Coheed And Cambria Interview
Interview with Mic Todd of Coheed And Cambria
Words by Jemy DeShank / Photo’s by Davey Wilson
Right smack in the middle of their European tour for their latest album The Year Of The Black Rainbow we managed to track down Mic Todd of Coheed And Cambria. For 15 minutes we talked about the importance of interactive music games like Rock band, the future beyond the concept of Coheed And Cambria and Mariachi gun slingers amongst other things.
The Year Of The Black Rainbow has got to be one of your more simplistic album titles to date, can you explain why the band steered away from a long title for this release?
I think because the record is a little simpler and it’s just a piece of imagery that Claudio latched onto.
So do you feel that the instrumentation is a little simpler than previous releases?
I think it’s more in sync, there are definitely some parts that are more complicated but I think the parts that are more complicated serve the song in a more intelligent way. I think we have all grown as writers and I think overall that this album is more accessible than some of our other work.
All your albums have a sort of cinematographic feel to but this latest release seems to really excel in that field.
Absolutely, all of our stuff has that imager that Claudio injects with his lyrics. I think that in a way it kind of means that we are getting better at what we do.
How do you feel that The Year Of The Black Rainbow has done in comparison to your other works?
You never know how an album is going to be received and this one more so than any of the other, I felt straight off the bat it’s been received more. It’s like a seamless transition joining the other material and in a live show there hasn’t been a lull during a new song, everything seems to flow into each other. The fans as well as a lot of the media have accepted and liked it. I couldn’t ask for a better response.
It must be a really despondent moment if your new song gets a lulled reaction from a crowd.
Yeah and that has happened and that is way we normally ease a couple of songs in first but this one we really came out swinging and on our tour in the states there were people singing along to every word.
You have done some really special shows in the past on UK soil, what do you have planned for us this time around?
I think were definitely here to put on a rock show, there is some imagery and production but it’s pretty minimal for us. We are doing a lot of festivals on this run too but for these UK shows in particular we are trying to really jam pack as many songs as possible in to the time we are aloud. We are going to play a long set by today’s standard and by our contemporaries standard. So really we are trying to give people a little bit off of every album and represent ourselves the best that we can. Were pretty well in practice right now so I’m feeling really strongly about the live show. We just want people to walk away satisfied that they got a good show.
The band featured recently in the Rock Band game, do you as musicians see it as a compliment to your musicianship?
Absolutely, especially when our first tune came out on Rock Band because it was actually one of our more mellower songs technicality wise, they used Welcome Home and it was one of the higher level songs. I think that it was awesome and I think that it’s a whole new platform that needs to be embraced by the music industry. It’s like an interactive music and a lot of bands are jumping on the band wagon I guess and releasing games just specific to their music, like Greenday and Metallica. I think it’s awesome and I think it’s going to be a new widely utilised medium. The fact that the company that does Rock Band does such a fantastic job with the transcription, it’s really to the t and precise. We have a new song coming out this summer and it’s a really technical drum song and I have seen some video clips of people playing it and it’s flattering being represented in that way. It shows people a little bit more than what the radio or MTV or a music video and it gives them a deeper insight into the music and that is exciting as a musician. As a band that takes pride in our technicality it is really exciting.
I agree, these games are giving everyday people a real taste of what the songs are and shows that even a simple sounding song is a lot more detailed and intricate than what they sound.
Right, for non musicians it’s super accurate and the picking and timing is crucial and it’s the perfect way to put it through.
How hard is it to shape your music together as a band with Claudio handling the lyrical theme and vocal melodies, does it make it difficult for yourself when writing the music aspect of an album?
Not really, the music and the songs definitely come before the story and not the other way around so when we sit down and write we write as a rock band and the concept and the tricky lyrics don’t come till later. We have been playing together for song long that we are really comfortable writing together and making use of the technicalities and the certain hooks and melodies that we incorporate into the themes of the music but really the songs write themselves. I am so comfortable with these guys.
What in do you feel you bring to the table that not many other bassists could do?
With the risk of sounding cocky I think for a contemporary rock bands I don’t really see a lot of musical bass players out there. I see a lot of root notes and eighth notes and I try and put a little soul to it. I have the capabilities to overplay and I try to not do that as much as possible on the record. There’s a time and place for showboating, we do it live sometimes and it’s a little self indulgent, but really a lot of fans have commented that they look at the instrument differently. Maybe it’s because I grew up on a diet of a lot of old jazz and folk stuff and that’s what I love and that is where I’m coming from. With a lot of rock bands there is not a lot going on in the rhythm section and we are an exception to that.
You do some back up vocals, how hard is it to be back up on occasions to such a powerful singer like Claudio?
I don’t do as much as some of the other guys but we all do it, it definitely is extremely hard for me especially, Travis sings really well with Claudio. Claudio is just out of my comfort range. I can hold key and when I right songs with this other girl that I write with it’s totally different but Claudio is just really difficult to sing with for me. He is absurdly talented and he has such a range and complexion and the camber his voice requires a certain pitch correctness and I’m just not that confident to get behind him on a lot of material. Travis and our touring keyboardist are phenomenal singers and they take on a lot more of that work. They definitely have their work cut out for them.
The theme story behind the Coheed And Cambria characters is pretty much covered now, what is going to happen on the next album?
We are definitely going to stick together we just haven’t really discussed where we are going to go. We are kind of hoping that the path will illuminate itself to us when we get there. For now we are just focused on touring this record, we are going to continue making records for sure. Whether we adopt a new concept or tell a parallel concept or make a record with no concept at all is still undecided. Claudio created a whole universe with this concept so I guess there is a lot to play with.
Would you agree that the Coheed concept has a sort of Star Wars feel to it.
Sure, I can see that.
With that in mind, if you could choose your own concept what type of movie or style of movies would you want your concept fantasy band to take shape to.
I think the El Mariachi trilogy, it would have large Mariachi themes but it would have that gunslinger tone.
