Causecast

Incubus is a band that not only gives back, but has even created their own non-profit organization, the Make Yourself Foundation. Through their foundation, the band donates proceeds from touring, merchandise and special events to causes they care about, especially focusing on environmental issues.

Causecast’s Andrew Schwartz and Brandon Deroche spoke with guitar player Mike Einziger at this year’s Mile High Music Festival in Denver about social consciousness, Nazi rallies, hippie chicks on acid, and how music plays a role in all of it.

Causecast: Being a musician, you’ve traveled the world quite a bit. As you return to the same cities again and again, have you noticed changes in any of those places that stuck out to you?

Einziger: We’ve seen a lot of things change over the years. I remember one of the first times that we were ever in Europe. We were in Berlin and a lot of the sections of the city in East Berlin were still, even in that time which would’ve been the mid to late 90’s, were pretty war damaged. The buildings had been bombed out, there were still shells in the walls and things like that. Now, go back there and it’s a beautiful thriving city. It’s pretty incredible to see that happen just in the last ten years.

Speaking of Germany and being an American of Jewish decent, we’ve been asked to play at a lot of really great music festivals in Germany. There’s a festival that we’ve played a few times now in Nuremberg, where there were Nazi rallies. We used to go and play at this big coliseum where there were Nazi rallies, now it’s the site for a music festival. Some people would say “I can’t believe they’re using this site for something like that,” but to me it just feels like things have really progressed. It’s a place where people share music and feel very much together. That was not very long ago when all that crazy shit went down. We’ve definitely learned, at least I like to think people have learned from the mistakes we’ve made in the past.

CC: How do you think music plays role in affecting change and consciousness as a whole?

Einziger: Being sort of general, I think music is sort of like a grand communicator. It just allows people from all different parts of the world to feel unified together. There are artists, musicians and composers whose music people come together to appreciate and it doesn’t matter how old you are, how young you are, where you’re from, what your customs are, what your beliefs are…everybody can appreciate music.

Consciousness is a very unquantifiable thing that we have a very, very, if any, low understanding of, ya know? All I know really is that music makes me, and other people apparently, feel good and feeling good is not to be underestimated.

CC: Tell us about the Make Yourself Foundation. What inspired you as a band to create the organization?

Einziger: Well…we can use the fact that we play in a band, we play concerts and people come to the concerts (or at least we hope people come to the concerts) to generate money. It makes us feel good. We like to help causes and organizations that we feel need our help. We’re in a lucky position, we’ve had a very privileged existence, and it’s just our little way of giving back. We’re not trying to be preachy or tell people how to live their lives…

It’s very simple for us, it’s just a way of helping other people and I think the people we help appreciate it.

CC: So in an effort to drive change, music is perhaps one of the most powerful tools?

Einziger: Well I think music is a language, like a form of communication that sort of expands outward beyond languages that we use to communicate on a local level. It transcends. People can communicate with each other through music who don’t speak the same language, on a daily basis. It’s a really powerful tool. I think if anything in the world can unify people it’s music, definitely, it’s what has unified people. Young people, old people, round people, square people. It’s a glue, that kind of holds everybody together. I definitely feel that way.

CC: Do you think we’ve experienced any sort of major social evolution in our time?

Einziger: We’ve seen a fair bit of social evolution, I think, in our lifetimes. You know, we have a black president and I never would’ve thought that would’ve been possible, even today. I was surprised that our country was evolved enough to be able to accept that. It makes me happy. I feel like we’ve made a lot of progress socially. I think people are in general more conscious and accepting of people who are not like themselves, which is what sort of separates the United States from a lot of other parts of the world. In Europe for example, you have concentrations of a lot of different languages. Now they all have the same money, but they used to have different money in each different country…different foods, different customs, different social structures. The United States, it’s all sort of very big and very samey. We can drive for days and days and days and see nothing but white people, same food, same money, same religions, and it’s great that the outer world seems to be penetrating into the United States a bit. We love our country. We’re very privileged to live in the U.S. Having traveled all over the world to different places and seeing how other people live, we have it very very good here.

I think that, all in all, we’re in a very good spot, we’re in a great place, and music can be part of that whole equation.

CC: Speaking of change, the music business is not anything like it was when Incubus first began. What advice can you give to younger musicians who are struggling to survive in an over-saturated, disconcerting time for the industry?

Einziger: I think for young musicians who are trying to make a career out of playing music, they just have to love what they’re doing first and foremost. I think that’s the engine that kind of just drives everything. If you really love what you’re doing you’re going to want to keep doing it and you’re going to want to work harder at doing it. As far as the business part of selling music and that sort of realm of things…it’s changing, it’s changed a lot. For young artists, I think it’s more difficult to find funding because you need money for going on tour and things like that. At the same time, it’s harder for bands to gain access to certain things that were easier ten years ago, but at the same time now everybody is more connected because of technology, because of the internet. People can create music on their own and get it out there instantaneously to people in all parts of the world. It’s difficult to navigate but I guess the only thing I can really say is if you love it enough, you’ll keep doing it and you’ll figure out a way of making it work.

CC: Finally, when you think of the word ‘peace’ what comes to mind?

Einziger: When I think of the word ‘peace,’ I think of pretty girls wearing hippie dresses and flowing hair spinning around in circles…on acid…(laughs)…I ate too much acid when I was a kid, can’t seem to get past it.

The word peace to me, means sleep, I can sleep when I’m feeling peaceful. Obviously, we don’t like when people are fighting in the world. I don’t enjoy when I look out here among my minions (turns to festival crowd) and there is unrest in the ranks. I like when people feel at one with themselves and the earth they came from. So, when we feel this inner peace, we can sleep. We can all sleep together. (laughs)

CC: Anything else you want to tell the world?

Einziger: Watch the Mike Tyson Documentary, it’s awesome. (laughs)

Incubus describe the meaning behind the name of their last studio album entitled ‘Light Grenades’ as the idea that a light grenade is a ‘weapon of change through literacy and consciousness and integrating thought.’

For more on Incubus please visit EnjoyIncubus.com.

Photo by Andrew Schwartz.