The Coheed Chronicles
Unofficial fan created podcast exploring the music & lore behind every track in Coheed & Cambria's catalog.
The Coheed Chronicles
Episode 004: Far
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"Far" is a great dark love song! In this episode we explore the song's origins, and the lore connections to Leonard & Pearl AND Coheed & Cambria.
No matter the distance, oh no matter how, no matter how far it Those are one hundred percent the lyrics, right?
SPEAKER_00The canon lyrics.
SPEAKER_02No matter um, welcome to the Kohheed Chronicles.
SPEAKER_04This is episode four. This is for the track Far from the album Year of the Black Rainbow. My name is Joel, and we also have here Zach.
SPEAKER_00Hello there.
SPEAKER_04And this podcast, in case anyone is curious or didn't know, is a Koheed and Cambria based podcast in which we break down the lore in track order or in lore order. So we're starting with the year of the Black Rainbow, and this episode is dedicated to the track Far. Zach, this song is a sort of different take for Kohheed. It's another one of those sort of soirees into industrial, more electronic sounding stuff. And it it is a distinct song also on this record, The Year of the Black Rainbow. And uh I I would say it's not one of my favorite songs, but saying that is like, you know, saying pepperoni is one of my not my favorite pizza topping.
SPEAKER_00Like it's like Well, that's a lie because we know it is.
SPEAKER_04Right. That's the only thing I could think of was pepperoni. But you know what I'm saying? Like, just because it's not my favorite coheed song doesn't mean I don't like it. Like it's it's still really good.
SPEAKER_00I love all my coheed songs equally, but some are more equal than others.
SPEAKER_04There you go. I don't know about equally, but yes, that that second part. But uh yeah, the the song the song is is different.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean this whole album is kind of different, right? I mean, there's so much industrial and kind of uh vibes, uh just just a very different vibe from the four records that came before. And I know we we've talked about this in previous episodes. It's a lot of people would I I I don't know a lot of Koheed fans who would say that it's their favorite record, but you can't deny it's a distinct and really just unique mark on the Koheed Pantheon. And I think it's great.
SPEAKER_04I also think it's great. Koheed's great.
SPEAKER_00Um Claudio, if you're listening, we love all of your songs. We don't dislike any of them.
SPEAKER_04Right. Except for no, just just kidding. Uh anyway, I have a couple quotes here. Uh, these are from reviews. This is from Rock and Roll Globe's 10th anniversary retrospective of the album. This is about Far. Quote, Far is comparably unassuming, yet the ways in which it mixes mechanical tones into its basic arrangement and undeniably moving vocals and lyrics, personifying the group, is penchant the group's penchant for tales regarding the romantic trauma of destiny and change is lovely. Unquote. And then from the publication Everything Is Noise, quote, far flirts with industrial rock by incorporating a more mechanical rhythm tone. End quote. So I think both of those quotes from reviews touch upon the fact that this is a is definitely a more industrial, sort of electronic influenced track. And even with that, I think they both kind of reference that it's not that crazy for for Koheed. Like it's it's nice, it's a it's a good sound for them.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, what I like about this song is the juxtaposition between the musical content and the lyrical content, where you're right, it is very electronic, it sounds very mechanical at certain parts. It's it certainly still has organic and emotional swells to it. I mean, especially that guitar solo, I I really love it. I think it's kind of underrated. Uh, but the lyrics in this song I think are really fucking beautiful and deep and tragic, and I think they really hit on that like just deep emotional cohed vibe that they that speaks to my soul. So I I really like this song. I think it's I think it's beautiful, it's it's sad, it's tragic, it's it's everything I love about Koheed, kind of, you know, wrapped up in a in a happy, sad little blanket.
SPEAKER_04Alright, quick. Where does this song rank on the album for you then, if you like it so much?
SPEAKER_00Oh fuck. Uh I don't know. Somewhere in the middle, probably.
SPEAKER_04Right, right where it's placed in the uh track listing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, sure. Five out of twelve.
SPEAKER_04Okay. I have one more quote. Uh, this one's from the Claude Father himself. This is from the track by track on YouTube, which you can go find right now. It's uh, let's see here. It was actually originally an Inferno song, a prize fighter inferno tune. I mean, my wife really she sees that side of me that the world doesn't, you know? Most of the world doesn't, and she has to deal with it. I'd give her anything, and this thing that now I become you hated so much, you keep me running from, but no matter how far you run, this love is undeniable and will always bring you back. That's a quote from Claudio. And I was gonna mention you you reacted to it, but I was gonna say, did you know that that that was supposed to be a prize fighter inferno song? And following up with that makes total sense to me.
