Coheed and Cambria's Claudio Sanchez Talks Emotional Songwriting Process for The Afterman
Frontman Claudio Sanchez has grown as a songwriter since Coheed and Cambriareleased their first album in 2002, The Second Stage Turbine Blade. The singer says that he feels the band’s new double album, The Afterman, is a great example of how his songwriting process has evolved.
“Amory Wars, the original Coheed saga…that’s like me playing with my action figures,” the singer tells ABC News Radio. “That’s me trying to do something like a Star Wars if you will. But Afterman to me feels certainly more mature in terms of my writing where the emotions are really more the forefront of the story as opposed to the sci-fi epicness.”
Sanchez adds that one of highlights of making The Afterman was connecting with the band’s new bassist, Zach Cooper. Cooper replaced former bassist Michael Todd, who left the band last year shortly after his July 10 arrest in Attleboro, MA. Todd was charged with armed robbery for confronting a pharmacist with a bomb threat in order to acquire a quantity of the drug Oxycontin.
“I think [working with Cooper] was like the biggest treat because for the last couple of records I felt like there might have been a void,” Sanchez reveals. “Though those records are very much a statement to the band and how we’ve endured all the adversity…I just felt complete with this new team.”
The second installment of Coheed's double album, The Afterman: Descension, will be released on February 5. You’ll get your first chance to hear the new songs performed live when the band kicks off the next leg of their North American tour. That outing begins on February 4 at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. Visit CoheedAndCambria.com to view the full itinerary.
The Black Keys Looking Forward to First New Year’s Eve Concert in Vegas
After receiving five Grammy nominations, The Black Keys will be performing a New Year’s Eve concert in Las Vegas next Monday night. The show at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino will be the duo's first New Year's Eve in Sin City.
Speaking about the upcoming show, vocalist/guitarist Dan Auerbach told LasVegasWeekly.com that after performing live as a duo early in their career, he and his partner, drummer Patrick Carney, love having additional musicians on stage.
"It used to be we’d record our songs, and when we went to play them live we’d have to completely deconstruct them to make it work as a two-piece," he says. "But now, we bring on a couple of extra musicians, and we can play the songs really close to how we record them, which is fun for us."
The Blacks Keys' Grammy nominations include a nod for Album of the Year, for El Camino,and one for Record of the Year, for "Lonely Boy." Auerbach is also up for Producer of the Year. He appreciates the recognition, but says it’s not the only way to measure their success.
“A Grammy is really nice, but having lots of fans is really nice, too.” He adds," I think just getting a record out is a success on its own. I remember when we got our first record, how excited we were to just hold it in our hand. That was success.”
Pearl Jam Celebrates Christmas “In the Moonlight”
As a special Christmas gift, Pearl Jam presented members of their Ten Club fan club with the release of two live songs: “In the Moonlight” featuring Queens of the Stone Age’sJosh Homme, and “All Night” featuring Joseph Arthur, Liam Finn, and Glen Hansard.
According to ConsequenceofSound.net, both tunes were recorded in 2011 at the Pearl Jam 20 Music Festival in East Troy, WI. As previously reported, the group plans to begin writing and recording new music in March 2013 for the follow-up to their 2009 Backspacer CD.
Lars Ulrich Says Doing "Crazy" Things Is Key to Metallica’s Longevity
Metallica is now recording a new CD tentatively scheduled to be released in 2014, and drummer Lars Ulrich says the band does “crazy” things in order to maintain longevity and avoid boredom.
Ulrich told the U.K.'s Metal Hammer, “That’s why we do crazy s**t like Some Kind Of Monster and the 3D movies. We throw ourselves these challenges. It’s to make sure that boredom never sets in.”
The drummer adds that keeping things mentally fresh helps keep the band going after 31 years, but sometimes he does worry about the physical nature of being in a band like Metallica.
"We will always have the strength to do it mentally, so I’m not worried about that," he says, "But if there ever comes a time when we feel that it’s not going on all 12 cylinders [physically], then I hope that we have the guts to walk away from it.”
The still-untitled CD will be released on Metallica's new Blackened Recordings label. Last week the band announced that its second Orion Music Plus More Festival will be held in June 8 and 9 in Detroit.
