things going on in people’s personal and professional lives. We just wanted to condense it and do these little blocks—that way people with family back home aren’t putting so much of a burden on their kids and significant others. The idea is to not burn out. It’s still mayhem, but it’s concentrated blasts, and at least you’re in your own bed for a couple nights.

It’s becoming more and more tricky as we get into our 30s; it’s a lot to juggle.

Is that why the group recorded in a remote cabin this time? Yeah, man. With [2011’s]No Kings, I set our release date before we had even created a beat for the album, because we had a new distributor and we had to turn in a record before the end of the year. That was a mistake—I do not recommend anybody do that. We had two months to make the beats and a week to write the songs and a month to record and mix.

[Now] the only way to get people’s undivided attention, myself included, is to just break out and hole up. It ended up working really well—not only the songwriting but the bonding and the reconnection. When you can only use a landline and you’re not constantly getting blown up by everybody, it really is conducive to that centering and that refocusing. We definitely took more time with this one, and I think the end result benefits a lot from time. It’s a really dense record, but there are a lot of layers that are buried in there that warrant repeated listens that I’m really proud of.

With such a large collaboration—five MCs, two of whom write beats, plus two producers—how do you avoid a too-many-cooks situation in the studio? I don’t know if it’s possible, to be honest with you. I think that’s just something we’ve learned to live with. It’s a lot of people to please, and it goes beyond the songs themselves. I think the songs are easier to make than deciding on the artwork or the song titles or what promotional direction to take.

All of those decisions are being made in-house by the seven people that are on the record—those are the seven people that own the label as well. So, it’s a challenge, and it’s only gotten more challenging as we’ve grown and forged our own paths and decided what we like more and more as we get older. But luckily we’re somehow able to maneuver it for the most part. And with the crew albums comes a really unique sound, because that voting-style process ends up guiding us through. There are definitely some downsides from a managerial perspective, but ultimately I think it gives us a creative edge. You don’t just make a song and slap it on the record. If that song makes it, it has gone through a billion revisions. They really get molded into a specific shape.

It sounds like you really had to instill a greater-good mentality. How did you create that atmosphere? We’re always working on that, and it’s certainly not a huge, happy family all of the time. There have been growing pains, and there’s a lot people just willing this thing to work by any means. It’s certainly not the easiest route to take when it comes to pursuing a career in music.

It was awesome in the beginning, when none of us could get shows on our own, when we bonded together with that power-in-numbers theory. But I think we all believe that at the best moments, what we all do together outweighs what one of us does by ourself. Those really special times when we’re all onstage, there really isn’t a feeling as a solo artist that comes close to matching that collaborative spirit when everything is clicking. Obviously, you’ve got to go through a lot of things not clicking to find those moments, but I think it’s those moments that have kept us coming back and continuing to do whatever we can to make this thing work.

It’s shaky, certainly not this super-stable being, but everybody pitches in, and that’s gotten us to where we are. I would have never believed we’d still be a group going on 12 or 13 years. It didn’t seem sustainable, and we’ve somehow sustained it up to this point.

Doomtree makes very produced records, very layered and tight. How difficult is it to re-create that live? It’s tough, but I think it somehow works. Paper Tiger is the DJ and producer as well, and he’s taken some elements out, added some cuts in and things like that. I, a lot of the time, am doing some of the percussive stuff. Oftentimes live, I’m adding even more layers than are on the original stuff. Luckily, the rappers are so good at cutting through that—their voices and their energy command the room. I think the live shows are more focused on the MCs and all of us working together, and somehow it works.

I love our records, but I think our live shows are the reason people have stuck with us. It really is a unique experience, different than most other rap shows.

