"I'm just trying to get the nerves out of my face," Claudio Sanchez admitted, holding his hands to his slightly stricken visage. During Coheed and Cambria's Q&A on Oct. 7, as part of the GRAMMY Museum's "A New York Evening With…" series, the act of public speaking got to their bandleader's head.
This was interesting, given what the band does on a regular basis: channeling their maximum-ambitious sci-fi mythology through hair-raising rock, in massive venues for thousands — like Forest Hills Stadium, which they rocked last July. But sitting onstage in a 160-cap room and simply talking was a whole other ballgame, with its own set of challenges.
What happened next was proof positive that some musicians communicate most clearly through exactly that — their music.
Because after Sanchez, guitarist Travis Stever, and bassist Zach Cooper strapped on their instruments — and drummer Josh Eppard took a seat on a cajon — they were on fire. The acoustics in the small theater were just about perfect, the band's playing was rock-solid, and bandleader Claudio Sanchez's singing was as dynamic and powerful as ever.
Whether Coheed were performing tunes from their new album, Vaxis — Act II: A Window of the Waking Mind, or post-Y2K favorites that put them on the map, like "A Favor House Atlantic" and "Welcome Home," the crowd at Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre at the Peter Norton Symphony Space sent otherworldly vocal counterpoint into the rafters.
Between songs, a woman inquired: "Feel better?" And it was clear from the aplomb that settled over Sanchez's face that he certainly did — what might be difficult to say, he can easily sing.
Read More: Coheed And Cambria Teased A Key Character In Their Last Album, Vaxis: Act I. But Who Is Vaxis, Really?
Such is the unique format of the GRAMMY Museum's "A New York Evening With…" series: It provides a new challenge for artists, offering an intimate view into their backgrounds and processes through Q&As and stripped-down performances in small rooms. Jon Batiste kicked off the series last June, at Lincoln Center's New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. An evening with Gavin DeGraw followed, at the Greene Space.
Unlike those showcases, this edition involved four guys on the mic — moderated by Jason Lipshutz, who works as the Executive Director, Music at Billboard. During the chat, the contrast between their larger-than-life fictional universe and presentation — and the realities of playing music on terra firma — were fully apparent.
*Coheed and Cambria with Jason Lipshutz. Photo courtesy of the Recording Academy™️/photo by Rob Kim, Getty Images© 2022.*
The fans may have been immersed in the celestial drama of The Amory Wars, which plays out "amidst a star-spanning collection of 78 planets known as Heaven's Fence" and is episodically threaded through their studio albums. In short, they're into this band for magic — the specific type that Coheed and Cambria can imbue their lives with.
Nick Cucci, the Executive Director of the Recording Academy's New York Chapter, touched on this in his introduction to the show, calling Coheed and Cambria "truly the greatest band on the planet." (Cucci got involved with the band during their earliest days, falling in love with "Blood Red Summer" and working behind the scenes on the album it appeared on, 2003's In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3.)
"They're incredibly creative musicians; they've created stories and characters that are synonymous with the band — that we bring with us," Cucci continued. "Whether it's Ambellina, or the Writing Writer, or Sister Spider, or you-name-it — they're with us."
But Lipshutz's line of questioning almost entirely eschewed this matrix of characters and lands, drilling down into the things many musicians deal with — recording during a pandemic, the ups and downs of a 20-year career, balancing your musical works with supplemental media.
While this may not have produced many — or any — easter eggs for fans regarding their multimedia fantasia, it bridged a gap between Coheed's larger-than-life creations and their realities on the ground.
"Creating The Amory Wars was just a way to hide what my real story was," Sanchez explained. "They come from a very personal place where the comic allows me to be honest in the songs, if that makes any sense."
*Coheed and Cambria. Photo courtesy of the Recording Academy™️/photo by Rob Kim, Getty Images© 2022.*
Speaking to GRAMMY.com in 2021, Sanchez detailed how the themes of The Amory Wars aren't so far-out after all — and that's partly what draws new waves of fans year after year.
"Family is one of the recurring themes," he said, pointing to their band name — which enshrines the protagonists at the heart of the story. "I understand this plays out in this world that needs to be described to the listener, but I also don't want to overburden them. I want people to listen to the words and find something they relate to."
Drummer Josh Eppard and guitarist Travis Stever mostly carried the Q&A, where they shared memories of the band — including recording The Second Stage Turbine Blade, which turned 20 this year — as well as recording tidbits from Vaxis — Act II: A Window of the Waking Mind.
According to Sanchez, Vaxis II's intrepid leaps into unexpected styles — strains of R&B and synth-pop and dance — had to do with the global event that affected all of us in 2020.
"I think it was that idea of, 'Will we even have a future?'" Sanchez said. "I started to see the limitations I posed for myself, that were just sort of accidental with time. You sort of take the easy road, or the common road, because that's just what you're comfortable with. But I started to realize, 'Maybe tomorrow isn't going to happen.'"
To Eppard, Vaxis II's "Disappearing Act" was Exhibit A regarding this ranginess — "the nucleus of my feeling that this would be a divisive Coheed record." But during their last run of shows, those anxieties were assuaged: "It was so visible — visually obvious — that it had struck a chord with the audience."
Again: sometimes, music is better than words: when Coheed and Cambria performed "Disappearing Act," you could feel that energy rippling through a cross-section of their most devoted followers.
Read More: Coheed And Cambria's Claudio Sanchez On The Reaction To Vaxis: Act II — A Window of the Waking Mind & The Future Of The Band
They began their short set with "A Favor House Atlantic," then treated the audience to a few key Vaxis II tracks: "Liar's Club," "Shoulders" and "Our Love." In an indirect nod to Brett Morgen doc of the same name currently in the ether, the penultimate selection was a rendition of David Bowie's "Moonage Daydream."
What spurred that cover? Speaking to RecordingAcademy.com backstage, Sanchez expressed that "Moonage Daydream" has increasingly resonated with him, looking back on 20 years leading a rock band. He cited its opening lines: "I'm an alligator/ I'm a mama-papa coming for you/ I'm a space invader/ I'll be a rock 'n' rollin' b— for you."
"It felt very real again… It was more of a connection," Sanchez said. "I thought, 'You know what? This is appropriate for this event.'"
*Claudio Sanchez of Coheed and Cambria. Photo courtesy of the Recording Academy™️/photo by Rob Kim, Getty Images© 2022.*
"Moonage Daydream" isn't just in Coheed and Cambria's wheelhouse because it's right in Sanchez's register; it comports with their mission as a band. Bowie was — and remains — something of a pied piper for oddballs and outcasts; Coheed also communicates that it's OK to have your head in the clouds, to dream of something grander than one's day-to-day.
"Are you in/ Or are you out?" Sanchez sang during "A Favor House Atlantic" — almost drowned out by those who have lived with, and experienced pain to, and felt jubilation and release because of this very special rock band.
The tangled web that Coheed and Cambria weave may seem intimidating, but as people, they're as far as can be from cagey or condescending. Rather, they're bracingly normal — as this GRAMMY Museum-helmed appearance made abundantly clear.
After performing these songs steeped in cosmic, fantastical scenarios, Eppard sat perched backstage, white-knuckling it through the Mets game. There's nothing keeping you out. You can be in.
