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Claudio Sanchez is a busy man.
“I like that a lot,” Sanchez said. “Every minute I’m doing something.”
He is the leader of his progressive rock band Coheed and Cambria, who are in the middle of a worldwide tour scheduled to pass through Columbus Feb. 15.
This is the first arena tour for the band, which in 2007 released its fourth and final studio album, “Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow.”
Coheed and Cambria are a full-blown concept band. In 1998, Sanchez created The Amory Wars, a massive science -fiction universe in which Coheed and Cambria were the protagonists. Sanchez said that as a movie fan, he was inspired by George Lucas’ “Star Wars” universe. Every album revolves around this fictional story, which ends with “No World for Tomorrow.”
Unlike all of Coheed and Cambria’s previous records, in “No World for Tomorrow” the band had time to demo each track – not just with rough acoustics – to create what Sanchez called “the stems for each song.”
“We had a real good understanding before coming into the studio, which was new,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez said the band had more time to work on this album because of band members Josh Eppard and Michael Todd leaving the band (Todd rejoined the band before recording “No World for Tomorrow”). A more relaxed tour schedule also gave the band more time.
Coheed and Cambria’s musical style is interesting enough – progressive rock mixed with heavy metal, Pink Floyd-sounding one moment and Metallica the next. What is more fascinating is Sanchez’ inspiration for this broad storyline, which involves a number of settings and countless characters.
Sanchez grew up fascinated by fantasy stories. He read a lot of comics, and watched a lot of science fiction and horror-he still watches a lot of John Carpenter, George Lucas and Alfred Hitchcock.
“I like horror that doesn’t seem too real, if that makes any sense,” Sanchez said. “Maybe there’s enough real horror out there already.”
Growing up Sanchez said he aspired to be an illustrator.
He never developed the skills as an artist, later opting to become a guitarist and singer, but the imagination has stayed with him.
“I spend a lot of time just creating,” Sanchez said. “I spend more time in the fantasy world than in the real world.”
With Coheed and Cambria coming to an end, Sanchez has begun work on side projects, which also involve the Amory Wars backstory.
There is the Amory Wars comic book series, which fills in gaps in the story line left off from songs. In 2006, Sanchez released “My Brother’s Blood Machine” under the name The Prize Fighter Inferno. “My Brother’s Blood Machine” is a synth-rock record composed entirely by Sanchez, which explores one of the Amory Wars minor characters.
There is also a small music project of his in the works called Spencer Doll, which Sanchez said he had not spent too much effort on, as well as a few other projects which he is keeping completely under wraps from the public.
The lyrics in Coheed and Cambria songs are very complex. Some songs are convoluted to the point that it would take a rabid Coheed and Cambria fan to understand what Sanchez is singing about in his uniquely high-pitched voice.
But Sanchez insisted that there was a lot to the story which could not fit into songs because of musical limitations.
Sanchez said there are 78 planets in his fictional Amory Wars universe, enough stories to quench his thirst for imagination.
“Everyone in this universe is affected by the decisions Coheed and Cambria make,” Sanchez said.
Graham Beckwith can be reached at [email protected].
