Coheed and Cambria performed at the House of Blues in Chicago, Illinois on April 30th. The venue was in the main hall, a thousand seat venue with a Victorian look to it. The pit was located right in front of the stage, with an area in the back for people to stand who weren’t interested in being jostled and shoved around, with two balconies above, all of which were packed by Coheed fans
The tour is a celebration of the ten year anniversary of Coheed’s first album, Second Stage Turbine Blade, which is based on the science fiction saga by singer and guitarist Claudio Sanchez. The show began with an acoustic set by the band, beginning with Always and Never, and featured songs from all of their albums, one highlight being Here We Are Juggernaut, one of their heavier songs that you wouldn’t expect to be half as good as it was acoustic. Wake Up, a love song that singer Claudio Sanchez puts so much emotion into it seems like he is singing it to himself, also blew the crowd away. The acoustic set also featured a new song by the group, Cursed Iron Fist, and songs from both Claudio’s and guitarist Travis Stever’s side projects(Prize Fighter Inferno and Davenport Cabinet, respectively). After the acoustic set they played the entirety of Second Stage Turbine Blade from beginning to end, followed by several songs off of their other albums, including Welcome Home from Good Apollo Volume I and No World for Tomorrow, the title track of their fourth album, and the crowd was going wild the whole time, singing along and putting fists in the air in time with the music. They closed out the show with Elf Tower New Mexico, a B-side track from Second Stage that was never played live before this tour, due to the band not liking the feelings the song brings back. The band played nearly 2 hours of intense, ground shaking music which left fans both satisfied and eager for another show. (Show reviewed by Ross Bagby)
CityBeat spoke with guitarist, Travis Stever prior to their show at House of Blues in Chicago on April 30th. They discussed the evolution of the band and how the concept has reached the point it is at currently as well as other influences of the band.
CityBeat: You guys just had your tenth anniversary right?
Travis: Yes, ten years as a band.
CB: That’s a long time as a band. Can you tell me about any defining moments you have had along the way?
Travis: I think the moments that stick out the most would have to be shows, certain shows that we have played. I know one of the major moments is when we did Neverender. We are doing a kind of “evening with” kind of thing. We are doing an acoustic set then we play a full album then we close it with an encore. But when we did Neverender, we did four nights and all four albums we had at that point and that was huge because it was a lot to take on and I am just proud to be in a band that can do something like that. Before that, there were all these shows that stuck out. Throughout the years, we started out in basements playing to ten people then maybe twenty people, and then a hundred people would show up. Most of the time the thing that stuck out the most is that people are really starting to enjoy this. Eventually we had this cult following and just seeing it grow with every show that we did was incredible. I can remember we did a show in Central Park about three years ago, and it was sold out and my grandmother was there. It was moments like that that makes me go, “Wow, I can’t believe that we made it here” from the band that we were ten years ago where we were sleeping on amps in the van.
CB: You talk about your grandmother being there, I often ask people, when you are in a band, was your family supportive through the whole thing.
Travis: They have been. My father and mother were, well my father is still a musician, and my mother was a musician before she decided she didn’t like the entertainment world which is understandable. Music was the training in my upbringing. I was surrounded by a lot of really cool stuff. I like to think that is pretty much the reason why I chose to do this for a living. My step-brothers and my step-sister have great musical interests as well and I like to think I got some stuff out of that. It’s usually your surroundings when you are growing up, you kind of collect everything then become your own person with your own tastes. And everybody in this band has a wide variety of influences and tastes when it comes to music.
CB: What instrument did your Mom play or did she sing?
Travis: She was a singer. My father and mother actually met in an off-Broadway production of Jesus Christ Superstar that was touring and she was married at the time.
CB: Any regrets over the ten years.
Travis: Of course, there are lots of things I would have done very different. I was up very late last night. I shouldn’t have stayed up as late as I did. I feel like hell today. That’s a good example. But that’s small, that’s minute. Everybody has certain regrets, but I laugh through them and try to move on.
CB: You guys play at a variety of different venues, small and intimate places as you tour around and then you also play these huge festivals like the B.O.M.B. Festival coming up in Hartford. The festivals bring you, maybe, new fans but you have your die-hard fans in the smaller venues. So what do you prefer?
