Relentless touring and word of mouth can do wonders for aband.
Take Coheed and Cambria. Hailing from upstate New York, the ladsare only in their mid-twenties but have released two well receivedalbums and have grown a rabid fan base across the United States.The band has been compared to the likes of 70's progressive rockmasters Rush and the metal gods Iron Maiden. Their latest release,"In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3," came out in October of2003 and recently debuted on the Billboard Top Albums chart. It hasbeen called everything from "the year's most fearless album" to"arena emo." Whether it fits your taste or not is to be decided.This album is different.
Coheed and Cambria will be playing a sold out show with thegroup AFI and with the group Thursday at the New Daisy tonight at 7p.m.
I conducted a phone interview with Coheed and Cambria drummerJosh Eppard as they were on their way to play a show at the Houseof Blues in Las Vegas. Here's what he had to say.
DH: How is the tour going with AFI and Thursday?
Josh: Actually it's just starting. Tonight we'reheadlining a show in Las Vegas at the House of Blues, then we joinup with AFI and Thursday. I'm really looking forward to touringwith Thursday; they're really good friends of ours. I'm alsolooking forward to playing with AFI because they're really niceguys. At least that's what everyone says about them.
DH: Let's talk about the new album. To put it bluntly,it's been received quite well, commercially and by critics. Are yousurprised by it's success?
Josh: I guess I'm pretty excited. I didn't even think ourfirst album was going to do as well as it did, so that was veryexciting.
DH: How would you describe the new album?
Josh: It was very representative of where we were as aband. It speaks to us musically. I know this sounds corny, but thealbum is very "us." It makes sense to the band.
DH: How did the writing process of the album go? Do youguys follow a particular format when writing songs?
Josh: Not particularly. Someone comes up with something.Claudio usually comes in with something and from there it comestogether as a song.
DH: What are the band's plans after this tour?
Josh: After this tour we're headlining a tour on the eastcoast. Then hopefully we'll take a break for a minute man. It's allup in the air. There's talk about going to Japan, but hopefullywe'll get a break. I imagine we'll be pretty tired.
