Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV

Today is the 9th anniversary of probably my favorite record ever, Coheed & Cambria's Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV Volume 1: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness. I thought I'd write a little thing to commemorate the occasion.

Despite being a big fan of the early 2000's post hardcore, especially Thursday, Coheed and Cambria wasn't really a part of my musical landscape. I sort of remember seeing part of the video for A Favor House Atlantic and thinking I should probably check out that band with the weird name.  So, after a few times of browsing the record store and stopping to look at the album with the impossibly long title and the big red IV on the cover I decided to bring it home with me.  I was immediately hooked
from the opening strings of Keeping the Blade.

The music on this album was unlike anything I'd heard before, it was heavy, complex, angry, and catchy as hell or as a friend described it "pop music from another dimension." Plus, The Willing Wells were in an entirely different league than any music I was listening to at the time. I had been a fan of 70's prog, but the way Coheed seemed to incorporate those styles into their songs just blew me away and then they'd follow an extremely proggy passage with a chorus that was so catchy it wouldn't leave my head. Good Apollo became a constant companion of mine. I was going to grad school in a town an hour away and student teaching at a school almost 90 minutes away. I spent a lot of time in the car. A lot, and Good Apollo was there for it all.

I graduated in May and was hired for my first real job in June, Good Apollo was the soundtrack. I married my awesome wife in June, Good Apollo was there. She surprised me by having the DJ play
Wake Up at the wedding. We danced and I hoped nobody would notice how dark the lyrics actually are.

At some point during the year I acquired the other Coheed albums available at the time and played the hell out of them too. I also started to noticed that the albums seemed to be telling some crazy story which only added to my appreciation of the band.

That's three major life events, and a fourth would be on the way. In late August my first daughter was born prematurely and had to be transferred to a NICU at an out of town hospital. I probably listened to Good Apollo as I drove from the hospital where my daughter was born hours earlier to the one that would try to keep her alive. When my wife was cleared to leave she joined me and we spent a week at The Ronald McDonald House. I'm pretty sure Good Apollo stayed in the car the whole time. Thankfully our daughter made a quick recovery and we were able to return home.


In October we bought our first house. The transition from college student to adult with a family happened incredibly fast and Good Apollo was the soundtrack. That album always pulls me back to the emotions of those days, new family, new house, new job, it was an insanely awesome and stressful year.

A few years later when money was a bit more plentiful and our daughter was a little older my wife surprised me with tickets to see Coheed and Cambria with Heaven and Hell for my 29th birthday. This really began my wife's love affair for the band and both of us became hooked on seeing the band live. Now we both have Coheed tattoos and we'll be hitting our 15th Coheed show this Tuesday. I'll listen to all the band's albums fairly regularly, but Good Apollo is still my favorite and will always hold a special place in my heart.

So, on it's ninth birthday let's all raise a glass to Coheed and Cambria's Good Apollo Volume 1, put the album on and turn it the hell up.

Watching his tale with the words he unfolds
Conscience and cold, we’d never know
They scream as he laughs off the dust from his eyes
These words will now learn of the dreams in his mind

Could this be that hard for me?
To configure a new love in vain
To my new entity or banish it home to the grave
No one is safe...

With the quickness strike out for the less of us doubt
Mercy of the man who put the pen in our mouth
Word write us well signed, "Forgiveness for sale"
I’m through being full, of all the might you want killed
The fiction will see the real
The answer will question still
In your body to blood as your parents once wept
You will follow their lead one by one, every step

Fanch's Albums of the Year

It's the end of year list that you didn't even want! Here are my top 10 albums of 2013. None of them are particularly out there or weird and most of them are kind of heavy. Maybe Kingo will chime in with his own list. First some albums that almost made it: Portugal. The Man - Evil Friends, Ohio Sky - This House is Old, People Like Us - A Nightmare, People Like Us - The Royals, Tomahawk - Oddfellows, Davenport Cabinet - Our Machine.

10.

                           Baklavaa -Spiral Cramps

This record is absolutely insane. These guys are a noisy breath of aggression from somewhere in Baltimore, MD.  Spiral Cramps is a quick burst of noise, clocking in at less than 25 minutes, that leaves the listener sort of wondering what the hell just happened. If I had to compare them to someone I'd probably say they're similar to Tera Melos. This album is pay what you want on Bandcamp or you can buy a physical copy for just $10.

9.

