Coheed and Cambria

Undoubtedly, most of you will be familiar with the prog/emo rock style of Coheed and Cambria. The New York quartet’s popularity has continued to rise with each concept release, the latest being 2007′s No World For Tomorrow, the latest entry in vocalist Claudio Sanchez’s story entitled The Amory Wars. Currently, the band is in the midst of touring the world in 2008, rocking across the U.S. with Linkin Park and continuing to build an already rabid fan base.

But what you might not know about is that the battles being sung about in Sanchez’s fictional world closely resemble the turmoil the band has been through recently. After losing two band members, only to have one rejoin, the line-up was shuffled to make due for touring reasons. Bassist Michael Todd rejoined when the band prepped to enter the studio and drummer Chris Pennie also joined full-time, only to have his own issues with Dillinger Escape Plan mess with the recording process.

Amidst the drama, Coheed and Cambria still move on, fighting wars both real and fictional. We recently caught Chris Pennie on the tour bus headed to Baltimore, a bit tired from the band’s recent world tour. After some small talk, we had the chance to discuss the troubles in both bands, working with Foo Fighters’ Taylor Hawkins and finding peace with some new friends.

SSv: So how was Europe for you guys?

Chris Pennie: The shows were pretty out of hand. Every night was sold out.

SSv: What kind of crowds are you talking?

Pennie: From 3,000 to 4,500. It was pretty amazing. Definitely amazing. The funny thing about going over there is that usually you want to go over and experience the culture, see everything. But honestly I had no interest. I was so jet lagged the first week. I was so screwed up, only getting an hour of sleep per night. I was tossing. I was enjoying the shows and enjoying playing but other than that I was just looking forward to getting back home. I didn’t have to adjust the schedule when I got home, because I was still on American time. It was weird.

SSv: That has to affect the energy of the performance, does it not?

Pennie: No, actually it doesn’t. It doesn’t matter how much sleep I get. When it’s time to play, it’s time to play. For me at this point, and I think for everybody else, it’s one of those things where we’ve been doing it so long that you know what you have to do. The rise and adrenaline rush I get from playing… it’s what I live to do, pretty much. So it doesn’t matter what’s happened throughout the trip or the course of the day or how much sleep. It doesn’t matter.

SSv: What’s the difference between the European crowd and the American crowd?

Pennie: It’s hard to say. There seems to be more participation in the form of clapping as a whole – a European crowd will definitely do that. Whereas kids over here in the U.S. are just enthusiastic and they wanna yell and scream and run around. Kids over there are more stationary. I don’t know. People have different ways of outputting energy. [Laughs]

SSv: You guys came right back into a U.S. tour…

Pennie: Yeah we started in Omaha. We flew out for a pre-production day and this tour started right after that. We’re headed to Baltimore tonight, so it’s pretty non-stop.

SSv: What’s the tension of thriving on the road and yet it becoming too much? Or is there one?

Pennie: I don’t think so. At this point a couple of the guys are in some serious relationships and they are definitely down with needing to be with wives and girlfriends. For me personally, I’m enjoying it. I’m enjoying being out and getting to do what I love doing. So that’s definitely important. Now it’s cool because it’s only the third tour into the record cycle as well, so we’ll see how it shapes up by the fifth or sixth.

SSv: I’d love to talk about your personal transition from Dillinger Escape Plan into Coheed. Can you talk about that?

Pennie: Yes, I can. For me personally, it’s been nothing but the best. For me it’s been something that with Dillinger, I love the music. I love playing that style of music. And Coheed is something totally different for me. When you’re first coming into it, on just a musical level, you have to learn to use a bit more space. It’s not so jam packed full of notes. Obviously the tempos and dynamics are a whole other world, which is great. It’s really opened up my playing as far as learning how to use that space and working around somebody like Claudio. The melodies are carrying the tune, instead of being so rhythm-driven all the time.

But the main reason, and one of the most important reasons, for me personally was the family vibe and touring with people that you really want to be with. You want to be around healthy people. There were a lot of tensions that ran through Dillinger. It just became unhealthy over the years and I stress the word ‘years’ because it was a lot of weird stuff happening…

SSv: For example?

Pennie: Certain people just quitting the band for reasons that had nothing to do with music and putting people out on a limb and not touring. Dillinger is a touring band. They don’t make money on record sales. Nobody really makes money on record sales. I’m not saying that money is a driving factor, but as for your livelihood of wanting to be a musician and playing and enjoying being out on the road, one of the guys was seeking … he wasn’t even doing things in a legal way. It was disgusting to me. This dude got into a car accident and then filed an illegal lawsuit against the company and because his lawyers were telling him not to go out on tour, he puts the whole band on hold for a year and a half. That’s pretty much the fact of the matter.

So while that’s going on, Claudio and [guitarist] Travis [Stever] were going through their trials and tribulations with the rhythm section. Then Mike came back but Josh [Eppard] did not. When I stepped into that situation, that’s something I immediately found to be something I was missing. It was people who were enthused. I’m not saying that everybody in Dillinger were bad people at all. Just saying that there were differences and things that I didn’t agree with. That’s huge. That’s pretty indisputable. So here I am now a year later from all that and I’m really glad I made the change. It’s definitely for the better.

SSv: How did the opening in Coheed become available to you?

