Comic Books, Beers and Banjos: A Night Out With Coheed and Cambria

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away… well, not such a long time ago actually, in Brixton. But, somewhere in the bowels of the Carling Academy, Gigwise met up with Travis Stever, guitarist with science fiction prog. rock heroes Coheed and Cambria, to talk geeks, comics, folk music and Stella. The band’s latest album, ‘Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV’ is the third in a series of ambitious concept albums based around the futuristic graphic novels scripted by lead singer Claudio Sanchez. The story follows the plight of the bands namesakes, Coheed and Cambria, doomed lovers living in a troubled corner of the galaxy, The Fence, inhabited by robots and the likes. As if this isn’t enough, the protagonists of this story become infected with a strain of dodgy DNA, which causes all manner of problems. Following this so far? Not to worry, luckily Claudio’s complex masterplan becomes a lot easier to digest on listening to the CD, and reading the brand new comic books designed to accompany the albums. But hang on, comic books, robots, galaxies? Isn’t this all a little bit … brace yourself … geeky?

"No dude, that’s the common misconception", Travis protests jovially, "We aren’t a bunch of Dungeons and Dragons geeks playing fucking character games on the tour bus!" In fact, the New York prog metaller is quick to defend his band-mates’ integrity and unconventional muse - "We aren’t all Sci Fi junkies, I’ve never read a Sci Fi book in my life. I used to think graphic novels were for kids, but Claudio showed me that they could be really serious, and really cool."

As we stare out of the filthy dressing room window, it becomes apparent that it’s not just his band mates that Claudio has managed to win us over with his one man crusade to change the image of Science Fiction. It’s not even 5pm, and the queue for tonight’s gig is already stretching around the block. "(Coheed’s popularity) is growing man" Travis beams, "here in London it’s culturally a lot more like New York, but even in the rest of Europe, we are selling out shows, and it’s growing! I love playing Europe … most of the time when we come to Europe I become a complete alcoholic", chuckles the bearded rocker, "I don’t know how else to pass the time". The conversation around the table turns to a shared love of European beers, Stella Artois and its notorious effects, a hatred of shit American lagers etc. etc. … underneath that conceptual/experimental/ingenious musical exterior, there is a real rock star lurking!

As well as the aforementioned story and lyrics, many of Coheed’s tunes are initially penned by Sanchez – in fact, the frontman had already recorded many of the tracks from ‘Good Apollo …’ acoustically before going into New York’s Woodstock studios with the rest of the band. But far from causing ‘creative tensions’ throughout the group, Travis explains that Sanchez’s workaholic tendencies have given him the opportunity to work on his guitar technique, a skill that has earned Stever a reputation as a veritable six string hero. "I’ve been playing the guitar since I was 11 or 12, but Claudio and I have both really improved. Sometimes people will ask me, 'don’t you feel like you are in the shadow?', but I really don’t. I just appreciate the chance to get up there and play, and if people like it, that’s a huge compliment to me".

Travis is quick to add, "I feel that I have so much more to give", and if the vast amount of side projects undertaken by Coheed and Cambria is anything to go by, so do the rest of the group. "Josh has his Hip Hop project Weird Science, Claudio has his acoustic project Prize Fighter Inferno, and I have been working on a hairmetal group, The Firedudes. That started as just fun, you know, getting drunk and recording, but we had an EP out and people seem to like it."