Linkin Park, Incubus Discuss Their Upcoming Co-Headlining Tour (INTERVIEW)

Recently, Chester Bennington from Linkin Park and Brandon Boyd from Incubus held a press conference to talk about the much-anticipated 2012 Honda Civic tour which kicks off Aug. 11.

The wide-ranging discussion covered many topics, starting with whether or not the bands might join forces onstage together at any point. Boyd said, "At the moment there's nothing planned in the traditional sense but it really only takes a couple of days of making music and being on tour with new friends to become inspired by each other and each other's mutual distinctions and idiosyncrasies and stuff and then for that desire to share a little moments to arise so I have a sneaking suspicion that some of us will be sneaking onstage in each other's sets and I hope that you guys are cool with that."

Both band members were also asked about any advice they might give each other's band the upcoming tour. While Boyd cracked, "Don't drop the soap," Bennington offered "You know, we both toured so much over the last 10, 12, 14 years. I can't keep track of it anymore. I realize that when I noticed that my oldest son has a full beard and is driving a car. I was like, 'Wow.' Time just flies by. And so the only advice I could give to any of my friends who've been doing this business for this long is 'keep having fun.'"

Bennington continued: "I think that this summer's going to be really, really exciting and it's going to be really fun for our friends to come out and see both bands play. And the fact that we're both known for our live performances and to be able to go out and perform every night with a band that's as respected as Incubus, and to see them connect with their fans and then go out and do the same with our fans is going to be, it's going to be really special. And I'm sure that we can both swap stories about some pretty fun moments that we've all had on tour. But the great thing about being in a traveling rock band is that any number of things can happen at any time. I've been playing racquetball in Singapore and put a racquet through my face and had to have a plastic surgeon fly in and sew up my lip so that I could play the next day. It was like, you know... but you can't give people advice for that."

In response to how both bands have succeeded at keeping core members together over all the years, Boyd had this to say in part: "I have an old saying, but it's a saying that rings true for me all the time. Being in a band is hard. You are essentially traveling in very small steel tubes, confined steel tubes with family members for extended periods of time. Kind of like inhuman periods of time. You love your mom, but how much flight time do you want to spend with her? You know, how long do you want to sit in the car with your dad and your mom and your brothers, you know what I mean? There's that, but there's also the understanding that it's family, and it's very much a familial thing."

Bennington agreed that it comes down to being akin to a family unit. "I think that within Linkin Park we all have similar aspects of our personality that we share with each other. We all are very driven. We all like to work really hard. We all like to do whatever it takes and be involved in every aspect of what we do. But it takes all of us. And I think that when we learned very early on, like there's a few guys in the studio working on every song, so it's a whole record, when you look at the business side of things, or you look at like the marketing side of things, the artistic side of things, and what each member brings collectively to the whole, is worth far more than that. Together, the band is worth far more than each of us is as an individual. And I think that that's something we learned about our band very early. It's not just about one guy or two guys or whatever, three guys. It's about all six of us. And so, having six creative people who are totally different personality-wise around each other all the time, we have to be very realistic about what we expect from each other. And it is a family thing."

Noisecreep looks forward to bringing you coverage of this, one of the most talked about tours of the year.

2012 Honda Civic Tour Dates:

08/11 - Bristow, VA - Jiffy Lube Live*

08/12 - Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun Arena*

08/14 - Boston, MA - Comcast Center

08/17 - Camden, NJ - Susquehanna Bank Center

08/19 - Atlanta, GA - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre

08/21 - Detroit, MI - The Palace of Auburn Hills

08/22 - Cincinnati, OH - Riverbend Music Center

08/24 - Chicago, IL - First Midwest Bank Ampitheatre

08/25 - Indianapolis, IN - Klipsch Music Center

08/27 - Dallas, TX - Gexa Energy Pavilion

08/28 - Houston, TX - Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

08/30 - Denver, CO - Comfort Dental Amphitheatre

09/04 - Vancouver - Rogers Arena

09/05 - Tacoma, WA - Tacoma Dome

09/07 - Mountain View, CA - Shoreline Amphitheatre

09/08 - Los Angeles, CA - Home Depot Center

09/10 - San Diego, CA - Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre

*Linkin Park and Mutemath only