Pennie: Amidst all the turmoil with one of the guys telling everyone he was doing this stuff, he had an episode on tour. He quit. He flat out just left. Dillinger was opening up for Coheed. We did five days with them as part of a tour that was to end the summer of 2006. Then that happened and pretty much after that tour, Dillinger finished out that part of the tour and then a couple weeks later, I got an email. I ended up talking to Claudio and he asked if I’d be interested in coming up and maybe trying out playing some tunes. It just progressed from there. We had a couple road bumps, but all that aside, that’s how it happened.

SSv: How was it coming in chemistry-wise? Were you nervous?

Pennie: Well, think of how I was coming into it. I wasn’t really nervous. Everything around me had been really weird in the Dillinger camp for a while and I thought it was time to take that chance and see what happens. That was one thing that became apparent. One thing that happened before then was I did some of the drum tracks for a guy Ross Robinson who was working with a band called Idiot Pilot. That was the same thing – two kids who were just super-enthusiastic about making music. And that was eye-opening. It wasn’t nervewracking at all. It was just thinking that these were awesome opportunities.

SSv: So now that it’s been awhile, has it been what you thought it would be?

Pennie: Yeah and more, too. When I was going through everything and obviously maintaining contact with Dillinger – I was even doing both bands at the same time – and wasn’t sure completely where things were headed. That was the fall of 2006. But one of the guys from Dillinger says, ‘If you go and leave our band, you’re still gonna have the same problems in that band.’ And I remember thinking, ‘No I’m not, because there’s not that tension. We didn’t come from starting the band when we were kids and carrying that same tension all the way up.’

I just thought it was unprofessional and I knew that not to be the case. And it’s obvious. This has been everything and more. I’m hanging on the bus and it’s just a chill environment. It’s always chill – no drama or anything. It’s just play music, hang out, do your thing and it’s one tight-knit family. We watch movies together, get food together and it’s awesome. It’s everything you can really ask for.

SSv: You weren’t able to play on No World for Tomorrow contractually?

Pennie: [Laughs] That’s exactly right. Basically I was still under contract with Relapse through Dillinger. That was a contract I had signed when I was 18. I didn’t know any better. I was a little kid. A label comes along and says, ‘I want to sign you to a record deal.’ And you just say, ‘Wow, this is awesome. This is cool.’ Next thing you know, you turn around and don’t expect things to follow this path. Dillinger was becoming a bigger band, but we still had the same crappy contract. We tried to renegotiate and it wasn’t happening.

So to cut to the chase, I tried to get permission to record on the Coheed record, but because of all the problems in the Dillinger camp and you make these problems aware to someone at the label, he said he can’t let me do it. It would directly interfere with the Dillinger record. I told him he wasn’t aware of what was going on and he wasn’t aware of the situation. I told him my plan is to go on Warped Tour and then make this record with Coheed. And so he said, ‘Well, you’re not doing it.’ He was getting pressure from the other side of the band and so forth. So I was prevented from doing it.

SSv: Was it hard to watch from the outside?

Pennie: No because at the end of the day, it’s a band effort. It sucks that everything had to go down that way. It got ugly and that’s quite unfortunate. But at the end of the day, the record came out and they got Taylor Hawkins to play on it, which Taylor’s a phenomenal drummer. So it all worked out and I’m free and clear of that contract. I’m out of an unhealthy situation and now I’m in something that’s awesome. I’m glad I’m sitting here on the tour bus able to have my artistic freedom back and able to express that with you guys.

SSv: There’s a full tour slate through April, but what begins to happen after that?

Pennie: I don’t exactly know what the definite schedule is yet. There are things here and there popping up like festivals, but I don’t know the extent of it yet. But I’m sure there will be some breaks and then hit some more areas we haven’t hit yet.

SSv: No plans then to begin to write or take a break…

Pennie: We’ve been tossing around ideas already. We’ve been in these dressing rooms and they’re massive. They’re in arenas that we’re playing. So everybody has a practice amp and I ended up buying one of those electronic drum kits, so we’re able to jam and flesh out ideas backstage. We’re able to get them down, so I think that’s getting some basic stuff down. Then after all this, we can really start fleshing these ideas out. Right now, it’s just compiling things here and there when you get to it.

SSv: How do you stay fresh on the road?

Pennie: If you want to stay fresh, you will find ways to do it. Like I said, the dressing rooms are huge, so I bring in that kit. The other day I had the day off in the hotel and I brought the kit in. It was hilarious because I walked through the lobby with it and some dude is like, ‘Hey man, is that Rock Band?’ But I like bringing out books and there’s plenty on the Internet to watch and work on. There’s always something if you want to do it bad enough, you’ll find a way to do it.

SSv: Being with Linkin Park, do you have a favorite moment of being with those guys?

Pennie: You know, it’s pretty crazy because we’ve had our run of the place. They don’t really come in until later. They fly every two shows, I think, so we haven’t really had the chance to really hang out that much. Not yet at least. Everybody is kinda settling in now. But as far as that goes, I enjoy watching their stuff. They play a different set every night. They mix and match and that’s pretty crazy. Not too many bands do that nowadays. For me, I think the favorite tour moment is really just getting in the rooms and playing. There’s been nothing too wild and it’s all calm and drama free. And really that’s perfect.