SPEAKER_00Um, no, I didn't know that. So I I like that. I'm I'm still 20 years into my Koheed fandom. Uh I'm still learning new things about them, and I think that's that's awesome. You know what that makes a lot of sense because you know what I was comparing this song to earlier when I was listening to it was not the Prize Fighter Inferno, but actually the album The Color Before the Sun, which was originally going to be a Prize Fighter Inferno record or most of it. So I mean that that makes sense. I think that it hits on that, you know, kind of more like it's it's interesting because it is very we've we talked about it already, it's very electronic, it's very industrial, but it's also very raw and intimate, uh, especially in the the lyrical delivery of it. And I think that is kind of a a trait of those of that side of Claudio, the color before the sun and the prize fighter inferno side.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I I agree with that. I I forgot that Color Before the Sun was supposed to be Prize Fighter, and this is just sort of like maybe how the band fleshes out those those tunes, or maybe that's how Claudio sort of instructs the band to uh flesh out those tunes. Before we get to the recap, uh I just wanted to say that this song is very clearly kind of a love song. It explores the relationship potentially of Koheed and Cambria or Leonard Hohenberger and Pearl, or potentially Claudio and Chandra, you know, maybe all of the above. Uh, but we'll get into that. But before we do that, let's have Zach tell us how we got here. Let's let's do a little rapid recap from the last episode.
SPEAKER_00Okay. So a lot happened uh last time in the Amory Wars. Uh last week's episode was Here We Are Juggernaut, which at its core I think is about the I mean, it's about the formation of Coheating Cambria, the KBI, the Knowledge, the Beast, the Inferno, which is the response team created by Leonard Hohenberger after the death of his son Joseph to fight against Wilhelm Ryan and his terrible, horrible, no good, very bad Red Army. So last episode we we got the uh the debut or the appearance of the titular black rainbow. That was kind of a big deal because no one had seen something like that before. Uh, we also got the introduction of the prize, uh, the winged guardians of Heaven's Fence and how they reacted. They believed that the Black Rainbow was a sign from God, and so Paranoia, who is the guardian of the prize, decided to intervene by visiting Leonard Hohenberger and gifting him essentially his own knowledge, kind of awakening the knowledge inside. Like, what's that terrible band? Not terrible band. Wake me up inside. Evanescence inside. Anyway, Evanescence, yeah. She she she woke up his knowledge inside, like Evanescence.
SPEAKER_04There's a big uh crossover, I think, of Evanescence and Coheat fans that you've just now turned off with.
SPEAKER_00I'm sorry, everyone. I'm sorry. Look, okay, I've not given Evanescence the time of day that they deserve to make a judgment call like that. I I'm gonna take that back. Please don't come at me. Please don't dox me.
SPEAKER_04Amy's canceling you.
SPEAKER_00Oh man. I'm sorry, Amy. I need to listen to your music to give you a full appreciation. Anyway, back on back on back on track. The prize, uh paranoia visited Leonard Hohenberger and essentially told him to create this team to fight Wilhelm Ryan. And of course he said, You want me to make an army? And she goes, No, you need to make three, three beings. And so he creates the knowledge, the beast in the inferno. And I actually think that the song is kind of mostly about their first mission, right? Fighting against the Red Army on the Howling Earth, which actually chronologically takes place, I think, after the events of Far.
SPEAKER_04Now, this is something I Okay, I was wondering about that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, this is something we're gonna have to come to terms with here pretty quickly because up until about now, the album and the story have been told in mostly the same order. But Koheed albums and the Amory Wars comics and books, although the main chapters of the saga, you know, the titular You're the Black Rainbow, Second Stage, and Keeping Secrets, Good Apollo, those happen in the same, you know, i i in the I shouldn't say in release order, because that's not true. But, you know, there they are clearly chapters one, two, three, and four, and the events follow that. But within the context of the albums, certain songs describe events that take place before and after things. So the placement of them on the album is not necessarily reflective of the chronological series of events. More so I'd say they're they're placed in the album to make sonic sense. The albums sonically tell their own story that is a companion to the prose, or vice versa. So we're about to start getting into songs that take place, like for instance, this one takes place before the last one we just did, and the next one, I'm gonna warn everyone right now, the Shattered Symphony, that the events of that song take place way later in the story. And so when we talk about that next week, we're gonna have to get into some pretty heavy spoiler territory. I'm just gonna warn everyone right now. But that's follow that away for later. So winding back just a little bit, now this this chapter, the chapter of the book was actually called The Same Old Story, which is a line from Made Out of Nothing. But I but I really believe that this chapter and some of the themes of the previous chapter is of all are all describing the events and themes of the song Far. So I feel like we can dive into that now.