Weblink: http://lasvegasweekly.com/ae/2015/oct/14/the-weekly-interview-lazerbeak-of-hip-hop-collecti/

The band’s latest release, Trust Fall (Side A) is a four-song EP. Why did you choose to release an EP versus a full album? It’s just experimenting with how we create music and put out music. We’ve been doing the same thing for 20 years now—we write a record, put out a record, tour behind the record—and eight records later, we thought we’d try something different. It almost seems obsolete to put out a full record now; the attention span of the population isn’t there. I’m the same way. [And] we thought putting out a few songs would give us time to go out and tour behind it a little bit and, at the same time, in between tours, write and record music.

The plan was to do a Side B, [but] we’re now talking about putting out a full record. We’re not sure. We do have a lot of material that’s being written and recorded, so we’ll finish that after this tour. There’s a lot of options, which is a good thing.

Lots of bands are putting out music in smaller doses these days, but I wonder if it makes a big enough splash to rise above the noise. There’s no guaranteed way of anything anymore. It’s really just if radio catches a song, and for us “Absolution Calling” did well. We’re doing really well with ticket sales, better than we’ve done ever, which for not being on tour for a really long time is kind of miraculous.

The four songs on Trust Fall have four very different sounds and styles. Was that intentional? Those were just the four songs that we worked on the most, and we thought it was a good snapshot of where we’re at. We like to be dynamic within our records, and one song to the next is usually pretty different, just like one record to the next is usually pretty different. I would say that the jumps between [these] songs may be a little more drastic, but it’s just sort of what came to us.

Will the next release will be related conceptually? It’s really hard to tell. The music that I think will be on the next installation will be different for sure. We’ve got a lot more mellow stuff that we’ve written, and a handful of more frenetic stuff, so to see where it’s gonna go will be interesting. As soon as we get back, in September, our goal is to hone in on maybe 10 or 12 songs and finish them and see how it goes.

You’re doing two nights here over Labor Day Weekend. Are you planning anything special to change up the shows? We change up the set from night to night, take each show, see what we’ve done, see what we want to do and make a set before the show.

Are there certain songs you feel like you have to play every night? We’ve got so many singles that have done well that we have to put in a bunch of songs. We could play 22 songs of all singles, but that wouldn’t be any fun for us, because there are so many deeper cuts that we love to play. The hardest thing for us to do is make up a setlist, because you cannot please everyone, and we never do. We just do the best we can.

Incubus has been a band for 20 years. Is it still fun performing, or is it more of a job now? We’re having a great time. I mean, we’ve taken time between records—we take the much-needed rest and then we’re ready to go. The best part about playing in a band for myself is bringing the music to life playing shows. That’s always been our strong point, and we still have a good time and I think when people come see us they can see it. Sure, after four or five weeks of doing it, it does become difficult and tiring and sometimes we’re on autopilot. That’s why we don’t tend to go more than five weeks, because that’s the point where we’re just exhausted.

I also wanted to talk a little bit about the Make Yourself Foundation. Can you tell me what it is and how you’ve been helping out with other nonprofits? We’ve always been asked to help out with all sorts of nonprofits and charitable organizations since we started to do well, and we’ve always helped out when we could. After a couple years we thought we’d concentrate our efforts by starting our own foundation. That’s why we came up with the Make Yourself Foundation, and we’ve been doing it for many years now and it’s been great. Every year, we put money toward this foundation and at the end of the year, we delegate what organizations we want to help out. We pool the money through tickets, merchandise, auctions. At the end of the year, we usually have a big stack, and we sit down as a band and go through it, talk about it and see where it goes.

What are some nonprofits you’ve supported through the foundation? Heal the Bay has always been one. Surfrider Foundation. A lot of environmental stuff, that’s where most of our efforts go. Those are some great nonprofits doing really good work, and we’ll continue to help out however we can.

Web link: http://lasvegasweekly.com/ae/music/2015/sep/02/incubus-drummer-jose-pasillas-interview/

You played here last as three-piece Melvins Lite. What’s the setup for this tour, and how will it differ sonically? The guys from Big Business are going to open, and then play with us for the rest of the show. With Melvins Lite, we had Trevor Dunn on stand-up bass so we featured that a little bit. Now we have the two drummers, so we let them do a lot. It’ll be great.

