Inferno

I talked very briefly in my last post, the one about Rock Band, Guitar Hero and music in general, rather than the song played at funerals, about Coheed & Cambria. I basically said that they were one of my favourite bands, if not my single favourite band. I thought I'd talk about why briefly, because I think it's very interesting. Well, of course I do.

Now, C&C (henceforth abbreviated because I cannot be arsed to type out their full name a hundred times) are, on the surface, just a regular rock outfit. But if you take the time to dig a little deeper, you discover something a lot more interesting than simply music.

To date, C&C have released four albums (listed at the bottom). Now, each of these albums is what you might call a concept album. You probably know what that is, but just in case, it basically means an album structured around some...thing. Green Day based American Idiot around a story of a boy leaving home and going to a city. My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade featured songs entirely made up of death. Jethro Tull's Thick As A Brick was, essentially, one 45 minute song.

S0 C&C make concept albums. Fair enough right? Nothing too unusual? Well, not quite. Y'see, C&C also happen to be a concept band.

All four of their albums to date are a chunk of an overarching science fiction story. Kind of like how Star Wars is split into six films, or Lord of the Rings into three books, C&C apply the same concept to music. And it's absolutely brilliant.

Now, I'm not saying that it's the best story in the world. Far from it, in fact. But what it is is a decent story told in a unique way. Basically (and I'm being incredibly basic here, as the whole thing is a bit mind boggling, truth be told), it's about a boy, who's parents were created as, essentially, supersoldiers. His parents were called, can you guess?, Coheed and Cambria. At the beginning of the story, they find out that they're infected with a disease that's going to wipe out the universe (somehow) and they've passed on a more deadly, incurable, version of the disease to their children. So they murder them. All except for Claudio, our protagonist, who manages to get away. And it kind of spirals from there, really.

Obviously, though, lyrics aren't the best way to get a story across. Especially when it's so detailed (seriously, I haven't even come within a mile of the surface there, let alone scratch it). So the band, or more specifically lead songwriter/guitarist/awesome-hair-weilder Claudio Sanchez (who obviously has a pretty big ego to name the central character after himself) are releasing a comic book which does the story a little more justice. So far only the first volume, which covers the first four tracks off the band's debut album, has been released in the UK, and it's ridiculously hard to get hold of individual copies over here as it's published independently. It's a shame.

I suggest listening to a few of the band's tracks. The brilliant thing is that the music is, in my opinion obviously, so good to go along with the lyrics that it doesn't matter where you start. Just dip your toes in the water. The thing I like about them musically is that they cover a hell of a lot of genres between the various albums too, so there should be something that you can enjoy.

This is normally the point where I'd say something like 'Oh, I wish more bands would try something like this too, boo hoo', I'm, not going to. I think that C&C are perfect being unique (or at least relatively). At the end of the day, the story doesn't really matter in the scheme of things. They are still a band after all. I just think it's pretty interestin' is all.

Here's C&C discography in chronological (and narrative) order, in case you're a completist and I've tempted you to listen to the whole thing in order (you should, although I highly recommend the middle two albums above the ends in terms of quality).

The Second Stage Turbine Blade

In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth:3

Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV Volume One: From Fear Through The Eyes Of Madness

Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV Volume Two: No World For Tomorrow

No World For Tomorrow actually completes the story, but if you've got half a brain, you'll notice that all the albums are slyly numbered, with the first volume missing. Yup, they've done a Star Wars, and their next album will likely be the very beginning of the saga. After that? Who knows.

And now I promise that I'll never talk about them again. Until they next release an album ;-)

'SAVING THROW!'

I don't listen to a huge amount of music. Never have done. Don't get me wrong, I love music as much as the next man or woman, but when it comes to dscovering new music, I'm useless. I never listen to the radio (like, ever), I don't watch the music channels on TV, hell, I don't bother roaming MySpace in search of the Next Big Thing.

In short, most of the music I listen to is either old or by an artist I know I already like. Second/third album onwards, if you know what I mean. And, y'know, in general, that's fine.

(can you feel the 'but' coming on?)

BUT:

(there it is)

It is no secret that I am an unashamed fan of the video games Rock Band, Guitar Hero and their now numerous sequels and downloadable tracks. Hell, since this time last year, I must've spent, ooh, approaching 400 quid on instruments, games, songs and more. Seriously. Sad, eh?

I enjoy them as games. Obviously. They're unbelieviably good fun, especially with the recent full-band editions that have been released in the last year. With mates and (at least a little, though not for me) alcohol, there's quite literally nothing better. The fun factor is extremely high, and that's why these titles are so popular.

(another 'but' is coming right up)

But, it's not the only reason I play. Yes, you've probably made the connection now yourself. Well done. Have a gold star. No, wait, a bronze one. Got it? OK then.

I use RB and GH as, pretty much, my primary source of hearing new or unfamiliar music. Now, not all of it is necessarily new. For instance, Rock Band 2 recently introduced me to Jethro Tull, a band which have been around for longer than I have. The same goes for Rush. Boston. All these classic rock bands from the 70s that I had never even heard of before I played these games.

And, of course, more recent stuff. Guitar Hero aquainted me with Silversun Pickups, a pretty decent American indie band. The same game put me in touch with Paramore. And Rock Band introduced me to Coheed and Cambria, who to be honest, are probably my favourite band at the moment. (As an aside, please do sample some of their music on iTunes. You won't regret it.)

Hell, both games, steadily over the past few years, have introduced me to Prog Rock as a genre. An entire genre.

Record companies are starting to understand, too. It's been scientifically proven (with pie charts and everything) that bands featured in these games have seen their record sales increase. And I'm not talking a couple more sales here. I mean lots.

Basically, I think I'm saying that music is on the cusp of a new era. Radio listener-ship is constantly in decline, and if bands want to get their music heard by the widest possible audience, they've got to embrace this new technology. It's not enough, for me and, I'll bet, countless others, just to listen to music any more. We want to feel like we're making it. Even if, y'know, we are just matching colours on screen to certain finger positioning. All power to the consumer, and all that.