SPEAKER_04Is there a world doing this podcast where you would prefer to do it in the lore order, out of track order from the albums?
SPEAKER_00To be honest, it's already a very confusing story, but I feel like it would be even more confusing to try to break it down because here's the thing about that is if we start saying, you know, this track comes first, there is a subjective versus objective element to that, where certain fans, diehard fans like us, are gonna listen to it and say, no, they're wrong. This takes place before that, or this takes place after that, when it's like they're two separate things. So I think we can talk about the themes of the songs and just warn people that it gets a little spoilery, but we'll try to save the save the best parts. We'll try to save the the actual climactic events till the end of the story. I think we should keep going in track order because that's also the way you listen to it on the album. So yeah.
SPEAKER_04Okay. And separate question: how do you feel about Hush and the other B-sides on this album? Do we count those or no?
SPEAKER_00So it's Hush absolutely, I think, is like a chapter in the story. If you if you read a little bit further in the book and you listen to Hush, you're gonna be like, oh yeah, that's this part totally. And it's not actually too far from where we're at right now. Chamberlain and the Lost Shepherd are a little bit tougher. Those, I think, obviously, they were probably like earlier tracks. They they only had demos of those, but Hush was like a full-produced track. Like that was iTunes exclusive. I'm still mad it's not on Spotify. Like, just release it, you cowards.
SPEAKER_04Someday they will.
SPEAKER_00Give give me the deluxe edition of You're the Black Rainbow on Spotify. Do it.
SPEAKER_04So maybe maybe with the the book release. Who knows?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that would be really cool. Hush, I think, could be kind of a cool bonus episode because again, it it definitely does dive into an actual, like it's it's like one-to-one. This is this is that chapter of the story, but the others are tougher to pinpoint.
SPEAKER_04I was thinking that that we should probably include Hush, but maybe like as as a quote unquote bonus episode after the uh we do the album.
SPEAKER_00I mean, we could maybe do a bonus episode where we talk about the bonus tracks leading with Hush and then touch a little bit on the other ones. We can figure it out.
SPEAKER_04Okay. Anyway, so now back to the chapter. This chapter, as you said, was called The Same Old Story, which is not a line from far, but the the themes of this song of this chapter sort of fit the themes of the song. The song and the chapter are very much about relationships, and you're you're seeing the development of the relationship in the chapter, anyway, between Kohe and Cambria. They're on a training mission, and you said it was before the prologue? Or the first okay. So I was that was what I was curious about. Does it take place before or is this like a a post-training mission? But so it takes place before they go on any missions. This is where they're still really not only learning themselves, they're learning about the world in general. And you see hints of them having more emotions, I think, than perhaps Leonard Hohenberger wanted them to have, particularly towards each other. And the fact that Claudio, not Claudio, that coheed, has a chance to take out Cambria a couple of times and he doesn't do it. And you know, she also shows some weakness towards him when when he fakes her out, basically. Uh, and those are two things that they're not I mean, all those things are things that they've been trained not to do, and if you ask Inferno, they both fucked up. And after this failed mission, Koheed goes back to his little pup tent out by the rocks, and he's hanging out there, and Pearl wanders over, and Koheed and Pearl have an exchange where we learn more about Pearl and Leonard's relationship. She gives you a little bit of history uh in regards to their past and a little bit into their lives, and they have an interesting exchange there between the two of them. And as Pearl leaves, Cambria is revealed to have been there, presumably the whole time, but maybe not, and her and Koheat have another uh short interaction, which again is just more character building and relationship building, and that's pretty much the chapter, and the song itself, when you we get to the lyrics, you'll see it's it's very much relationship-based, and you could sort of pin it to, I would say, as I mentioned earlier, any of the relationships, the Leonard and Pearl relationship, the Coheed and Cambria, or even the Claudio and Chandra.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. I think it is uh certainly reflective of all three of those dynamics. It's interesting because I've read this book a bunch of times now. My copy is so worn out and frayed at this point that it's practically falling apart. But it has been a while since I've read it, and it's only, I feel like this time that I'm reading it, and it's as in the context of doing this podcast with you, where we are breaking down it, breaking it down track by track, and kind of trying to fit the chapters to the track specifically, that I'm really honing in more on the Coheating Cambria side of it, meaning the characters, not the band, versus the Pearl and Leonard side, which I do believe that at its core, they are the main couple that is having this, you know, this strife in in the context of the song. But but I think that the the budding relationship between Kohid and Cambria is a really nice juxtaposition between the rapidly failing and exhausted relationship between Leonard and Pearl, that of course is broken by grief from the tragic loss of their son. It's interesting how the lyrics of the song, I think, can describe both those things at the same time. And I think that's kind of the genius of Claudio's writing.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it is it is interesting. I was gonna mention that, like how it's kind of it's about two relationships that are in very different places in terms of their timing of the relationship, but it does, it works for for both versions. So we had talked about doing a character breakdown. I want to do one for every episode, but it's maybe not always possible. And I think we decided on maybe doing Koheed for this episode because Koheed was kind of the main character of this chapter. He was the focal point of the beginning, the whole mission training mission. He was the focal point of the interaction with Pearl, and then he was he was there at the end. He was there the whole time. So let's talk about Koheed. Let's talk about Koheed, the character. I I have some thoughts about him, especially from the way he was talking to Pearl. Seemed a little bit like uh maybe not the sharpest, you know, knife in the drawer.
