They're drawn to complexity

By Susan Carpenter

Nov. 4, 2004 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

Coheed and Cambria may be the ultimate concept band: part progressive rock, part fantasy fiction and, as a whole, utterly complex. Over a series of records and in comic books, Coheed and Cambria are also the lead characters in a bleak sci-fi epic that presents them as “metahumans” -- parents who’ve been asked to murder their own children in order to save the universe.”Sometimes I confuse myself trying to explain this,” admits Claudio Sanchez, lead singer and mastermind of the otherworldly drama. Delivered as a sort of metal-edged pop and bookended by a cinematic, soap-opera-style theme song, the story was introduced on the group’s critically acclaimed 2002 debut album, “The Second Stage Turbine Blade,” and continued last year with “In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3.”

But neither record tells the full story. Fans will have to wait a few more years to see how it all plays out. Though “Second Stage” and “In Keeping” are the group’s first and second records, they are merely the second and third installments of what is envisioned as a four-part story to be told over five albums. The beginning of this tragic saga will be offered at the end.

Confused? Think “Star Wars,” without a happy ending. Or “Dune,” set to music. Think emo, with a touch of noodling-guitar melodrama.

Or think nothing at all and just listen.

“It’s not like you really need to indulge in the concept to enjoy the music,” said Sanchez, 26. “The lyrics are very open-ended and vague at points. It just allows a rock fan to listen to the record without having to be force-fed a concept.”

Fans who are into the story can read the Coheed and Cambria comics, launched at this year’s Comic-Con gathering in San Diego. They are sold at the group’s live shows and through its website (www.coheedandcambria.com).

In July, the band published the first of six comic books that will reiterate the story told in “The Second Stage Turbine Blade.” This winter, it will publish the second issue, to be sold at comic book stores. Once all six are published, they’ll be released as a graphic novel.

“Right now, the records are just set up for listeners to create their own interpretation of what the story is, so with the comic books, it’s telling it in a more elaborate fashion,” said Sanchez, a longtime fan boy who is writing the saga.

A blend of sci-fi, horror and fantasy, the Coheed and Cambria books are intriguing enough to appeal to regular comic-book readers, but they’ll hold extra meaning for Coheed fans. In the first book of the series, readers are introduced to a boy named Claudio (as in Sanchez), a son of the characters Coheed and Cambria. It ends with two of their other children saying, “Shabutie!,” a word that doesn’t make any sense, unless you recognize it as the name of Sanchez’s first group with bandmate/bass player, Mic Todd.

In 1998, Coheed and Cambria were merely a side project to Shabutie, a trio from upstate New York that dabbled in funk, metal and pop. Coheed was “supposed to be an electronic-acoustic thing,” said Sanchez, but he and Todd decided to abandon the group in favor of Coheed. Embellishing on a concept born from sci-fi and horror movies, they added guitarist Travis Stever and drummer Josh Eppard to the lineup to explore “the middle ground” musically.

To Sanchez, that’s simply “pop, very melodic.” To fans, that means the soft-core punk of emo. To critics, who find Sanchez’s high-pitched singing style indistinguishable from that of Rush vocalist Geddy Lee, it’s newfangled prog -- a comparison Sanchez doesn’t take as a compliment so much as an inevitability.

“At one point, it really bothered me because none of us were fans of Rush,” he said. “I just happen to sing high. I didn’t like the band, but because of the comparison I started getting into them. Some of the records I do like; some of them stink. I’d rather be compared to Rush, a band where these guys can play, instead of some rinky-dink band.”

Vocals aside, Coheed and Cambria share another trait with Rush: a similar fan base. Like that group’s admirers, Coheed’s listeners were almost exclusively male, thanks to the band’s sci-fi fixation. But as it has become more popular -- its latest record sold 250,000 and spawned the hit single “A Favor House Atlantic” on MTV -- its audience has become more diverse. Instead of just guys coming up to talk about “The Empire Strikes Back,” Sanchez said, “now, it’s like whoa.... I’ve noticed over time that women have also started to like the band. It’s nice.”

Coheed and Cambria

Where: Hollywood Palladium, 6215 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood

When: Doors open at 6:30 p.m. tonight

Price: $17.50

Contact: (213) 480-3232; www.hollywoodpalladium.com