                          NIN - Hesitation Marks
I guess you might call this album a return to form for Trent Reznor's NIN. Maybe not, but it's the first NIN album I've enjoyed front to back since With Teeth. The album features Adrian Belew and Lindsay Buckingham so how could it not be awesome?

8.

          The Elephant In the Room - The Collective and The Individual

There's some bias here because I contributed to the Kickstarter for this album, before ever hearing a note. The record is produced by Casey Crescenzo of The Dear Hunter. This is a big sounding record with choruses of voices that borders on prog rock, Crescenzo's influence is definitely there. It says something though that this record made my list and The Dear Hunter's Migrant album did not. This is an excellent record that anyone with an affinity for rock music should enjoy. Track 2, Monsters, is the highlight of the album for me. 

7.

                                Sannhet - Known Flood

 I first heard Sannhet via NYC Taper and their recording of the Known Flood release show. Sannhet was opening for Deafheaven, a band you'll find further down. They're an instrumental band from Brooklyn NY. Experimental black post everything metal. Known Flood is and unrelenting blend of swirling guitars and thunderous drums. Check out the opening track Absecon Isle to get an idea of what Known Flood is all about.

6.

                 Oathbreaker - Eros/Anteros

This is an album I just discovered by trolling through the Deathwish records site looking for something to listen too. It's heavy X 1000. Somewhere between black metal and post-hardcore lives Belgium's Oathbreaker.This is your album if you need to run around and wreck stuff.

5.

                      I The Mighty - Satori

Probably my second most played album this summer. I the Mighty is a sort of prog/emo band similar to Coheed and Cambria. This album lived in my wife's car and accompanied us on many long car trips. It's a great record to sing a long with. It's got some heavy moments, some quiet moments. We also had the chance to see these guys live this fall. They only had a 5 song set, but they had tons of energy.

4.

\

                       Coheed and Cambria - Afterman: Descension 

My favorite band, I've seen most of the songs on this album performed live. A much stronger effort than the first half of the Afterman record. Just go listen to Gravity's Union.

3.

                        Russian Circles - Memorial 
Another band I had the pleasure  to see live a few times over the course of the year. Another instrumental album. Russian Circles are just so good. This album could probably fit in any spot on the list, so I stuck it here. It might be the heaviest album on the list.

2.

                Touche Amore - ...Is Survived by
This album clocks in a at just under 30 minutes. It's like a punch to the gut. It's that post-hardcore emo stuff that I enjoy so much. This album is just plain good. “So write a song that everyone can sing along to/So when you’re gone you can live on, they won’t forget you.”

1.

              Deafheaven-Sunbather

Another album with ties to black metal. It's definitely not for everyone, but for me this is far and away the best record of 2013. It's totally captivating. From the beginning of Dream House to the ending of The Pecan Tree my jaw is on the floor. Between each of the album's four main tracks are some sound collage segues/ shorter acoustic pieces that bring perfect balance to the record. George Clarke's vocals are gut wrenching while Kerry McCoy's guitars dance between meandering shoegaze and black metal brutality. I will admit that having seen these guys live this year has only enhanced my opinion of this record. Listening to Sunbather is almost a process, it really needs to be absorbed as a whole. If you're willing to dive into some experimental black metal Sunbather is the place to start.

Coheed and Cambria/ Circa Survive Photos

Here are some unedited photos taken by my wife and I yesterday at Rockstar Uproar in Bristow Va. 

All rights reserved and stuff. Both bands were great

  Circa Survive

           

Coheed and Cambria

Doctor Coldtouch - The Interview

Mike from Doctor Coldtouch was kind enough to answer a few questions for The Drawer. First you'll need to hit play on the bandcamp player below and checkout their EP on Bandcamp. Then as your ears are awash in the sounds of the good Doctor you can check out what Mike had to say about the band, where they're from and where they're going.


 
The Drawer - We'll start with some basic stuff, How long have you been playing together, where are you from and, If you don't mind, where did the name Doctor Coldtouch come from?

 The trio's been playing together for about a year now.  My brother John and I have been jamming for years now in a number of different bands, Doctor Coldtouch being our latest project with the addition of bassist Joe.  All three of us grew up in central NJ. As far as the name goes, (while it would be fun to keep some mystery intact) i think its better to clarify the story as opposed to having people assume we're a band of gynecologists. The name comes from the psuedonym Joe gave to some guy his friend's mother was having an affair with. He claims that this strange man "made no introduction aside from an unsettlingly frigid handshake". He also swears that the man entered the house late one night and pressed his finger gently to his lips before vanishing into the dark hallway. It's been debated whether or not he did so by gliding without moving his legs. The stories of Doctor Coldtouch often refer to him with varying levels of magic abilities. So basically Doctor Coldtouch is a real dude. Whether he's a human being or some sort of malevolent spirit however, has simply never been answered.