SPEAKER_00Well, he is the beast, not the knowledge, so I'd say that assessment is accurate. He's not only the beast, he's the sexy beast. Well, he wants to be the sexy beast.
SPEAKER_04But yeah, that that whole interaction he had with Pearl, like Pearl was trying to tell him things, and he's like, I don't know. What what are you talking about? I don't know.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, so so what's interesting is this version of Koheed is, I think, a different version of Koheed than the one we get in the next chapter, not chapter of the Year of Black Rainbow, but chapter of the Amory Wars, which is the second stage Turbine Blade. Same character, but very different places in their life. The version of the Koheed that we get introduced to in the second stage Turbine Blade in the comics, which came out before this book and album did, is a father, you know, imperfect husband. He you know, you know, he struggles, but he's he's that he's that giving, that providing man. He does everything for his family. And I feel like, and of course, he he often is is very flawed and things go wrong, but he's he's a good-hearted person, albeit kind of a short-tempered one. And I think that that version of Koheed is very much based off of Claudio's father, based on the things that he said on record in things like the Never the Never Ender documentary. But this version of Koheed in the Year of the Black Rainbow novel, I think is very much based more off of Claudio himself. This is a young Kohe who is, you know, immature and still learning the ways of the world. Although he's rapidly, you know, he he was born a full-grown person, essentially. Like he never had a childhood, quote unquote. He essentially was artificially created and born at like age, I don't know, 18, 20, something. It's kind of unclear how old they're supposed to be, because I still picture him being like more of like a man at his prime. But I think he is kind of I think they're both kind of supposed to be more like adult not adolescents, but younger adults here, because they have to have time to grow up between the next record. But anyway, his dynamic with Cambria, I think just comes off more like Claudio would at this point in his life, where he is in Claudio the k the writer, the real life man, recently married at the time of this this record and is kind of probably navigating how figuring figuring out how to navigate that that new element of his life.
SPEAKER_04I've always felt too that Claudio, the person, the man, even to this day, is just enamored with Chandra.
SPEAKER_00And oh yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_04I feel like that comes across in Coheed with his like observations of Cambria.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I think so. He is uh he doesn't quite know what to make of Cambria. He's certainly attracted to her, but he doesn't even quite know what that means. He's he's learning. I mean, honestly, both of these characters, more so Coheed and Cambria than Inferno, because he's I think more knowledgeable and more well-rounded. But there is this sort of tragedy in that, like, it's kind of like the clones in Star Wars, how like they are living, breathing human beings that all have souls and minds and personalities, but they were bred for one purpose, which is to fight and probably die in war. And I think that's you know, it that's not far off from what Koheed and Cambria are. But specifically, let's talk about Koheed. Koheed is called the beast because he is this, you know, kind of hulking, brutish. He's like the the attack dog of of the the trio.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Uh he is the most physically imposing. He has weapons literally imbued into his body. His left arm has Can we talk about that for a second?
SPEAKER_04I I want to know how long are machetes and how are that how are those in his arm?
SPEAKER_00Well, uh unclear. It's one of those kind of comic book logic things that you have to wave away a little bit. But yeah, a Koheed has these machete-like blades that will extend from his arm, not unlike Wolverine, although Wolverines come out from between his knuckles. Koheed's kind of just extend out the side of his arm. I don't remember how many he has, but it's like like eight or a dozen or something like that. That kind of stick out and create just this like this row of blades sticking out of his out of his arm. So pretty pretty devastating. He can inflict a lot of damage, and he does inflict a lot of damage with it in in future chapters of the story. That's his left arm. We're only talking about one arm here. His right arm his right arm normally for the for the most part is presents as like a normal human arm. It's you know the same length and size of his other arm, and it's got five fingers, or but it at a whim can transform into a devastating pulse cannon. And it's the the transformation is described very gruesomely, where like his flesh, his artificial flesh, literally rips off of his skin, and these like joints and pistons that make up his mechanical arm start to rearrange themselves to create this giant fucking arm cannon, not unlike Mega Man, if anyone's familiar with that that character, video game character. So Koheed's kind of like Wolverine meets Mega Man.
