Incubus’ new album 8, is due in April, and although it’s been six years since the release of their last album, If Not Now, When?, the band explains they only really got serious about making the album a year ago.

“It didn’t feel like an album until the very end,” says guitarist Mike Einziger in a recent interview with Radio.com. “This was also the first time we’d worked with Dave Sardy as a producer.”

Boyd may be feted as one of the finest vocalists in the genre, but Sardy wasn’t impressed, drilling him through take after take.

“Sardy really let me have it,” Boyd explains. “I’d gotten so accustomed over the years, I would know what I wanted to do as a singer and the melody in my head and I would go into the studio and just sort of nail it in one or two takes.

“Dave had me do it in 400 takes and took 398 as the take.”

Boyd explains that the album doesn’t stray too far from the band’s traditional sounds. “People have been asking and I say it’s dark and lovely.

“We live in dark times, my friend. So what we’re doing as artists is acting as a mirror to culture here and there and hopefully offering little glimmers of hope through the joy in music we all have.”

Watch the interview, below.

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