Incubus [ tickets ]--currently on a North American tour with the Start that will take them into December--is set to release "Morning View" (Sony/Epic) on Tuesday (10/23).

For the album, the Calabasas, Calif.-bred quintet reunited with producer Scott Litt, who besides turning the knobs on the previous Incubus release, "Make Yourself," has also worked with R.E.M. and Days of the New. Incubus is also sticking with familiar faces on the video-making front, as "Morning's" first single, "Wish You Were Here," was directed by Phil Harder, who worked on the videos for "Stellar" and "Drive."

The group snuck up on the rock world somewhat, paying its dues in the cutthroat Los Angeles club scene in the early '90s before finding itself on tour with Korn after releasing the Jim Wirt-produced "Enjoy Incubus" EP.

After 1997's adventurous "S.C.I.E.N.C.E.," they befriended Sharon Osbourne, the manager and wife of Ozzy, gaining a spot on Ozzfest that saw their audience grow by leaps and bounds. The band's next album, 1999's "Make Yourself," was its real breakout, with radio hits like "Pardon Me" and the aforementioned "Stellar" and "Drive."

In the wake of the World Trade Center tragedy, the band's five members--vocalist Brandon Boyd, guitarist Mike Einziger, bassist Dirk Lance, drummer Jose Pasillas, and DJ Kilmore--donated all proceeds from their recent New York shows to various New York relief funds.

Vocalist Boyd spoke with liveDaily about the group's beginnings and influences.

LiveDaily: How far back do you guys go?

Brandon Boyd: I've known Jose Pasillas since the fourth grade. I've known Mike since sixth grade. And we all met Dirk going into high school in ninth grade. The newest member, DJ Kilmore, has been with us for a few years. He grew up on the East Coast.

And you guys got into music because ...

There just wasn't a lot to do in Calabasas. Some of us in the band grew up together skating and surfing. When we were in 10th grade in high school, we just started playing music out of the same--I guess you'd call it--boredom. So when we weren't surfing and skating, we were playing in this band.

Who are some of your influences?

I'm into all kinds of things. I love Björk, Primus, Ani DiFranco. And I like listening to jazz--Miles Davis and Ella Fitzgerald. And also, vocally, Mike Patton [of Faith No More and Mr. Bungle], of course. Touring with Mr. Bungle on [1999's] SnoCore was a serious honor. Although, while we were second on that bill and Bungle was third--that should have been reversed.

You guys were in high school when you hit the clubs.

And in Los Angeles, before you're a known band, you actually have to pay the promoter to play the show. Or you buy tickets from the promoter, and then you sell the tickets yourself for however much you deem fit to make your money back.

Actually, how the first show worked was kind of funny. Michael found a hundred-dollar bill on the ground at his school and then went and bought tickets from a promoter--and that's how we got our first show. Talk about fate yelling at you! [laughs] We bought the tickets and sold all of them to our high school friends and brought a lot of kids to the show; I think we impressed the promoter. So he invited us to do it again, and again, and it just kept building on top of itself.

Who were you playing with in those days?

This was '91 or early '92, so the whole hair rock thing was still trying to cling to whatever last remnants of hope it had left. So the first couple of Hollywood shows we did we were opening up for serious glam-hair bands. The promoter didn't know what type of music we were, so they just put us on a bill where there was an open spot. Not really big bands, but stuff that was cult-big in Hollywood, I guess. I don't even remember any of the names of them. They all wore lipstick and had their hair poofed up and high heels and s--- like that.

How did the whole thing with Sharon Osbourne come together? You got to do the '98 Ozzfest with Tool, System of a Down, Primus and Limp Bizkit.

It wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for Sharon. Truthfully, I don't know [exactly how Sharon found out about the band]. Of course, I'd like to think that she somehow stumbled across a tape and loved it so much that she asked us to come on tour, but I doubt that's how it happened. Sharon is amazing. She's given so many young bands so many brilliant opportunities that she deserves some kind of a medal.

The Ozzfest was like summer camp. Because we knew most of the bands on the bill from previous touring, it was just like a big group of friends kind of traveling around the country together and playing music and having a brilliant time.

And now you get to headline your own tour--not a bad way to spend your time.

You know, in a lot of people's eyes, being a musician or a writer or an artist full-time is not something too respectable. But to tell you the truth, I think it's the most respectable profession, because you're doing what you want to do. And you're not succumbing to the pressures of doing what you don't want to do, just to make a living. You realize you can actually make a living by doing something that excites you. And the more you pursue what excites you, the more you're rewarded.