Coheed and Cambria, The Unheavenly Creatures Interview

Coheed and Cambria are a hard-working band. No one could look at their touring schedule and disagree.

The band kicks off the Canadian leg of the tour on September 12th in their first return to The Great White North in eight years. Supporting Coheed and Cambria in Canada are Whitby natives, Protest the Hero, and relative newcomers out of Oshawa, and one of our favourites, Crown Lands.

With their brand new album coming very soon (release date October 5th), Canada will be getting the full new music treatment. Fans have been waiting for new music since the release of The Color Before The Sun, and when it became clear that we were getting another installment of The Amory Wars story, they were ecstatic. There have been three singles released from The Unheavenly Creatures, and fans are itching for more.

Back in July, I had the pleasure of chatting with Travis Stever, lead guitarist for Coheed and Cambria. Travis let it spill, that when they hit Canada, they'll be bringing out the new material.

When talking to Travis, he spoke about how things are different now that there are families in the mix. Claudio is travelling with his family, and Travis does his best to get home to his wife and kids as often as touring allows. Another big difference is that they're more comfortable in their art and that's a good thing. They're still hungry, and that comes out on the new record. Touring is still exciting for them. This time around, they took a lot of time away, so the hunger is there. The new album is a mixed batch of all the different genres that they've dipped their toes in. It's a record that they're proud of.

When we asked about the writing and recording process, we found out that it was a self-produced record. They started with two songs Unheavenly Creatures and Toys. They took the songs into Applehead Recording in Woodstock and worked with engineer Chris Bittner. They sent the two songs into the label and got the ok to move forward with the self-produced project. The guys took five or six weeks and finished the record. The band was able to really focus on getting things to work perfectly.

A lot of attention was paid to making sure that things worked with the conceptualization of the record. Everyone made sure that everything worked towards that end. Everyone was hands-on, and it was a real team effort.

Travis said, " The Unheavenly Creatures is the first part of a five-part series and a story unto itself. It connects to The Amory Wars story, but I can't divulge how right now."

At this point in the interview, it seemed safer to move away from the discussions that related to things Travis couldn't tell us. I asked about pre-show rituals, and Travis shared that he paces before a show. Claudio does vocal warm-ups. Josh has a beer and warms up on his drum pads, and Zach does the pacing thing too. There are more nerves than in the past because things are new. Things were different in their younger days, they're not doing a bunch of shots before the show. It's just not like that anymore. There's no band prayer or a band "ready, break". But they gather at the side of the stage, and give each other a pound and say let's do this, have a good show. However, once they're up on stage, the magic happens.

When I asked if there were any dream venues left on their list, Travis talked a bit about hometown stuff. He mentioned that they'd been able to play MSG (Madison Square Garden) with other bands, but that as New Yorkers, of course, they'd love to play MSG as headliners. He then went on to say that there were many stops on this tour that are massive for them to play. PNC in New Jersey was one of the first big concerts that Travis went to. He saw Blind Melon, Soundgarden, Neil Young and Booker T and the M.G.s. He shared that he'd gone to that show with his stepbrother who's since passed away. That spot holds a lot of history and importance. There are other venues, but it's not really the way they look at it.

Moving to my next question I wondered about the supporting bands, not just for Canada but overall. Travis said that everyone has to be familiar with the acts and everyone has to agree. Management makes suggestions, but there has to be a fit.

Stevers said, "These bands definitely fit and you know it's always great when it's a band that's interested in doing it and they have such a great fan base where we're playing. Protest the Hero has such a great following in Canada and we enjoy what they do, so double plus awesome. You help each other. We're all fans of what each other do, and we're helping each other bring the people out."

I asked Travis if who he's been listening to and he admitted that he's in a phase where he's been so busy working on their own stuff that he's not been giving a lot of time to new music. But after a few minutes, he did say that he'd been listening to Sebadoh, which is Lou Barlow of Dinosaur Jr.'s side project. He also mentioned that he'd heard High on Fire has a new album coming out that he's looking forward to. They released the single Electric Messiah on August 6th, and if you're a metal fan, you should check it out.

With that being our last question we said our goodbyes. The tour hits Toronto on September 20th, and we can hardly wait. You can see all of the Canadian dates below.

Coheed and Cambria The Unheavenly Creatures Official Videos

Coheed and Cambria Coheed Unheavenly Tour
w/ Protest The Hero, Crown Lands Dates

Tuesday, September 11 and Wednesday, September 12
The Commodore Ballroom
Vancouver

Friday, September 14
Shaw Conference Centre
Edmonton

Saturday, September 15
MacEwan Hall
Calgary

Sunday, September 16
Coors Event Centre
Saskatoon

Tuesday, September 18
Burton Cummings Theatre
Winnipeg

Thursday, September 20
REBEL
Toronto

Friday, September 21
Olympia de Montréal
Montreal

Saturday, September 22
Impérial Bell
Quebec City