The Drawer - You guys play some pretty technical stuff, how long have you been playing your instruments?

I've been playing guitar for 12 years, and John about the same on drums. But Joe's only been playing bass since the band formed, having been a guitarist since 15 or so.

The Drawer - How well are you able to pull of your songs live as a 3 piece? Listening to the EP it sounds like you should have a whole pile of guitar players.

We were actually slated to be a four-piece, originally, but I think it worked out for the better.  Two guitars would have either muddied the live sound, or completely redefined the writing process.  In practice, the most challenging part of recreating the EP on stage is keeping everything super tight.  With only three members, there's not a lot of cushioning for fuck ups.

The Drawer - I hear several influences in your sound, you guys describe yourselves as if "Rush had grown up  listening to Cannibal Corpse," other than those two, what bands are out there current/past that have influenced you?

The Coldtouch sound is a weird one to try and pinpoint.  Obviously The Fall of Troy and Protest the Hero have been tremendously influential for us, as well as bands like Dream Theater and Coheed.  But at the same time we each dig on such different shit, from The Faceless and Decapitated to The Mars Volta and Glassjaw. I think that's why I love this project so much.  Because we don't have any one sound, and we get to condense all of these genres that we love down into a capsule of scary fun.  

The Drawer - How about lyrically, what influences you?

I really like telling stories with each song.  Vocalists like Trevor Strnad of Black Dahlia, or Tommy Rogers from Between the Buried and Me are just excellent at spinning these epic tales, and doing so in as few words as possible.  And as grandiose as these concepts can get, they never lose the human aspect that makes a song so powerful.  I try to bring that same idea to the table lyrically.

The Drawer - What albums are you guys listening to at the moment?

A friend just burned me a copy of Lamb of God's As the Palaces Burn, and that won't be leaving my car stereo for another week or so. John's been fixated on the new Daft Punk CD, and Joe listens almost exclusively to rap music.

The Drawer - What's next for Doctor Coldtouch? Playing locally?

We're in the process of organizing a small tour of the Northeast with our friends in Lightning Lord and SYKA, aimed at the middle/end of August.

The Drawer - If you could tour with anyone who would it be?

I don't know, I like to think we could fit in well on any bill.  Maybe Slayer.  Or Morris Day and the Time, that dude knows how to party.

The Drawer - Are you guys looking for a label or are you content to continue the DIY approach?

We are definitely open to the idea of a label and the next tier of musical professionalism.  But at the same time, we love doing what we're doing, and if at the end of the day I have a few more stories to tell, I'll be a satisfied man.

The Drawer - Are there physical copies of the EP?

Na.  We tried handing out simple burned copied of our EP at the last show.  No one seemed really into it.  It seems a better move now to keep the music itself digital, and focus on printing up some sweet shirts and other garments. 

The Drawer - Any plans for a full length in the future?

Absolutely.  We've already got two new tracks done, and few more working their way through the writing process.

The Drawer - You guys alternate between screams and clean singing, do you favor one style over the other?

I can't specify any preference between the two.  I think both can evoke some kind of feeling, and it's really at the music's discretion on which fits best.

Speed round stuff:
Favorite Band: The Black Dahlia Murder
Favorite Record: Thick as a Brick
Favorite Book: The Necronomicon 
Jelly or Jam? Pass
Favorite Television show? Full House

I think Mike's having a go at me there with his Black Dahlia Murder answer. Clearly the correct answer to the favorite band question is Jessie and The Rippers.

So there you go. Check these guys out if they come near you this Summer or if you're in the Jersey area.
 

People Like Us - The Interview

People Like Us enjoy coffee and living rooms.

So a few weeks ago I had the extreme luck and pleasure to stumble across a nifty little band from Canada called People Like Us. I think I was just searching bandcamp for prog rock or prog metal or maybe just prog, and two album covers, you'll get to learn more about them below, really caught my eye. I decided to click on one of the covers and spend some time listening. Initially I was pretty floored at what I was hearing. People Like Us are a blend of progressive post hardcore and metal, with complex song structures and a surprising amount of melody and harmony. They sound like a mix of Protest The Hero and Coheed and Cambria, which is a good combination if you ask me. In mid-May these guys released two albums, A Nightmare and The Royals for FREE, or pay what you want via Bandcamp. They were kind enough to conduct an email interview with me. I encourage you to go grab those albums immediately, turn them up, and then read my interview with the guys from People Like Us.