Does adding a second drummer make your sound more complex and heavier than usual? That is exactly it. It’s heavier as far as that end of it, drumming-wise, and we can play stuff that’s more complex. Coady [Willis] is a really great drummer, too. You just let them do their thing, sit back and enjoy.

One thing I’ve appreciated in your live performance is that you’re so willing to let songs develop before you really explode into fast parts. I’ve heard your music described as being run over by a big, slow truck. Would you agree? There are certainly aspects of that in what we’re doing, but it’s not all slow. Our tempos vary drastically from super-fast to slow as well. I think it’s all over the map—really dynamic. For some reason, over the years people have always picked up on this slow thing. I don’t know why.

In the last couple of months you’ve released the Chaos as Usual split with Le Butcherettes, and guested on the new Brothers Collateral album, toured twice and Kickstarted a documentary. Do you ever slow down? Well, the documentary isn’t us—that’s done by two other guys, but we’re endorsing it. I wouldn’t want to be involved in doing a documentary myself. We do a lot, but you’re also comparing it to a vast world of musicians that are by and large not very active (laughs). Most bands do a record, what, every three years? That means you have to come up with 8-12 songs in three years—wow! (laughs) How do they manage? That means you could work on one song a month and still have plenty of time.

Is that part of your creative attitude, that you could always be doing more? I’ve talked to my wife about stuff like this … I think maybe it’s that I’m not working hard enough, that there’s too much sloth going on, and she just looks at me and tells me I’m going crazy. I think it’s good, though; I really wouldn’t want to operate any other way, personally. I’ve always felt I have room for whatever I want to do.

You also spend a ton of time on the road. How do you keep from burning out? It’s part of the deal. If we can’t play live, then it’s difficult to make this work. We do it from that perspective and take it from there.

But it’s still enjoyable? Not always; not every day is enjoyable, but when you’re doing something as much as we do, the odds of every day not working out perfectly go way up (laughs).

Do you have it down to a routine now? There is nothing routine about going on the road. (laughs). There’s always some new thing, some fresh hell to mess you up, but you just soldier through it. I mean, I play with guys who are pros; they know what to do. I go out there to play as good as I can every single night. It’s part of the deal; I’m not afraid of it. Some people don’t want to do it, and that’s fine—don’t do it; that’ll just leave more room for the rest of us.

I noticed you’ve become a Major League Baseball correspondent on Fox Sports. Who do you like at this point? I was a correspondent with them until they just quit calling me. I don’t know what happened there. I did it for quite a few weeks, and then this thing with deflated footballs happened and they had no time for me. I just never heard from them again.

Who do I see as doing well? At the beginning of the year, I thought Seattle and Cleveland were going to do really good, and I thought the Dodgers were going to do really good. So far, the only one that’s true is the Dodgers. I think it’s really up in the air. Clearly, St. Louis has the best record in baseball, and I like St. Louis fine but I’m really getting bored of them and the Giants in the World Series or in contention for it. I’m not as interested in American League baseball; I think it’s boring.

Because of the designated hitter? Yeah, I hate the DH. They gotta get rid of it; it changes the whole aspect of baseball. There’s always people who’ll say, “Who wants to watch a pitcher bat?” We’ve got guys batting well under .300 on the Dodgers—how exciting is that to watch? It should be part of the strategy, and it leaves rooms for pinch hitters, who are also utility guys. I think it’s just better baseball.

Do you ever bet on baseball? No, the only thing I bet on is golf, and that’s when I’m betting on my own ability to play. I’ve helped other people place bets on baseball, but I don’t particularly care.

Web link: http://lasvegasweekly.com/ae/music/2015/aug/26/interview-melvins-frontman-buzz-osborne/