“Rock ‘n’ roll today is not the rock ‘n’ roll I wish it was.”
Although we’re not normally the types to open an interview by throwing someone’s words back in their face, with Coheed And Cambria mainman Claudio Sanchez, we’ll make an exception.
“I grew up on ‘70s rock but never really focused on the image of it – it was always just listening to tapes in the car,” he says. “There were no videos. During that period music really dictated the success of a band – now it’s more the look of the band and how it presents itself. I think that is, as they say over here, rubbish. Maybe I’m naive about that period, but that was how it seemed to me – that rock ‘n’ roll was about rebellion and doing something different.”
Doing something different is pretty much the Sanchez credo. His band, from New York State, are approaching the end of a five album concept piece, a complicated tale set in a future world whereby Coheed And Cambria (the characters) discover that their child is carrying a mutant virus that could wipe out mankind. The story dates back to the band’s previous incarnation as Shabütie.
“I had the story back in 1998, I was in Paris for a month with nothing to do so I bought a guitar,” reveals Sanchez. “I was such a fan of storytelling and science fiction, but I had been writing songs about myself so I thought why not try and combine the two? In 2000 we changed the band’s name to Coheed And Cambria and the albums started to tell the tale."
Despite the fantastic nature of the concept, Sanchez still regards it as a personal tale.
“It stems from my being a reclusive kind of individual and never wearing my heart on my sleeve. In order to really know where this guy’s coming from I had to decipher the codes.”
You mightn’t be surprised to learn that Coheed and Cambria are a metal band, and a complex one at that. This isn’t the kind of stuff that lends itself to three-chord punk rock, although the band had a successful slot on the Vans Warped Tour in the US.
“We’re still a rock ‘n’ roll band”, insists Claudio, “that’s what we do. The storytelling dimension is there for those people who want to take it a step further and see what it’s all about.”
Have there been points when he’s thought: what the hell have I got myself into with all this? Apparently not.
“Sometimes, when I’m writing the stories I get really excited. I’m doing the two things I really wanted to do – writing a fantasy story and be in a rock ‘n’ roll band. I never regret it.”
And when the story finishes, what becomes of the band then?
“I don’t know, we’ll see. We’re on record four. Then we do volume two of record four, then we go back and do the prequel and then we’re done. We all do different creative things outside of music, so maybe we’ll take a break. I don’t necessarily see it as the end of the band. I’ve toyed with the idea of moving it into a different kind of universe but we’ll have to see."