Interviews

Coheed and Cambria

Interview with Michael, Travis & Claudio on Nov 30, 2001 by Archive Bot

Thanks to Coheed and Cambria for talking to me even though they don't like the tape recorder. This interview was done in Ft. Lauderdale at Freeze on May 29th. For more info check out www.coheedandcambria.com (where the pictures are from). 

PB: I want you guys to tell me the story that he was telling me before about how you guys grew up in the Catskills and how you all met and stuff. And ended up on Equal Vision...
Michael: Well we knew each other through music, like a bunch of bands. Eventually we all got together and started writing music and a friend of ours sent out stuff to EVR and they came out to see us and we started working with them.

PB: And then you didn't even know what indie was or hardcore or anything....
Michael: Well I knew about it, but what I, well there was no scene...
Travis: Yeah there was no scene at all where we're from. There is starting to become one, hardcore, but.....

PB: So do you consider yourselves hardcore?
Travis: No. We're a rock band. Rock and roll. Naw, we're just a rock band. What would you consider us?

PB: Uh......
Travis: Not so easy huh?

PB: Heh. No, um, I guess if I had to say...hardcore.
Travis: Really? Cool.

PB: Merely because he screams a lot. That is the only reason. Otherwise I'd just say indie to get out of it cause that kinda categorizes everything right?
Travis: Yeah. Totally.

PB: I'm into asking hardcore bands this, does it hurt your voice when you scream?
Claudio: No, this will hurt my voice though (points to cigarrette). *Laugh* Well in the long run it probably will. But it all depends on the day. It can be strenuous. I don't know. It just becomes....

PB: Natural. Do you wear earplugs?
Travis: No. It's like impossible to wear earplugs and play.

PB: It is?
Travis: Well for me it is. I think we're going to start in the very near future though. I get this weird ringing in my ears. Like always, even when I'm playing .

PB: Like in the middle of songs? Is it that ringing that you get after you go to a show?
Travis: It's a little different. Almost like when a radio is too loud and it's disorted so much that it's just a screech. It's really strange, it makes me feel like we're all robots.

PB: So how do you concentrate with that ringing in your ears?
Travis: Oh, I don't concentrate at all.

PB: For real?
Travis: Well actually, it's just started happening on this tour.

PB: That's awful. So bad....
Travis: I know but it's so bad to play with earplugs. It's totally different. Completely, 100%.

PB: You are going to completely mess up your ears though.. cause don't you have a certain amount of little hair things on your eardrum or something and when you lose them they don't come back and that's how you go deaf or whatever...I don't know am I making this up?
Michael: No, no that's totally true. I forget what they're called.
Travis: Yeah it's bad, that's why pretty soon we'll be wearing earplugs.

PB: How come it's so hard to play with them in? Is it going to change your sound?
Travis: It's just harder in general, it changes the feel of it.

PB: Yesterday you guys were wearing, um, I think you were wearing a Thursday shirt and you were wearing a Bane shirt. What are some of your influences or bands that you think are cool?
Michael: Everything. Like a whole different bunch of styles. Like everything and anything.

PB: What are you listening in the van now?
Travis: Recover.

PB: Oh right, he was talking about them before. You're going on tour with them maybe?
Travis: Yeah again, we were already out with them. 

PB: You guys are so quiet.
Michael: It's cause the tape recorder is on. When you pulled that thing out... you gotta wear a wire.

PB: Ok well, he said he wanted to go back to college or take some classes or something like that....
Michael: Yeah, I said I might...

PB: Well it's something you're interested in doing. Something that you'd want to do, maybe take correspondence classes from the road. If you could, what subject interests you? Like you said you take textbooks on the road with you so you can learn and you don't go braindead.
Michael: Well I'd probably take Math or something like that, but you can't really read Math. Lately I've been into Philosophy, that's what I've been reading. I want to get into Science. I don't know if it's feasible, but like I said before, I would like to try and take internet courses or something. Plus my pops is pressuring me.

PB: Did any of the rest of you go to college?
Claudio: I did some college and then I went to a specialty school for audio engineering.
Travis: I did nothing.

PB: Are you tired?
Travis: It's the weather here. Are you from here?

PB: Nope, but I get what you mean. It's really humid.
Travis: Yeah, it's so heavy, it drains us.

PB: And it's hard to play when it's so damn hot. And the stupid red ants here if you fall asleep in the sun you wake up with them all over.
Travis: I wake up with worse things than red ant bites.

PB: Like what?
Travis: My sleeping bag. I didn't wash it for like 2 tours. And I woke up with these crazy bumps all over my arm. I did't know what the hell it was. It could have been some weird bug or something. I think it was just like filth rash.

PB: Ew.
Travis: Well I washed it yesterday. I don't know why I didn't wash it when I was home. I just was so busy I guess. Enjoying seeing my mom and dad.

PB: You guys have been on the road for a while, huh? And you're staying out until July, right?
Travis: Yeah and then we'll be home a bit and we're cooking up something for the rest of the summer. Being on the road is like second nature now though. It's great, I love it.

PB: It's what you do.
Travis: It's all I've done my whole life. That's why I didn't go to college. Play music. Play shows. I wish I went to college.

PB: You do?
Travis: I always feel alone because I didn't go to school. You know what I mean? I consider myself a..... nevermind.

PB: No. Tell me.
Travis: I'm trying to think of the right way to say it.

PB: Just say it.
Travis: It's like, ok, to make a long story short... ok wait did you go to college? How old are you?

PB: I'm in a university now.
Travis: Ok doesn't it make you feel good?

PB: Not really, cause I feel like it's a waste of time for me. I'm just going because I have to...
Travis: Ok well that's good to know, cause it's just...like if I run into an ex- girlfriend's mom and she asks me, "Oh what are you doing? Are you going to college?" and it just sometimes makes me feel like....

PB: Like maybe a bit less...no I totally get what you're saying.
Travis: Yeah. But I'm doing what I want to do. It's just those times when I feel like I wish I went to school.

PB: But because you don't want to feel lower or because you want to learn.
Travis: A little of both I think.

PB: You're not lower.
Travis: Mic is a really smart dude. This kid though is dumb as a brick. I'm joking....
Joshua: I just have a problem paying attention to things I'm not interested in.
Travis: Everybody does. It's hard to pay attention to shit that you don't want to pay attention to.
Joshua: Man, it's hard for me to pay attention to things that I am interested in.
Travis: I am just an impatient person. Like our guitar tech was doing this, he's a teacher where I live and this kid is all about college, like he was subsitute teaching while he was going to college. But uh, he was doing this huge paper on ADD and I read the symptoms. I had every single one. It's ridiculous...

PB: Yeah, last night they were telling me that I needed to take Ritalin cause I don't ever shut up. Anyways, anything else you want to say before we finish.....
Michael: We challenge every band in the world to whiffleball.
Travis: Yeah, seriously, we challenge every band in the world, not just the United States, but the world, to play. Any group of people in the world to a game of whiffleball.

PB: What is whiffleball?
Travis: Oh my god....what is whiffleball? It is like backyard baseball with the white ball with holes in it.

PB: Like little people baseball?
Travis: I think you are right....yeah, but adults can do it too.