Coheed and Cambria's fifth album Year of the Black Rainbow
Sony Music
Progressive rock band Coheed and Cambria have built a strong following with their concept albums that revolve around a science fiction storyline called The Armory Wars that lead vocalist Claudio Sanchez conceived through a series of short stories.
Each album is set in the fictional universe of Heaven's Fence and revolves around the characters Coheed and Cambria and their rise and fall during the apocalypse.
Heaven's Fence is comprised of 78 planets which are aligned by interconnecting beams of energy known as the Keywork, which has become the band's official logo.
To date, Coheed and Cambria has released five studio albums including their latest release The Armory Wars prequel Year of the Black Rainbow, which was released in April.
Earlier this week, I got a chance to talk to Sanchez who spent some time talking about how his fictional universe was created during a trip to Paris and was never intended to be anything other than a way to document his trip to a foreign land, "It turned into more because I was having a hard time putting my personal experiences down into my music and my fictional universe was a way to do that. A lot of the roots within the story are very real scenes."
Sanchez shared that it was always in the plans to do a prequel to the series and the Year of the Black Rainbow was a way to do the characters of Coheed and Cambria justice who as he said had been "put through hell".
The album takes listeners back before the characters' deaths and allows a speck of hope to shine through the darkness that is prevalent throughout the series. Sanchez says much of that sense of hope is due to his marriage earlier this year which he describes as a "true partnership".
For the recording of Year of the Black Rainbow, the band worked with producers Joe Baressi (Queens of the Stone Age) and Atticus Ross (Nine Inch Nails) who helped give the album a bit of a different feel bringing in a stronger electronic feel.
According to Sanchez, Baressi and Ross "balanced each other out" and helped "elevate" a sound that he had been wanting to explore for awhile.
The storyline itself is built around the concept of a absence in reality that creates a divide between the inhabitants of the world and creates a need for the creation of Coheed and Cambria. I brought up a particular lyric in the first single released off of the album, "The Broken", which goes, "The world looks better when you're falling." Sanchez spoke about the song and how it is a anthem of acceptance and accepting yourself for what you are, good or bad.
The special edition of Year of the Black Rainbow features a novel written by Sanchez and sci-fi writer Peter David. When I mentioned that the packaging of the novel is a great way to draw buyers in this era of downloads, Sanchez was quick to say, "Very true but also, without sounding like a teacher [laughing] but I think it's great when you can get people to read!"
Sci-fi and horror is something that Sanchez grew up on. In fact, he said that he was always fascinated by the "fantastic" and always saw The Armory Wars as a series of stories and comic books.
However, he is tired of the comparisons to Star Wars and being dismissed as a "comic-book band".
Sanchez put together a special video for their song "World of Lines" featuring scenes from the classic science fiction film Metropolis, which explored the struggle between workers and industry.
Sanchez says he used the film because it portrays the message that he was trying to send in "World of Lines", which is the division of the elite and the workers and more specifically the elitist view of the media, who are responsible for dismissing Coheed and Cambria as nothing more than their concept.
The video was meant as a special treat for the fans and a official video for the song is in the planning stages and will be released later.
Coheed and Cambria have been extensively touring behind The Year of the Black Rainbow and were getting ready to head to Asia when I spoke to Sanchez.
When asked about future plans, Sanchez said that they are already working on stuff for their next album as well as some solo material and that he does intend to stay within The Armory Wars universe but it will branch off into new story with new characters.
The band has toured with a number of different groups from Linkin Park and Clutch to Trivium and Slipknot but when asked if there is anyone in particular that he enjoyed going on tour with the most, Sanchez was unable to pick just one, "You know I like playing with anyone. With Slipknot or bands like that people would say it is a odd coupling but we like doing different things. Coheed and Cambria prefers to take the hard road. We like to see people come out to a show and say, hey that really worked!"
When I mentioned seeing them on that Slipknot tour and the positive audience reaction, Sanchez laughed and exclaimed, "Victory!"
Sanchez also talked about having gone out to see the Leonardo Dicaprio/Christopher Nolan sci-fi thriller Inception the night before. Like many, he enjoyed the movie because of it's concept and the fact that he "is always looking for something different."
After seeing the movie, the band then went to see the new Predator movie and he said, "Let's just say we had a hard time sitting through it after seeing Inception."
The band will be starting a second round of U.S. dates beginning August 12 in Hollywood and ending August 31 in Norfolk.
