Coheed And Cambria Saga Comes To An End On No World For Tomorrow

Claudio Sanchez, the hay bale-haired frontman for progressive emo-rockers Coheed and Cambria, will never look back on 2006 fondly. It was a year wrought with lineup shifts, family deaths and hurdles aplenty. There was even a moment that the sci-fi-leaning concept band wondered if it should even bother carrying on.

In August, the band was forced to nix a European tour, following the departures of drummer Joshua Eppard and bassist Michael Todd, which put things in Coheed land in flux for a spell. In the spring, Todd returned to the fold, and Eppard was replaced by former Dillinger Escape Plan drummer Chris Pennie. Sanchez also lost his aunt, a social worker who'd counseled the band through several challenging times, to Alzheimer's disease; her death was a blow to the entire group.

"It's been an uphill battle," Sanchez explained. "Last year was terrible. It was an interesting time for this band and a very important time, because with all those experiences, I think we have created a very awesome album," the forthcoming Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow, which drops October 23. "We sort of rose from the ashes, which is something we never really had with any of the previous albums, which makes me feel like this is the strongest and makes for the best conclusion for the saga.

"Last year, we went through a lot, and I think, really, at the end of the day, it all helped kind of mold this album," Sanchez added. "Like [2005's Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness], where we kind of saw [the tale of Coheed and Cambria, an epic of love, death and deceit sprung from Sanchez's vivid imagination] from the writer's perspective, and how the writer's reality kind of affected the outcome of the story. This time around, it's pretty much that tenfold. This one's about everything we endured in 2006 and how that kind of translated over to the concept of Coheed and Cambria."

Produced by Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Shadows Fall), No World for Tomorrow features Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, who was summoned — the day before the band was scheduled to begin tracking — to fill in for Eppard. Being able to bring the Coheed and Cambria saga to a close has been rather relieving for Sanchez.

"I certainly feel a great weight has been lifted off my shoulders," he said. "Now I am thinking about what will happen in the future, about the prequel album, possible spinoffs." (Sanchez also hinted at bigger things coming down the pike for Coheed, including a possible film adaptation, either live-action or animated, of the albums' overall concept.) "It is nice to know I am closing the center of the whole mythology. Now, with this album, it has been established that, although the [upcoming] prequel is just as important, these four bodies of work really kind of stamp it. They make the mythology."

Surprisingly, despite all the headaches and heartaches the band has experienced in the last 12 months, the album isn't as dark as you might imagine and boasts a few heavy numbers, à la "Welcome Home."

"In writing the lyrics, I found certain lines that, instead of being so on the dark side of things, almost felt very hopeful," the singer said. "To quote some of the lyrics, 'Raise your hands high, young brothers and sisters/ There's a world's worth of work and a need for you.' It's almost like we've gone through all these changes, and we want our fans to know that we have endured and will continue. At the same time, on the conceptual side of things, it's the end of the story, the end of everything, so it's almost, in a weird way, tricking a following into their own demise ... if that makes any sense."

The band has been previewing at least one of the new songs, the disc's likely first single, "The Running Free," during this summer's Warped Tour, and the response has been positive. Look for the record to also contain the cuts "Mother Superior," "The End Complete," "Gravemakers and Gunslingers," the album's title track and "Justice and Murder," a tune inspired by Sanchez's aunt.

"She had a very interesting role in Coheed, especially after [the release of 2002's The Second Stage Turbine Blade], when Coheed actually disbanded for a second due to extensive touring and such. ... We were so overloaded, we kind of imploded," he said. "My aunt happened to be a social worker, a therapist, and we went to her and she helped us sort out our problems and helped us figure out what we wanted to do as a band, and thus, we endured and went on to [record 2003's In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3]. It was such a tragedy, because seeing her pass away and all that we endured in 2006, it was another brick in that wall. It made us wonder, 'Can we overcome this?' because we aren't going to have that help we had before."

For some of the tracks, Sanchez said he experimented with unfamiliar instrumentation, including organs and pianos, to create a sound he described as "Ray Charles on Quaaludes." A few of the songs were actually written on piano and later converted into very intricate guitar parts.

"Musically, I think our fans are going to really enjoy it because there are a lot of callbacks to the other albums," he explained. "But it's hard to say what will happen to this band when the concept is finished. There are so many avenues we could explore, if we really wanted to dive into the conceptual side of things. The solar system that I have created [with the Coheed saga] involves 78 planets, so there are worlds of things we could explore, as well as moving into another piece of fiction or whatever. We're artists — we can find an interesting way to move from this to another thing, if we chose to do that. If I were to say this is the end of Coheed and Cambria, I think our audience would be excited about it." 

credits http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1565897/20070730/coheed_cambria.jhtmlto: 

Coheed And Cambria Recording 'Prequel' Album Inspired By Claudio Sanchez's 'Amory Wars'

lame it on George Lucas: Just when you thought the saga was over, Coheed and Cambria are coming back with more. And this time, it's an origin story.