The Drawer: How long has people like us been together in it's current form?

PLU: This 5 member lineup has been running strong since about 2010, so 3 years. Two current members, singer Shane and guitarist Bradley branched out from the founding band Cellar Door adding drummer Benjamin around 2006 and later bringing in guitarist Jordan and bassist Mark in 2010.

The Drawer: Where are you guys from/currently located?

PLU: We are all originally from Burlington, Ontario, Canada. Bradley and Benjamin are brothers, and they met Shane and Mark way back in elementary school (we’re talking 1995 here). Jordan came into the picture in our high school days and currently members are spread out over Burlington, Toronto, Waterloo, and even sometimes California.

The Drawer: You recently released two sort of longish EPs A Nightmare and The Royals via bandcamp. First off, why two releases at the same time? It seems like there was enough material for just one record, but you guys broke it up, why?

PLU: The reason we have them split up into two EPs is because they are each their own story. Both were recorded and released together, and their respective artworks were designed to match in order to give them the appearance of a double album.

The Drawer: The song titles seem to suggest that there might be a concept behind both records. Can you give me any insight into what A Nightmare, and The Royals are about?

PLU: Yes, the two EPs are each a six-song short story. Here’s a brief overview of the concepts:

A Nightmare is about a man who is unsatisfied with his daily life and finds more enjoyment in his dreams. He approaches a Doctor for help and the Doctor’s interest and curiosity leads him to take his experiments a little too far. This collection of songs includes a peculiar love story that details the patient’s dreams and nightmares from the perspective of both doctor and patient.

The Royals is set in a society that has been plagued with corruption throughout all of history. Finally, one citizen decides to stand up and make a change. He forms The Deathmachine: a collection of fellow citizens whose goal is to start a revolution by kidnapping The King. Little did they know that The King was merely a puppet to The Advisor: a dark, malicious man. As the Deathmachine attempts to change history, things do not go according to plan.

The Drawer: Over what kind of time period were the records written? Was there a process of "hey guys, let's make a record." or did you just sort of come in with a bunch of material already written?

PLU: Unfortunately, making music is not yet our full time job so the exact timeline is a bit fuzzy, but a few songs from A Nightmare date back to 2006. Our new line up in 2010 really kick started the band into writing mode and inspired us to revamp the old songs and gave birth to our second album. The 12 songs we’ve just released were completely written by 2011 when recording began.

The Drawer: Is people like us a collaborative thing or is there sort of one driving force behind the song writing? Walk me through the process for putting together a song.

PLU: Getting into the second half of The Royals EP the writing became very collaborative. This is when the chemistry of the current lineup literally caused an explosion. Prior to this it was mostly Bradley and Benjamin writing the musical arrangements of the songs while vocalist Shane wrote the majority of the lyrics and concepts. But with all the rewriting, revamping, and rearranging of the older songs throughout the demoing process it is hard to look at a song and remember who did what, so we just credit all songs as written by People Like Us.

The Drawer: You made the records available for free/pay what you like. Was that a tough decision and why did you choose to basically give the records away?

PLU: This was not a tough decision at all, we just feel it’s better that we get heard and get our music out there making it as easy as possible for the listeners (and especially our friends and family). We’re proud of what we’ve made and we want people to hear it, if they think it’s worth something then they can pay what they want, but we don’t want to lose any listeners because of a price.

The Drawer: I stumbled across you guys on bandcamp just searching for prog rock or something. How large of a role does your internet presence play in what you're trying to do as a band?

PLU: At the moment the internet is our most important tool, next to our instruments of course. The fact that you were able to find us, hear us, liked us, and are now blogging about us is incredible. Having access to all these free tools like BandCamp for distributing music, and Youtube for presenting our music videos makes it really easy for new independent bands like us to be heard around our country, and apparently outside our country too!

The Drawer: Are there any plans to make physical copies of A Nightmare, The Royals available?

PLU: We have said all along that if enough people want them, then we’ll make them. Be it CDs, or vinyl, we’ll take on the cost to get them made if people are interested. Right now we’re just starting with the free online digital-only distribution to get out there and get the interest we need to be able to make the physical copies.