SPEAKER_04Um I was while you were talking, I was pulling out my second stage comics so I could sort of get a visual of the arms and whatnot. And it looks like he's got five machetes or five blades or whatever you want to call them. And only five. Maybe because it's visual and I can see it in the comic, but in general, like I was just imagining these giant like Jason Voorhees machetes coming out of his arm. Like, how does that gonna work? Like, but but in the comic, they're they're rounded and more like sort of I don't want to say Wolverine style, but just more like not straight. More like sides. Yeah, there you go. That's that's what I was looking for. Yeah. Um and yeah, it just it makes more sense when I have a visual of it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So Koheed, now all those things we just said about him is not that deep of a character emotionally. But I I don't think he's he's a particularly complex character in the realm of the Amery Wars, but he is a fun character. He is brutish and arrogant, and but he but he has a good heart. He he means well. He's very flawed, but his his intentions are are are good. And I think that's why I like Koheed and why a lot of people like Koheed.
SPEAKER_04So just pure speculation here, of course, but do you think Claudio sees himself that way?
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Yeah. I certainly that's why I was saying I think this version of Koheed is more so based off of like adult Claudio than than his father, which it was originally envisioned as.
SPEAKER_04As proficient at making and playing music as he is, and as as beloved as he is by his fan base, I still get the feeling that that's how he feels, you know, even this many years into his life. Like he he feels kind of like a not an ogre, but kind of like a brute who doesn't really know what he's doing, but even though he really does know what he's doing, you know.
SPEAKER_00Kind of kind of oafish a bit.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, oafish. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I mean, and and of course, you know, again, Claudio, if you're listening, we we love you.
SPEAKER_04You're you're Jesus on earth or yeah, well but that's what I'm saying is I no I don't think any of us see him that way, but but you know, you you are your own worst critic or your own worst you know judge, and he probably looks at himself in a much harsher way than any of us look at him, because we all think that he's king shit.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. I mean, so this is jumping pretty far ahead, but for those listeners who are deep into the Emery Wars lore, there's I think a lot of parallels between Koheed and another character we we meet much later on, which is uh Creature Nostrand of the Vaxxis Pentology. I don't think it's a a stretch to say that the characters of Nostrand and Nia, Creature and Sister Spider, as they're called, are sort of like different takes on Koheed and Cambria, and also based off of Claudio and Chandra as well. Similar archetype characters.
SPEAKER_04Well, we'll meet them in 2028, everybody. So uh gear up.
SPEAKER_00That's an that's ambitious.
SPEAKER_04Okay, so now let's get back to the song. Let's get into the lyrics and the music. I think the music we've already touched on the electronic element and this the uh sort of synth and industrial stuff going on. For me, from a drummer's perspective, if you watch the uh making of documentary, like they literally have a drum set of like tin cans and stuff like that that they definitely used on this track. And if you watch the track by track, it's only just a a minute long, but you can see Chris Penny like playing this weird crazy metal drum kit, and you can hear that it's like garbage cans, right? Yeah, yeah, and like pots and pans and stuff, like it's it's all kinds of things. Um trash can lids. Uh it's it's actually, I mean, really cool, right? Like you don't see that all the time. And I'm sure this maybe maybe they play it on some other songs. I'd have to analyze it, but this one definitely, this was the song for that, all that stuff. But in in terms of the song, we talked about this with Guns of Summer, how kind of crazy and wild it was. But this song I think is very straight up. Very the the structure is very normal, quote unquote, just very on the nose. It's it's kind of on the longer end for songs on this album. It's just under five minutes, which you might not realize, but it is just pretty much first chorus, first chorus, bridge, chorus. And it's it's a fairly simplistic coheed song, all things considered.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it it is weird that it's under that it's almost five minutes long. It doesn't feel that long. It feels kind of brief and and short, yeah. But there's a lot of he's got a lot to say. It's a very lyrical driven song. It's it's a really lovely and very sad ballad, but in terms of the the rhythmic and the the structure of it, I I found some parallels to some other Koheed songs that it kind of reminded me of. I listened to it a few times right before we started recording this to really get in the in my head. And some of the other songs it maybe think of structure-wise, this one's kind of surprising, but Eraser from the color before the sun. Uh, I feel like the both both of these songs kind of do this interesting thing where the verses are like this more kind of like straightforward, kind of almost four-on-the-floor type beat, and then the chorus gets a little bit more kind of polyrhythmic and a bit more bit more experimental with with the rhythms, even though they're written by different drummers. But I also felt uh the guitar parts, specifically Travis's guitar parts, the leads and the solo, share some DNA with You've Got Spirit Kid. This kind of like sort of bouncy, lilting, melodic phrasing. Yeah. And even this one this one kind of took me by surprise when I when I realized it, but like Sentry the Defiant, the intro coming into the bridge, or coming sorry, coming into the verse, kind of similar to the intro of this song, a little bit.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00Uh and the the tightness and the structure there. So there's there's definitely some shared shared DNA in there. There's also one really cool thing I picked. Actually, sorry, we're we're gonna go line by line here, right? When it comes to the lyrics.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Well, I'm gonna read the whole verse for you, then we can break it down.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm gonna save it till we till we get to the bridge, because there's a really cool thing that he does there that I want to touch on.