Thanks to singer Claudio Sanchez's work on the band's albums-translated-as-comics-series "The Amory Wars," Coheed and Cambriaour Splash Page blog.) The LP will be about, well, Coheed and Cambria — as in the characters throughout the science-fiction mythology explored on the band's four albums thus far — only this time, it might make sense. have been inspired to do a "prequel" album of sorts. (Learn more about the comic series from Sanchez himself on

"So far, it's just songs," Sanchez said. "It's actually been a lot of fun. I've just been working on what it's about and sending it to [drummer] Chris [Pennie] on the Internet. Everything's very rough right now, but it's sounding pretty cool."

Sanchez has a working title for the album — which he refuses to reveal, since he doesn't want to be held to it just yet. "I get a lot of that," he said. "People will be like, 'But you said this.' Sorry." But if fans need to call it something, he said, "Amory Wars Prequel" will do for now.

The band is in the early stages of creating the prequel, a long way from recording any songs, but Sanchez estimates the album could be ready "in a year or so."

"I just need to find that extra nudge," he said. "I need someone to knock on my door and say, 'Look at this,' before I can really finish it up." 

credits to: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1592365/20080807/coheed_cambria.jhtml

Interviews: Chris Pennie (Coheed and Cambria)

Once upon a time, in a galaxy of 78 planets called The Keywork, Coheed and Cambria Kilgannon fight a battle that ultimately leads to deaths of themselves and their children. This past Spring, Coheed and Cambria released Year of the Black Rainbow, the latest, but first chapter in the Armory Wars saga – a four-part science fiction concept that has guided all of the band's albums since its debut with Second Stage Turbine Blade back in 2002. Geeky? Yes. Pretentious? Maybe. Unique? Absolutely. Drummer Chris Pennie wasted some holiday time from his home in north-west New Jersey to chat with Punknews contributor Gen Handley about life in Coheed and Cambria, his past in the Dillinger Escape Plan and how playing drums for Coheed songs on Rock Band isn't exactly comparable to the real thing.





So how has it been playing the Under the Black Rainbow songs live? Especially since you were much more involved with this album?
Yeah, this is actually the first time I was able to record on an album with the band. So with No World (for Tomorrow), I was involved with the demoing process, but due to contractual obligations I wasn't able to record. So yeah, this album holds a little more of a special feeling because I'm actually able to sit on the other side, after being involved with it, and hold something that I participated in 100 per cent – it's cool.

Yeah, it's a great album...
Thank you, thank you. So yeah, it feels great to play the tunes, but great to play everything else and the other tunes are fun to play as well – 360 degrees around, it's good.

What's the most challenging Coheed song to play?
I don't know...probably the ones that I didn't record originally because there are different things on them that give me insight into Josh's (Eppard, now in Terrible Things) playing and then because Taylor (Hawkins, Foo Fighters) played on No World, it's a bit of a window into his style and the way he plays and phrases things. So those are definitely a challenge because I didn't completely come from the ground-up on those things. With the Black Rainbow tunes, there are definitely songs like "Guns of Summer" that are a challenge because there's a lot going on – that's a lot of fun to play. Every song holds its own challenge.

How about the songs you like to play when you're feeling angry?
(laughs). Oh boy, that's an interesting question. Like, the tunes that are slower in tempo, and I don't mean the ballad ones, but ones like "Welcome Home" where I have a lot of time to get to the drums, I can tend to hit a little bit harder and take some frustrations out – it's that type of tempo tune. But I don't know, I usually try not to take that attitude when I take the stage – I get more into having fun and the fire and the urgency to play my best every night instead of letting my emotions take it over. I mean, I definitely play emotional when I'm up there, but I don't want to ruin it for the band (laughs).

You've been in Coheed for just over three years now and it's obviously been a pretty good experience for you...
Yeah.

Was that the same in the Dillinger Escape Plan?
At first, it was great, but it became strained over the years. The important thing for me is that when you're touring in a band eight or nine months out of the year and you go on these two-month stretches back-to-back, you have time to chill and you get along with the guys, the family that you're with. Like, you take time catch up, learn about each other and give space when it's needed. Ultimately it's communication and those things weren't happening with Dillinger – especially towards the end of my 10 years with the band. It doesn't really have to do with being on stage and enjoying the music, it was all of the other stuff getting in the way personally off stage. It wasn't fun, it wasn't fun at all.

