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COHEED AND CAMBRIA

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COHEED AND CAMBRIA   

The eclectic rockers release the second half of an ambitious set  

Claudio Sanchez is chilling in the Florida sunshine. The frontman for progressive rock band Coheed and Cambria is decompressing after spending the last two years writing and recording the group’s epic double-volume albums The Afterman: Ascension (October 2012) and the sequel released four months later, The Afterman: Descension. Like the band’s previous projects, Afterman is a conceptual record—but loosely so. “I wanted to write a record that didn’t really have walls or boundaries,” says Sanchez. “I wrote the songs about what I was experiencing in the two years it took to make those records. I wanted a record inspired by the time I was having.”

And what a time it has been. The Puerto Rican musician with the leonine mane of hair has helmed Coheed and Cambria over the course of five earlier albums, dating back to 2002. As with those records, Sanchez began the writing process for The Afterman: Descension by gathering his tools. “I always have some sort of device to record on,” he says. “Usually it’s a laptop. I’ll start with instrumentation. I create a melody against it, and that will form the words—and from there I’ll find what that song is about. Once that skeleton is complete, I’ll show it to the band, and they’ll arrange the sections around it.”

The lineup that fleshed out the songs on Descension included newcomer bassist Zach Cooper, along with Sanchez and guitarist Travis Stever. The album also features the return of original drummer Josh Eppard, as well as producers Michael Birnbaum and Chris Bittner, who had worked on the group’s first four albums. “There’s a comfort zone there,” admits Sanchez, who liked the fact that their studio was near his home. “I wanted to be able to go back home and work on stuff.”

With Sanchez, there are always irons in the fire. He’s been creating comic books and graphic novels since 2000, and he co-wrote the 2010 novel Year of the Black Rainbow with Peter David. Entourage producer

Mark Wahlberg is developing Sanchez’s comic book series The Amory Wars into a full-length live-action film. On top of that, Sanchez just launched his own label—Everything Evil Records—making the twin Afterman albums his first releases. “It felt really good, but it was a lot of work,” he sighs. “It was a real sense of accomplishment. We went for the vibe and what felt right. It’s honest, and all those little mistakes and happy accidents are there. I think the album totally captured everything I wanted it to.”

–Steve Rosen


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