The Drawer: How do you feel about digital vs. physical media? If it were up to you would you rather someone hear your record on vinyl or cd as opposed to an mp3 file or does it even matter as long as someone is listening?

As we mentioned earlier, to us it is most important that people get to hear these songs we are so proud of, but obviously we’d love for people to get the full physical experience of holding our album art in their hands and placing the needle down on the vinyl. Physical media is really special to us, all of us enjoy all types of art other than just music: Shane being a photographer specializing in film photos, Bradley and Jordan being graphic artists, Mark having a large film and vinyl collection, and Benjamin being on the iPhone/iPod design team at Apple. In fact, both album covers are physical collages made from bits of magazines that are glued together and photographed. It took forever to find that perfect vulture head for the Royals cover, we couldn’t believe it when we finally found that guy! To drive home our love for physical media, as we sit here typing these responses we are drawing a poster for an upcoming show using crayons. We just love making homemade things ourselves.

The Royals Cover, featuring the perfect vulture head.

 

A Nightmare Cover

The Drawer: When I listen to your records I'm reminded of groups like Protest The Hero, Coheed and Cambria and even early Thursday, I guess the whole "progressive post hardcore" melange. So, who has influenced you stylistically and do you mind being compared to bands like the ones listed above?

PLU: We are honoured and amazed that you picked out our two favourite bands from listening to us! Or maybe that’s a bad thing, maybe we just stole their songs entirely... But to add to the list of bands influencing us we would say The Fall of Troy, RX Bandits, Tera Melos, Boys Night Out, The Darkness, and Rush along with the obvious two of Coheed and Protest. We all agree that a song with a typical pop-structure is just not fulfilling enough and does not fuel our musical A.D.D. as we call it. We like to explore time changes, and tempo changes, and genre changes, and instrument changes as much as we can to keep ourselves from being bored.

The Drawer: What are you guys listening to at the moment? Any albums you just can't get away from?

PLU: Ourselves. That’s why we made it! You’ve got to be your own biggest fan, right? But seriously...We’ll break this one down member by member for you.

Bradley: Drugs to the Dear Youth - Tera Melos

Benjamin: Everything Under the Sun - Jukebox the Ghost

Jordan: The Afterman: Descension - Coheed and Cambria

Shane: 20/20 Experience - Justin Timberlake

Mark: Stay What You Are - Saves the Day

The Drawer: Are you associated with a label, looking for one, or content to self release stuff?

PLU: We are not associated with a label at the moment. We’re not actively looking either, but the kid in all of us does want to be a real band, on a real label, and live the dream the proper rockstar way. But for now we are content to self release stuff and continue with our homemade/do-it-yourself mentality towards everything we do.

The Drawer: Are you currently touring or are there any plans to tour behind the records in the works?

PLU: We’ve been playing as many shows as possible in the Greater Toronto Area since the release of our albums. Not really a tour per-say, but we’re just working on gathering local interest. However, an experience like this, with being found online has made us start to think about the possibilities of gaining popularity in other cities. We all are definitely looking forward to one day hitting the road with our music.

The Drawer: If you could tour with anyone currently living who would it be?

PLU: If we could tour with Coheed and Cambria that would be unbelievable! Like, did you see that recent biker crowd surfing video from the Coheed show?! That’d be fantastic. If we’re really dreaming big it’d even be a three way lineup of Coheed, Protest the Hero, and us!

The Drawer's Note -  I would totally go to that tour because there are never enough Coheed shows.

Speed round: Brought to you by Pizza, Coffee, and Tera Melos

Favorite album: Good Apollo I’m Burning Star IV Vol. 1: From Fear Through The Eyes of Madness - Coheed and Cambria (Another note from Me: This might also be my favorite record, I think these PLU guys are pretty smart.)
favorite food: Pizza - every band practice has pizza.. and coffee..
favorite movie: Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls
favorite book: Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
favorite zoo animal: Elephant
favorite amp: Orange amps are cool
favorite place to play: Any house party / outdoor bonfire

There you have it. Please check these guys out, especially if you're into story driven prog metal, both albums are concepts, or short stories as the band described it. They deserve to be heard by more people.

 Also, if you're going to be in the Toronto area June 21st, go check out their show, they'll be playing

June 21 at 10:00pm Moser's Patio & Grill in Burlington, Ontario.

Here's the aforementioned  hand drawn flyer:

  You can find more info on their facebook page.

Fun with mirrors.

Coheed and Gotye

Not usually what I'd post here, but I was witness to this last night and captured this video.