SPEAKER_04Okay. So well, let's get into it then. The first verse here's the lyrics. I welcome this pain beating down on me. Is it your eyes that chose not to see? All I would do if only you knew all of my trust was given to you.
SPEAKER_00Short lyrics, but they say a lot, right? Yeah. Very they're deep. Very deep, very emotionally resonant. I think that's right from the beginning here, you have lyrics that could be applied to to two different relationships within the context of the story that we've talked about. That is Pearl and Leonard and Koheed and Cambria. And I think when it comes to Pearl and Leonard, obviously their relationship is is fractured deeply wounded by this devastating loss that they're coping with. And so I think that Pearl is is kind of retreating into herself, whereas Leonard is trying desperately to salvage their relationship in whatever way that he can. He's trying to provide and give anything he can. I welcome this pain beating down on me. I think is both Pearl and Leonard in that case. But then in the uh Is It Your Eyes That Would Choose Not To See, All I Would Do If Only You Knew. I feel like that is that can equally be applied again to both both Pearls and uh Koheeds, uh, or I should say, and uh Pearl, Pearl and Leonard and Coheed and Cambria's dynamics. Because Leonard desperately wants to be there for his wife, and Koheed also wants to be there for Cambria, but he doesn't quite realize that's what that is. He he has a very Anakin moment at the end of this of this chapter where she's like, if I'm injured, Cambria says to him, If like if I'm injured in the field, like you have to keep going, you have to finish the mission.
SPEAKER_04And he's like, the hell I do.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, basically, he's like, he's like, No, if you're injured, I'm stopping the mission. It very much felt like Anakin at Attack of the Clones uh after Padme gets shot out of the ship when he's like readying to abandon the whole cause and everything that that was there for his love, this immature brash infatuation.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I mean, it it is love in the context of the story, but maybe not a super mature form of love. I don't know. I think that's probably all I have to say about the first verse. What do you think about it?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I you mean you pretty much said it all. I think it does a nice telling of either a relationship in peril or a new relationship budding from both perspectives. It feels a little more like the relationship in peril, but knowing the chapter and the lore, you could you could read it both ways.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Okay. So the verse musically is pretty straightforward. The the drums, you talked about polyrhythm rhythms and different things with the drums, but the drums are pretty much just snare on two and four for the entire song. And the difference really is the bass drum. The bass drum follows the bass guitar or vice versa. And it does pick up in the chorus, but the the verse, I don't know, it's a little more minimalistic if I'm remembering it correctly, and sort of more about the ambiance than it is about the actual notes being played.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And I think that the ambiance in no small part is captured by the the bass of this song. Um Mike Todd is so fucking groovy in in the pocket, even though it's it's simple, it's fairly simplistic. He's not doing anything crazy technical. He just really carries the vibe of of this song with that bass line.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and I that's probably the the the kick drum following him on that song.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So then we get to the chorus. Oh please, this is what I can give. What else do you need from me? I might be sick, broken, torn to pieces, so whatever this is, this thing that now I've become, you hate it so much, you keep on running from it. No matter the distance, oh, no matter how, no matter all fart.
SPEAKER_00Those are 100% the lyrics, right? The canon lyrics.
SPEAKER_04No matter all fart. No. Uh misheard lyric. Anyway, this actually it says, no matter the distance, oh, no matter how, no matter how far.