So joining Coheed has definitely been a good thing...
It's been really great man – really great. It's done wonders for my mental well-being in terms of feeling very clear and focused on all cylinders. Everyone in this band is working toward the same thing and we're like a well-oiled machine, a family, on and off the stage.

Having talked about this close relationship with the band, how about the music? Do you understand the Armory Wars? Like, the storyline behind the lyrics and albums? Be honest...
(laughs) To be completely honest, it is a little tricky for me. I understand little bits and pieces, but it is something I need to make more time for. When I got into the band, when I first listened to the band, I got into them purely for the music. That doesn't take away how much I admire and appreciate what Claudio (Sanchez) is doing – he's created an entire world. What goes along with the music is a complete experience and I think that really helps make the band an entity unto itself. It's very special man.

Do you think there's a good balance with the music and the concept or does one overshadow the other at times?
No, not really. I think everyone in the band kind of preaches that the music is first and if you want to get into the story, you'll get into the story after. But at the same time, I feel that the amazing allure of the band is there is this epic story and there are all of these other mediums and offshoots coming from it that are really cool. I don't think either one overshadows – they just work together and make it one big entity.

Cool. How long have you been playing drums?
I started when I was 12 and I'm 33 now so it's been a pretty decent amount of time.

So what got you to pick up the drum sticks for the first time?
I guess it was that my mom and dad were avid listeners of music and went to a lot of shows and listened to a lot of bands from a lot of different styles of music. So growing up, there was a lot of that in the house. They would listen to everything from Iron Maiden to Zeppelin to the Stylistics to Kool and the Gang and Billy Joel – everything across the board. So I listened to a lot of different types of music and then I got into Metallica when I was 11 years old and picked up ...And Justice for All. That was when I really took notice and asked my parents if I could take lessons. That's what really inspired me – hearing that record and finally saying, "I want to do this."

Is it true that your first band was the first signing at Vagrant Records?
Yeah, that's true. The band was called Boxer and Vagrant had just put out a compilation...I can't remember the name. But yeah, they asked us to come out to play in California and we got signed.

Looking at how much it's grown since, what do you think of the label now?
The label's amazing and I've always loved it. It was such a crazy time in my life because I had just gotten home from Berkeley and I didn't know what to do because I had two bands at the time. I've always had a lot of projects going on because I just like to make music, but I didn't know at the time because I had Boxer and then I had Dillinger – I told the guys in Boxer that Dillinger was the priority. But both bands got signed at the same time and so I had to ask myself, "Do I tour with Boxer or do I tour with Dillinger?" and I decided to tour with Dillinger and Boxer found another drummer.

How's Return to Earth going?
It's great. It's just a bunch a friends of mine who I met about mid-way through my career. So when I was beginning the transition of leaving Dillinger for Coheed, before Claud and Travis (Stever) called me, we all started playing and that's kind of what Return to Earth turned into. Automata just came out a couple months ago on Metalblade and it's getting good reviews. I'm proud of it – it's something fun to do when Coheed has some down-time.

Going back to Coheed, how would you describe the band's music? There are so many ways to describe the sound and it's not very easy, which I don't think is necessarily a bad thing.
It's funny. It's funny, like you just said, in that it's hard to define what it is. I think that a lot of people want to define everything these days. I just say it's rock music. It's heavy rock music that encompasses a lot of influences like blues and classic rock – even 70s fusion and psychedelic music. But it all just falls under the rock-and-roll umbrella. Nobody in the band tries to define what we're making – we just do our thing and try to enjoy it.

One more question. Have you ever played the drums for "Welcome Home" on Rock Band. If so, how did you do?
Yes and I failed miserably (laughs).

(laughs) Really? How come?
The funny thing with all of that is anything you take on has different hand-eye coordination. It's different because I'm not used to visually placing things on where to put the kick drum or where to place my hand when the green bar rolls by. When I'm playing drums, I'm feeling it – not watching it – so it's a totally different thing for me. I don't remember what level I played it on, but it wasn't on advanced so I had to hit every other note and it was like half of what was supposed to happen. I totally blew it – it was awful. I also did one for Spin Magazine when they were just introducing the product and we were at Arlene's Grocery, which is a small little club in New York City. So the guy rolls up with the full set-up and says, "Try this out man." He puts on "Say It Ain't So" by Weezer and it was the same thing. I blew it – I couldn't even make it through the first 30 seconds. The guy was like, "Aw man, the calibration on the drums must be off or something." and I said, "No dude, I just suck at it." (laughs) 

credits to:   http://www.punknews.org/article/4025

Call Year Of The Black Rainbow 'Accessible'

By their own admission, Coheed and Cambria's Year of the Black Rainbow, which hit stores Tuesday (April 13), is their most "accessible" album to date. That sort of makes us wonder how they define the term "accessible" in the first place. For proof, here's front man Claudio Sanchez to explain the story line behind the disc.

