Coheed & Cambria Rock! At Least, I Think So… by Joseph


Four months into my tour of duty in Iraq, I received a care package from my twin brother, James. He and I have a tense love/hate relationship. Enclosed were a variety of CD’s. Now, here I am, four months in the shit, sick and tired of the sand, the sight and smell of the dead and dying, the constant threat of death/explosions/gunfire, and a feeling of being strung the fuck out. My brother and I have never seen eye to eye musically, so, in a resigned way, I randomly plucked a CD from the box (In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3), placed it in my worn out CD Walkman (which was battered and half working from vast amounts of sand), randomly selected a track (#4- “Three Evils”), and I was blown away. I made it a point to listen to the entire album, restarting from the first track, then backtracking to the first album, marveling at the sheer variety of musical tone; they went from punk to lyrical, emotional metal, to a poppy in-between. At first, I was baffled. How could I, a classic rock aficionado, be intrigued, nay titillated, by this amalgam of punk/metal/pop/rock? Besides the awesome guitar and bass work, and the most stunning vocal work by a fat man I have ever heard, there was also the fact that there was a underlying space opera story in the lyrics. I soon found myself picking tracks to sync up with desperate moments in my war torn life. If I needed something to psych myself up before riding out in a convoy, I might play in my head (since I couldn’t bring a Walkman with me) “Hearshot Kid Disaster” or “In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3” (the track of the same name off of the same album). If I needed something to perk me up after a particularly nasty day, I would crank “God Send Conspirator” or “A Favor House Atlantic.” This trend continued into my post-Iraq life. It was not uncommon to hear me blasting Coheed & Cambria during my drunken ragers at all hours of the day. As soon as Good Apollo, I’m burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness came out, I bought it and was once again amazed at the variety of musical styling. Regretfully, this is a musical journey left unfinished, as I have been broke as a joke for quite a while and have not been able to purchase Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow or Year of the Black Rainbow. As for concerts, I have no input, as I can’t bring myself to go to a concert. I see myself as too out of place to go. I would stick out like a sore thumb, like an overprotective father tailing his kid. One of these days, I will overcome my self-deprecating limitations and attend a show. All in all, Coheed & Cambria have taught me to expand my musical horizons. Were it not for them, I would never have looked past classic rock, metal, and country rock. The moral of the story would be to always keep a open mind.

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5 Comments:

  1. Mate.. you need a friend to go to coheed live with, and you will find many of us! ( single mum, 41, wales) .. seen them twice.. they r not a band for teenagers only! Good luck with everything you endeavour, remember we can do anything:)

  2. Awesome story dude 🙂 Also if you get the chance, do go and see them no matter what. They barely tour here in the UK and I’ve only seen them once and that was a support slot last year ;[ Good luck 🙂

  3. bro, ALLLLL kinds of people see coheed lives. I say, go see ’em, you will NOT be sorry.

    PS: They were my first concert ever (3 years ago) now i’ve seen them 4 times and keep updated for upcoming tour dates.

  4. The crowd at a Coheed show is generally one of the most diverse groups of concertgoers you will ever encounter. In the numerous shows I have seen, the age range seems to be from 5 years old to 60, with people of all races and backgrounds and cultures. Everyone is welcome, so please don’t let that stop you.

    I also wanted to mention that I was very inspired by your story. If you hadn’t noticed, the official fansite Cobalt and Calcium posted a link to this blog on Twitter, and Coheed retweeted it (if that sort of thing makes you feel good – just thought you should know). You are appreciated by them and by us, the fans. Thank you for your service.

  5. Thank you so much all! Joseph worked very hard on this article and he and I are both glad you enjoyed it!

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