The tour will be making a stop in Grand Rapids at the Orbit Room on Wednesday, August 25.
Each album is set in the fictional universe of Heaven's Fence and revolves around the characters Coheed and Cambria and their rise and fall during the apocalypse.
Heaven's Fence is comprised of 78 planets which are aligned by interconnecting beams of energy known as the Keywork, which has become the band's official logo.
To date, Coheed and Cambria has released five studio albums including their latest release The Armory Wars prequel Year of the Black Rainbow, which was released in April.
Earlier this week, I got a chance to talk to Sanchez who spent some time talking about how his fictional universe was created during a trip to Paris and was never intended to be anything other than a way to document his trip to a foreign land, "It turned into more because I was having a hard time putting my personal experiences down into my music and my fictional universe was a way to do that. A lot of the roots within the story are very real scenes."
Sanchez shared that it was always in the plans to do a prequel to the series and the Year of the Black Rainbow was a way to do the characters of Coheed and Cambria justice who as he said had been "put through hell".
The album takes listeners back before the characters' deaths and allows a speck of hope to shine through the darkness that is prevalent throughout the series. Sanchez says much of that sense of hope is due to his marriage earlier this year which he describes as a "true partnership".
For the recording of Year of the Black Rainbow, the band worked with producers Joe Baressi (Queens of the Stone Age) and Atticus Ross (Nine Inch Nails) who helped give the album a bit of a different feel bringing in a stronger electronic feel.
According to Sanchez, Baressi and Ross "balanced each other out" and helped "elevate" a sound that he had been wanting to explore for awhile.
The storyline itself is built around the concept of a absence in reality that creates a divide between the inhabitants of the world and creates a need for the creation of Coheed and Cambria. I brought up a particular lyric in the first single released off of the album, "The Broken", which goes, "The world looks better when you're falling." Sanchez spoke about the song and how it is a anthem of acceptance and accepting yourself for what you are, good or bad.
The special edition of Year of the Black Rainbow features a novel written by Sanchez and sci-fi writer Peter David. When I mentioned that the packaging of the novel is a great way to draw buyers in this era of downloads, Sanchez was quick to say, "Very true but also, without sounding like a teacher [laughing] but I think it's great when you can get people to read!"
Sci-fi and horror is something that Sanchez grew up on. In fact, he said that he was always fascinated by the "fantastic" and always saw The Armory Wars as a series of stories and comic books.
However, he is tired of the comparisons to Star Wars and being dismissed as a "comic-book band".
Sanchez put together a special video for their song "World of Lines" featuring scenes from the classic science fiction film Metropolis, which explored the struggle between workers and industry.
Sanchez says he used the film because it portrays the message that he was trying to send in "World of Lines", which is the division of the elite and the workers and more specifically the elitist view of the media, who are responsible for dismissing Coheed and Cambria as nothing more than their concept.
The video was meant as a special treat for the fans and a official video for the song is in the planning stages and will be released later.
Coheed and Cambria have been extensively touring behind The Year of the Black Rainbow and were getting ready to head to Asia when I spoke to Sanchez.
When asked about future plans, Sanchez said that they are already working on stuff for their next album as well as some solo material and that he does intend to stay within The Armory Wars universe but it will branch off into new story with new characters.
The band has toured with a number of different groups from Linkin Park and Clutch to Trivium and Slipknot but when asked if there is anyone in particular that he enjoyed going on tour with the most, Sanchez was unable to pick just one, "You know I like playing with anyone. With Slipknot or bands like that people would say it is a odd coupling but we like doing different things. Coheed and Cambria prefers to take the hard road. We like to see people come out to a show and say, hey that really worked!"
When I mentioned seeing them on that Slipknot tour and the positive audience reaction, Sanchez laughed and exclaimed, "Victory!"
Sanchez also talked about having gone out to see the Leonardo Dicaprio/Christopher Nolan sci-fi thriller Inception the night before. Like many, he enjoyed the movie because of it's concept and the fact that he "is always looking for something different."
After seeing the movie, the band then went to see the new Predator movie and he said, "Let's just say we had a hard time sitting through it after seeing Inception."
The band will be starting a second round of U.S. dates beginning August 12 in Hollywood and ending August 31 in Norfolk.
The tour will be making a stop in Grand Rapids at the Orbit Room on Wednesday, August 25.
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