Biography

Coheed and Cambria is an American rock band from Nyack, New York, formed in 1995. The group’s music incorporates aspects of progressive rock, punk rock, pop, metal and post-hardcore. All of Coheed and Cambria’s albums are concept albums that tell a science fiction storyline called The Amory Wars, a story written by lead singer Claudio Sanchez, which has been transcribed into a series of comic books,as well as a full length novel. The band has released seven studio albums, three live albums, and several special-edition releases.

History

Formation and Shabütie (1995–2001)

In March 1995, after the split of Claudio Sanchez and Travis Stever’s band called Toxic Parents, they formed a band with Nate Kelley called Beautiful Loser. The band featured Stever on vocals and guitar, Sanchez on guitar, Kelley on drums and Jon Carleo on bass. The group was short-lived, breaking up by June 1995 after an argument over gas money. Stever left the band, and the resulting trio was named Shabütie, a word taken from African tribe chants that means “naked prey” in the film The Naked Prey.

The band spent nearly a year experimenting with a multitude of different musical styles, including punk rock, indie rock, acoustic rock, funk, and heavy metal. When Carleo left the band in August 1996, Kelley recruited Michael Todd to take his place. Todd, who was primarily a guitarist, picked up the bass specifically for Shabütie.[8][9] As Shabütie, the band wrote dozens of songs and released their first studio demo Plan to Take Over the World in 1999. The band also released The Penelope EP in 1999, shortly after which Stever rejoined the band.

Kelley left the band during a performance in late 1999. Josh Eppard (then the drummer of his brother Joey Eppard’s band 3) replaced him. The band went on to release Delirium Trigger in 2000, still featuring Kelley on the drums, but listing Eppard in the liner notes.

The Amory Wars and The Second Stage Turbine Blade (2001–2004)

Several songs that appeared on Delirium Trigger were based on a series of science fiction comics written by Claudio Sanchez called The Bag.On.Line Adventures, which was later renamed The Amory Wars. Sanchez’s side project originally developed during a 1998 trip to Paris, where the band members decided to rename themselves Coheed and Cambria, named after two of the story’s protagonists, and adopted the concept story as a theme that would unify their future albums.This side project also created Coheed’s official logo, the Keywork, a symbol for the planetary alignment of the Amory Wars universe.

In February 2002 the band released its first studio album The Second Stage Turbine Blade after signing with Equal Vision Records.Influenced by the post-hardcore group At The Drive In,[14] the band’s first release also featured a guest appearance from Dr. Know of the hardcore-punk band, Bad Brains, as well as the revised “Delirium Trigger”, “33”, and “Junesong Provision” from the Delirium Trigger EP. The band also released its first single and music video, “Devil in Jersey City”.The band eventually played several tour dates in the United States and Japan, as well as a brief stint on the 2002 Vans Warped Tour. In August 2002, Coheed and Cambria started working with manager Blaze James, who would help propel the band to larger stages and a wider fan base.

Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV (2004–2006)

The band also supported the release by filming an August 2004 concert at New Jersey’s Starland Ballroom. The performance was converted into the band’s first live DVD, Live at the Starland Ballroom, which was released in March 2005.

The success of In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 attracted the attention of the record label Columbia Records,[13] with whom they signed a multi-album contract.[19][20] The band stopped touring to record their third studio album and first major-label release Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness in early 2005 for a September 2005 release.

Departures and No World for Tomorrow (2006–2009)

Claudio Sanchez released an album from his side-project The Prize Fighter Inferno in October 2006 titled My Brother’s Blood Machine. Like Coheed and Cambria’s albums, it was a concept album, related to Coheed and Cambria via a character that appears in both stories: Jesse, “The Prize Fighter Inferno”. The album was intended to be a prequel to the Coheed and Cambria albums.Claudio says “when we were called Shabütie, the initial idea for Coheed and Cambria was to be an acoustic/electronic side project. So I guess The Prize Fighter Inferno is kind of the original idea for Coheed and Cambria.”

In early November 2006, Josh Eppard and Michael Todd left the band for personal reasons, forcing Matt Williams and the band’s drum technician, Michael Petrak, to fill out temporarily the band’s rhythm section for a handful of shows. In April 2007, bassist Michael Todd rejoined Coheed and Cambria, and the band entered the Los Angeles-based studio with new producer Nick Raskulinecz. The following June Chris Pennie, formerly of the Dillinger Escape Plan, joined Coheed and Cambria as its drummer, but due to contractual restrictions with his previous record label, Pennie did not appear on the band’s fourth release. Instead, Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins recorded the drums, making use of several ideas Pennie had previously written in correspondence with Sanchez.

The band’s fourth studio album, and second release with Columbia Records, Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow, was released in October 2007, debuting at number 6 on the Billboard charts. The album’s first single, “The Running Free”, was released to radio in August 2007. The second single was “Feathers” with a video starring Rena Riffel. The band has continued touring, headlining portions of the 2007 Warped Tour,a tour supported by Clutch and The Fall of Troy, and opened for Linkin Park’s 25-city U.S. tour, which forced the cancellation of Coheed and Cambria’s performances on Australia’s Soundwave Festival.In addition to the return of Todd on bass and new drummer Pennie, the band also recruited a touring keyboardist and backup vocalists for its live performances.

Line-up change and The Afterman (2011–present)

Claudio announced at New York Comic Con in “Radio.com” in October 2011 that the upcoming album was written and that the recordings would begin in November. He also confirmed that the band were continuing to write music following the Amory Wars storyline, and hinted that fans would be surprised by which character was followed in the new album.

In November 2011, Chris Pennie departed the band by mutual agreement due to creative differences. Two weeks later, Pennie was replaced by the band’s former drummer Josh Eppard, and the following April the band announced via social media that their replacement bassist would be Zach Cooper, previously of the band AM to AM. According to a video on the band’s website, Coheed manager Blaze James “cold-called” Cooper to audition for the bass position, based upon a personal recommendation.

In June, the band completed the recording of their sixth studio album at Applehead Studios.The following month, Coheed announced via their website that the upcoming album would be a double album called “The Afterman.” The first part, titled The Afterman: Ascension, was released on October 9, 2012 and the second, titled The Afterman: Descension, was released on February 5, 2013. It has been produced by Coheed and Cambria, with Michael Birnbaum and Chris Bittner. ‘The Afterman’ tells the story of Sirius Amory, the namesake of the concept, as he explores the energy source holding together the Keywork (the 78 worlds in which the Amory Wars is set) and finds that it is in fact an afterlife for departed souls.In the same month, Claudio announced at San Diego Comic Con that Entourage producers Mark Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson will develop his comic book series The Amory Wars into a full-length live action film.

On August 28, 2012, the band released the music video for “Key Entity Extraction I: Domino the Destitute”, the first single from The Afterman: Ascension,, on their Vevo channel,reaching over one million views. Two weeks before the album’s release, the band premiered the studio version of the title track “The Afterman” on Rolling Stone.The second video from the album was later created for this track.