SPEAKER_00But not quite sure how to change it because she feels like a piece of herself died with Joseph. Right. You could also, I guess, again, apply it to Koheed or Cambria, maybe a little bit in this context, but I uh, you know, in the sense that like they're they're torn between their their duty to the mission and their attraction to each other, but I think it's more applicable to Pearl in this case.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it it totally feels like Pearl to me. And it's interesting, it relates to me back to the quote that Claudio said about the song, because the the last two lines of the the chorus, no matter the distance, oh, no matter how, no matter how far, I feel like it doesn't finish the thought. The thought being no matter the distance, no matter how far, you you come back to me, or something along those lines, or you you know, you you still want me.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's it's sort of unresolved a little bit. It leaves a little bit to the listener's imagination to figure out what what he's talking about.
SPEAKER_04Right. And it you could probably shape it to fit Koheed and Cambria's story a little bit, but to me it just feels so much like Pearl and Leonard mostly.
SPEAKER_00So before we move we move on, still talking about the lyrics of the chorus here, uh you made a joke, you you kind of jokingly fit in your your misheard lyric there, but there is an actual slightly misheard lyric. It's not as funny, but I I do think that I know at least one person who misheard it and uh thought it was the real lyric for many for a long time. I had a friend in high school, his name was Juan, I think you met him maybe once or twice, but he really liked this album. We listened to it a lot when it came out, and he even read the book too. He like this is he knows a lot about this era of Koheed just because the album came out at the time when I was obsessed about it and we dove into it together.
SPEAKER_04Wait, wait, wait. Um a time when you were obsessed about it?
SPEAKER_00Well, yeah, well. A time when I had nothing but time to be obsessed about it, which is also now. But he thought and would always sing the lyric was uh I might be seen, broken torn to pieces, instead of I might be sick, broken torn to pieces. And that to me, that's not the lyric of the song, it's not what's in the booklet, but that's what he heard and it's what he sang. And to me, that totally changes the context or phrasing of of what that line could be or how it could be interpreted to someone because it sounds way more emo. Yeah, it sounds like kind of attention seeky a little bit, but I don't know that it's necessarily out of context for the vibe of the song either. And that's kind of the interesting thing about Koheed stuff too, and well, this is not just Koheed, about art and music in general, is that like this is a much broader topic, but people's relationship to art and how they perceive it and what what it makes them feel is all relevant to themselves. You know, your experience and my experience with this song will be slightly different, and they're both legitimate when when we talk about our our relevant experiences. So for him, the lyric was I might be seen, broken, torn to pieces, which is definitely more emo, but like that was that was the song to him. And it's like yeah, I I corrected him a couple of times, but yeah, I remember he he specifically being like, I like this better. And like, okay, well, if you like that better, who am I to tell you? So be it. What what to think? Yeah. I like and so it goes.
SPEAKER_04I like no matter I'll fart better.
SPEAKER_00Well, that can be canon to you.
SPEAKER_04So the the music in the chorus, we've talked about this before, not about this course specifically, but in general, I'm not a guitar player, I don't play guitar, and I don't know that that I can recognize always the difference between Travis and Claudio's playing. But when I heard this today, listening to it again, it felt to me like the lead in the chorus was Travis.
SPEAKER_00Yes. And yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_04Travis, he does more of that kind of high rhythmic stuff. I don't know if that's the right phrasing as a non-guitar player, but uh like it just it felt to me like Travis. I I don't know if if his his persona or his attitude or his just aura comes out on that, but like I don't usually feel that about guitar parts, but for some reason it just screamed out Travis to me.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, Travis has this uh register that he likes to stay in guitar-wise. It's that's definitely higher up on the neck. I describe his parts as being like floaty a little bit, they're floatier than Claudio's, and his leads are all over the song with the intro, with the chorus, and especially when we get to the guitar solo, that's like pure Travis energy, and it's beautiful and kind of haunting, and I and I love it.
SPEAKER_04So if this was a prize fighter inferno song, let's say, that lead wouldn't be there, and it would be something totally different, don't you think?
SPEAKER_00Maybe, but we don't know. We we've talked about this before, not on the podcast, but in our life as brothers. We're brothers, by the way, in case anyone listening doesn't know that. Uh but we we we've talked about this before in that Claudio writes a lot of, if not all, the music sometimes for some of these songs. So it's uh to me, this feels very Travis, but who's to say that the parts we think of being very Travis weren't originally envisioned by Claudio and then tweaked by Travis? I don't I don't know. That's a conversation we'd have to ask them.
SPEAKER_04Well, you know what? Like, I I've I've got Claudio here on the line. Let's let's just ask him now. Claudio, what um No, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Oh shit, I have to go.
