COHEED AND CAMBRIA
By: Sean Delanty

I remember the day I first heard Coheed and Cambria back in 2003. It was the record In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth:3. At first I wasn’t sure what to think. It was different but it had a seductive style reminiscent of the early classic rock greats like Pink Floyd and The Who. Later I come to find out that each Coheed record is part of a science fiction story written by singer/guitarist Claudio Sanchez. The name Coheed and Cambria is in fact the names of the characters in Sanchez’s story he called The Amory Wars. There are 4 parts and the newest record No World For Tomorrow is the final chapter in this chronological story which works like this. The 1st record was the end of the story and so on. If you want to know what the story is about just do a quick Google search of The Armory Wars. The details would run long past what we could fit in the magazine.

Coheed and Cambria actually have over 10 years of history as a band and it definitely shows in their well polished style of music. They went through some members and a few name changes before settling on a sound and band name. I had to a chance to talk with bassist Mic Todd about the current situation of the band and the future.

SM – Whats the band up to now?
MT – We are in Detroit heading to a radio show. We just finished a tour out here with Clutch.
SM – I hear the weather sucks in Detroit right now.
MT – Its cool we have the best bus driver. We are safe
SM – How is the new record doing?
MT – Its doing great, I mean I don’t have the number of sales but the kids at the shows seem to know all the words so that’s an indicator that its doing well.
SM – You guys have always had Claudio’s story behind the last records. Is this one of them?
MT – Yeah, this is the last chapter.
SM – How do you guys write this stuff? Whats a typical day of writing like for Coheed?
MT – Claudio is the principle song writer. We usually demo everything acoustically first then do some guitar tracks and email them back and forth before we actually start rehearsing them live.
SM – That’s kind of a new way of doing things.
MT – Yeah it works out great because not all of us live close to each other.
SM – So not long ago after the last record the rumors of a break up were going around. What was up with that?
MT – We kind of just went on a hiatus and not really a break up. We had some member changes and needed to work out the kinks.
SM – This is a little off topic but I heard about a movie based on Claudio’s comics. Is there truth to that?
MT – Its been discussed but nothing further than that.
SM – What Coheeds future plans?
MT – We are taking a few weeks off for Christmas then heading to Europe for some dates then we are opening for Linkin Park here in the US. That’s pretty big for us. That will be the first time we have played such large venues.
SM – That’s awesome, congrats on that. Is that show coming to Vegas?
MT – Im not sure yet. I think so. We haven’t gotten the list yet.
SM – What is you favorite city to play in?
MT - Well definitely New York seeing we are from here. Chicago is also a lot of fun and of course L.A 

That being said Mic was on a packed tour bus and we had to cut the interview short so they could get to their radio interview. All in all Coheed and Cambria have created themselves a great following over the years and maintained it. Not a lot of bands can accomplish that these days. Most will stray from that formula that got them there in the first place. We live in an A.D.D world and Coheed has managed to keep the interest of its older fan base and at the same time picked up some new ones along the way.

Coheed has also had one of their new songs included on the video game “Rock Star” which is gaining popularity. Be sure to pick up a copy of No World For Tomorrow which is out now and keep an eye out for them with Linkin Park later this Winter.