Coheed And Cambria won’t tie themselves to genres

Coheed And Cambria
Coheed And Cambria

Coheed And Cambria drummer Josh Eppard says the band have forged their own path throughout their career – and it means they are free to “do anything” they want in the studio.

They released their eighth album The Color Before The Sun in 2015 – the first time they’ve moved away from frontman Claudio Sanchez’s Amory Wars concept.

Guitarist Travis Stever said earlier this year that they could return to making concept records. But as to what genre the band fit into, Eppard says he doesn’t know as they’re lucky enough to be able to pick and choose what type of music they perform.

The sticksman tells The Aquarian: “Even when we were kids, before record deals or tours, it has always been such a wide net. It has always been such an eclectic mix of music. I’m still not sure what kind of band we are.

“As far as genre splitting, or having to define things, I’m really not sure. I’m 36 years old, I don’t know what’s hot on the streets anymore. I know when I hear music and it speaks to me, that it speaks to me. I could care less if it’s cool or hip or what genre it is.

“As far as Coheed goes, it’s always been an uncomfortably pop melody, and then the next song could be heavy as hell, but that’s always what we’ve done.”

Eppard continues: “Looking back, it’s like, we have dug ourselves a path where we can do anything. And I feel like we do, on certain records.

He says that the recently released deconstructed edition of The Color Before The Sun relies heavily on more “concise pop sounds” and adds: “It doesn’t mean that the next record is going to be like that. I think that we can do whatever we want.

“That’s a really gratifying and freeing feeling, and though I don’t think we could have drawn it up any better, I don’t think it was on purpose. And lucky us, we’ve cast a pretty wide path.”

Coheed And Cambria are currently on tour across North America and recently released their track Bridge And Tunnel from The Color Before The Sun (Deconstructed) which includes the original album, along with demos and other extras.

Coheed And Cambria remaining 2016 tour dates

Oct 09: Cleveland Agora Theater, OH
Oct 11: Toronto Sound Academy, ON
Oct 12: Montreal Corona Theatre, QC
Oct 14: Port Chester Capitol Theatre, NY
Oct 15: Sayreville Starland Ballroom, NJ

Coheed And Cambria live review - The Forum, London

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers and magazines as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. After initially joining our news desk in the summer of 2014, he moved to the e-commerce team full-time in 2020. He maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott grew up listening to rock and prog, cutting his teeth on bands such as Marillion and Magnum before his focus shifted to alternative and post-punk in the late 80s. His favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Ned's Atomic Dustbin and Drab Majesty, but he also still has a deep love of Rush.