"It's [about] the origin of Coheed and Cambria. Basically, this void forms above Heaven's Fence, which is deemed 'the Black Rainbow' because no one really knows what it is," Sanchez said. "And half the inhabitants believe that maybe it's the Hand of God and the unfortunate things that are about to come. Or it's confirmation that Wilhelm Ryan, the evil dictator that is ruling all of Heaven's Fence, this is the confirmation that he is God. And that actually kind of creates this civil unrest. ... It spawns the creation of Coheed and Cambria."

Totally. And while Rainbow is the prequel to the band's "Armory Wars" story line (which has played out over the course of their four previous albums), Sanchez and his mates maintain that no previous knowledge of the rather lengthy — and slightly insane — sci-fi back story is necessary to enjoy it. Because, really, at its core, it's an album about universal subjects like love, loss and sacrifice — with about 50 bazillion really killer guitar lines thrown in for good measure.

"In the past, the concept has never really been an essential part for the listener to enjoy the music. I've had fans come up to us who have no idea that there's a concept behind what we do," Sanchez said. "And for myself, as a lyricist, I think I've become a bit more open, and the lyrics are a bit more universal, and the themes that are in the songs are universal. So I like to think of it as accessible in that world. Everybody can really enjoy it. It's not necessary to get into all the other details."

"People keep telling us that it's 'accessible,' and it's hard for us to tell if it is or not," bassist Mic Todd added. "That's a good thing, though. We want people to hear it. We're incredibly proud of it all. ... We think it shows our growth as musicians and songwriters."

So now that their Armory Wars saga is complete, are Coheed — who stopped by the MTV Newsroom on Tuesday to pick up their Musical March Madness Championship Cup — going to put the whole "concept album" thing behind them? Will the next C&C album be (gasp!) a straightforward, totally kick-ass rock album?

"Time will tell. We're all really proud of this record. I think it really reflects who we are as a band and who we are as individuals, and if the band were to stop, this is the full [story,] part one to four-and-a-half. It's all there," Sanchez said. "And there's always ideas to keep going further into the past of the story. ... I think we could do whatever we want, really. I think that I've become a little more open, and the universal themes of the story line are kind of blossoming on this one. But who knows?" 

credits to:http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1636046/20100413/coheed_cambria.jhtml

Claim MTV's Musical March Madness Trophy

Tuesday (April 13) was a pretty big day for Coheed and Cambria. Not only did their new album, Year of the Black Rainbow, hit stores, they also finally got their hands on the coveted MTV's Musical March Madness Championship Cup, which they won last week after trouncing My Chemical Romance in the title match.

In keeping with the humble streak front man Claudio Sanchez displayed when he learned of C&C's triumph (he was busy hosing down his deck and celebrated by playing a game of "God of War 3"), the rest of the band was equally modest when picking up the hardware.

"It's been a really long season of looking at the Internet two or three times a week," bassist Mic Todd joked while hoisting the cup. "No, seriously. ... I've always felt that our fans are really unique in their level of devotion to this band; that's why we're still able to be doing what we're doing. I gotta say, I'm genuinely surprised this happened. It was a really nice surprise. Absolutely couldn't believe it. So this is absolutely due to the fans' perseverance."

"The trophy certainly reflects the devotion of the fan base. Just how much they want to see us succeed, and it's really important to us," Sanchez added, while clutching the cup. "We'll probably give it to [someone at Coheed fan site] , or maybe bring it on tour, so everybody can take a picture with it. It really reflects [the fans'] devotion, and it's their trophy."

Yes, it was a somewhat muted celebration in the MTV Newsroom. No champagne was popped, no streamers cascaded down from the ceiling. There weren't even championship T-shirts printed up to mark the occasion (we knew we forgot something). Still, as Coheed posed for photos with the cup, there was no doubt that they had bested a field of 65 — and that they were truly the champions.

As all good champions do while in possession of a cup (think the giant silver NHL thing named after Lord Stanley), Coheed plan to take full advantage of its beverage-holding ability.

"Oh, man, I'm going to put beer in this thing, and I'm going to drink out of it, that's for sure," Sanchez laughed.

Go for it, dude. After all, to the victors go the spoils.

Were you excited about Coheed winning MTV's Musical March Madness tournament? Let us know in the comments below!

  

credit to: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1636015/20100413/coheed_cambria.jhtml