Travis: We have played some awkward festivals where it’s tough to get the crowd into it. I tend to actually like that, not more, it’s a separate entity. I like that because if you actually get the crowd into it and you feel like you have created a few more fans then it’s like an, not a relief, but an honor to be able to walk away and say, “I think some people who hadn’t heard of us were into it.”
CB: I read the story of how the band got started when your other band broke up but when did you guys realize you would be doing this concept band with the story behind the music? How did that all come about?
Travis: Fact is, we had a different name before as a band. We had a name that didn’t stick, the music we were creating, and we were looking for a name and went through several terrible names. And then someone had a side-project called Coheed and Cambria that had the concept and everything. For me personally, I was sold on it because we were making these t-shirts for this label that we were going to do for a friend of ours and we had all these bright ideas. But there was a t-shirt made for Coheed and Cambria and I remember seeing it on the t-shirt and I was like, “Wow, that looks awesome. That’s a great name.” That’s how I got sold and we all liked the name. So we adopted the name, so therefore we adopted the concept. Claudio was writing for us either way, but I think that he’s comfortable writing behind a concept so the lyrics are still real life experiences in what he is doing and it is more masked by a concept.
CB: Other bands are writing about the same thing, personal issues. But I think it’s definitely an interesting twist. I think it’s more thoughtful the way you guys are doing it to have to put it with a story. Right now, this set of shows that you are playing, they are acoustic right? You’re doing the first album acoustic or The Second Stage Turbine?
Travis: No, we are doing the first album electric the way it was released but we are opening acoustic. We do a 45 minute acoustic set.
CB: That’s still a large amount of acoustic for the rocking metal band. It’s going to be interesting and great experience for people to get to see this. Have you done that before on tour or is this the first time you have tried this.
Travis: No, we’ve done this before years ago. Throughout the years, we’ve played a lot of acoustic shows. This is the first time we’ve dedicated ourselves to doing it all the way through.
CB: You talked earlier about you guys all having different musical styles or things that you like. What are you listening to right now?
Travis: Last night, actually, our tour manager and friend Pete was showing me some of his new music for a band called Earthlings and he is also part of a band Strain and we were listening to some of that. I really love that. I bought a bunch of vinyl yesterday. I bought an old album by a band Wire called Pink Flag. I kind of go back to a bunch of classic albums. I got the album by Wire and I got Somewhere in Time by Iron Maiden on vinyl because they are classic albums and I really wanted to have them. When it comes to laying down and listening to music, I tend to just float all over the place. It’s hard for me. When it comes to new bands, I’m trying to think if there’s anybody. I really like Torch’s new album Songs for Lovers.
CB: So you guys are on this pretty long tour right now and have spent a lot of the last ten years on a bus or a van. What do you miss the most when you are out on the road?
Travis: I have a family at home I miss of course. I’m married, I have wife. I have a dog that I really miss a lot. I have a boxer. So I miss her constantly. It’s a usual thing when you are away a long time, you miss all those things.
CB: It’s amazing, I ask that question all the time and the dog always comes to the top of the list. They say that sometimes before the wife. So when you guys write, do you do it collectively or does one person take the lead and the rest add the music.
Travis: Often times, Claudio has the skeleton of the song. A bunch of times, also he and I will write a song off a rift I have or he has and we’ll organize it together. But a majority of the time, he’ll have a skeleton to the song and everybody writes their stuff to that. The song is already there basically, and it’s just us writing to it the parts and the arrangement thing too.
CB: Your last album came out last year right, The Year of the Black Rainbow?
Travis: Uh huh
CB: Do you guys have any new music that we can look forward to?
Travis: We are actually playing a new song right now while we are on this tour. We are playing a new song during the acoustic set.
CB: What’s it called?
Travis: It’s called “Iron Fist.” I am proud of it. It’s a song that we put together for the last tour. As a band we are playing it. It was just an acoustic song before but then Mike and Chris added their flavor to it and I am excited about it.
This article appears in May 11-17, 2011.