Sanchez: That’s why we save those for Neverender. With Uproar, we only have 40 minutes on the tour so we can cater this set to Afterman because it’s the new album, but for the most part we know the window is kind of small so we try to pick a nice eclectic mix that will please everyone—certainly new fans as well as old.
MC: How did last year’s Iron Maiden tour happen?
Sanchez: For us, it was something management was looking into for a long time and Iron Maiden seemed to be into the idea. We’ve been very fortunate in terms of the bands we’ve gotten to open up for [like] Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio. I mean, that was my first concert ever in 1994 was DIO and to be able to come full circle and be a band opening for them, it was just like, “Wow, this is a band that inspired me to do what I do now. This was the first show I had ever seen that solidified what I wanted to do.” Follow that up now with Iron Maiden, Soundgarden, Jane’s Addiction and Alice In Chains—we’ve been very lucky. I think management being persistent and wanting to see our band in that light…
MC: Your management made all this happen?
Sanchez: Blaze James is our manager. He is more than just a manager to me. He has become one of my best friends, if not my best friend. He acts like the funnel. I am the guy throwing ideas all over the place and just can’t stop, but he helps funnel and focus them and put me in a place to really figure out how I want these things to be what they end up being. A lot of credit goes to Blaze, and my wife who assists in [the funnel process] as well. Every day I come up with something, and they either make it or they don’t… But when I come up with something, 100 percent of my heart is behind it and I’m full steam ahead, and it might not necessarily be the greatest idea. So I have those checks and balances from both of them.
MC: Any advice for others seeking a manager?
Sanchez: I can’t see myself doing this without Blaze. He’s become a partner, a friend, a collaborator. He is more than just a manager to me. I think that’s what everyone should look for in that sort of position.
MC: Who decided on Howie Weinberg to master The Afterman series?
Sanchez: This last record we put out on our own label, Everything Evil, with Hundred Handed, which is Craig Aaronson. We wanted Howie to work on [the previous release] Year of the Black Rainbow. Some way or another it didn’t work out. So this time around we threw it out and had a few masters and we seemed to really like his master. He’s a really tremendous personality. Really cool guy: a lot of fun to be around, very enthusiastic. I really like him a lot. I can see myself working with him again. It was the band’s decision to pick Howie.
MC: From Equal Vision to Columbia to Everything Evil; did you always see the Coheed and Cambria story being told to completion? Were you ever worried it would get cut short?
Sanchez: It’s always been the plan. With Shabütie (back before we signed to Equal Vision) I had a side project called Coheed and Cambria. When we signed to Equal Vision, the name Shabütie didn’t necessarily reflect the type of music that we were playing. Everyone in the band seemed to like the name Coheed and Cambria as a side project. So when the band brought over the name, I brought the concept over with it. When I originally conceived the idea, I thought of it as a three-part that would end with In Keeping Secrets. But when I completed that record I found that there was certainly a conclusion to that story but not necessarily to the overall arc. That split the next record into two pieces (Good Apollo 1 and 2). From there, that sort of concluded the idea of Coheed and Cambria. That was the end…
So we went back and did Year of the Black Rainbow, which was basically the origin tale of the two characters and then from there the concept of those two characters is complete. It wasn’t until I started writing The Afterman that I saw the potential in that concept and going back and telling the story of Sirius Amory, who is the namesake of the Amory Wars [comics]. It just started to spiral where I almost can’t see this music without this counterpart, ya know?
But back then, did I know it was going to get like this? Not really. I had goals and ambitions and was always excited, and still to this day we’re crafting ideas and are working on readapting Good Apollo 1 into an eight-issue [comic] series, and still I come up with ideas when I look at the lyrics and what I was thinking when I was creating those stories, and just making those things bigger and bolder. I’m just very fortunate and I understand that. But I’m really excited it’s happened.
Contact Tasya Swisko, tasya@pressherepublicity.com