SPEAKER_04Oh, I wish. Maybe someday. But anyway, so then we go on to verse two. Verse two is shorter than verse one. Lyrics here are I bury this hurt concealed in this heart. Go lock all your doors, these cold steps will warm.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, to me that that is more about Pearl. This one feels more like Pearl than Kohi, but it's it's about her shutting in, shutting out all emotion or or or attempts from Leonard to try to she's literally locking all of her doors, shutting down, burying the hurt, concealing it inside of her heart. I this is I don't know. I'm probably way off. You should delete this if it's if it's off. But like I'm like, is this Wilhelm Ryan maybe? I don't know. No, never mind. Just scratch that.
SPEAKER_04Okay. Scratched from the record. Then we got the chorus. The chorus is the same, although it does add another, no matter how far before the interlude and the bridge. Then we get to what is called the interlude here on the lyrics I'm reading. And I don't remember lyrics in this part, but it reads it reads funny to me. The lyrics are far it is, which to me sounds like Yoda, far it is.
SPEAKER_00You would be correct. And this is the part that I wanted to talk about leading into the the bridge. I don't know if it was Claudio, maybe it was. Was Atticus, but this is the first time I've noticed it chronologically in their albums. But he does a cool reverse effect on the vocals. So he literally is saying I guess it is far, but it's backwards, no matter how far it is. Maybe that maybe that's what he's saying. But it's it's reversed. It kind of it it pulls the end of the phrase back to the beginning. And I think that that that specific effect it's used other times on some of their songs, although very sparingly. The most notable is actually in the most recent album, The Father of Make Believe, in the the beginning of the song, and so it goes. I mean, Claudio Da obviously didn't invent this technique, like the Beatles and the and the Beach Boys were like doing this stuff back in the 60s, but it it is a really interesting thing to add to it, and I think this is me putting my my tinfoil hat on, I think that uh that effect has it has a meaning in in the context of the the story, which is like fate. It's it's like paths converging toward an inevitable fate. And it's also you could interpret it another way, in a separate way, which is like twisted love. Taking an emotion and and twisting it and turning it into something, you know, flipping it on its head into something that that is re reverse of what the intent is. I think that that I don't know, I could be totally wrong. Maybe Claudio is not doing that at all, but that was my interpretation of that effect.
SPEAKER_04I have not heard that before, but that's interesting to potentially now listening to it again, go back and try to try to pick out. But I could you know Claudio is very methodical with his approach to all things, so I would not be surprised.
SPEAKER_00I think he might dabble a little bit with with some reverse effects on and keeping secrets as well, specifically in those like they call them interludes between some of the tracks like the crowing and uh three evils and stuff. Um but but this is the most this is the this and so it goes were the times I I heard him do it very clearly with the with the lyrics, and I think I think there's meaning there somehow. I think it means something.
SPEAKER_04Well, it means something, but the world may never know.
SPEAKER_00Time, I'm just gonna say time has a really important role to play in the world of the Amory Wars, and so it could just be to quote Doctor Who, which I've never seen. Wibbly wobbly tiny whimey shit.
SPEAKER_04Oh. Okay, and so after the interlude, we get into the guitar solo, which we already discussed is a Travis specialty. And it's it's it's a nice solo. It's very pleasant on the ears.
SPEAKER_00Certified hot fresh Travis Banger is what it is.
SPEAKER_04Yes. Travis Stever, 100% awesome.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04And from the rest of the music, like the bass is still thumping, thumping you through with the groove, and the drums are still just basically playing a straight four beat on the two and the four, four, four beat. There's nothing really crazy going on, which is kind of interesting because it is Chris Penny who is could be the crazy master. But he did, I think, what needed to be done on this particular song, and that might have been Atticus and the producers telling him, like, you know, just keep it simple. Don't don't go crazy. And it might have been him playing that weird wacky drum kit. It could have been a lot of things, but I think as a drummer, you want to play to the song. And he's not playing in Dillinger Escape Plan when he's playing with Kohe and Cambria. He's playing with a band that writes pop songs sometimes. And I think he he played he played to this song well. It it suited the song.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think so. Abs absolutely.
SPEAKER_04So after the guitar solo, you get back to the chorus, and it's a straight-up chorus, but then it repeats sort of the titular phrase no matter how no matter how far many times, and and the song is over.
SPEAKER_00We know two people with those lyrics tattooed on them separ separately.
SPEAKER_04We do?
SPEAKER_00We do. They're not together anymore.
SPEAKER_04Oh. Uh-oh. Who are those who are those two people?
SPEAKER_00I can't call them out. They might listen to this, but they'll know who they are if they if they hear it.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_00We love them both equally.
SPEAKER_04Well, uh clearly I love them very much because I don't know who they are. Anyway, so then song's over. I one more segment here before we close is to file this away for a later segment. I didn't have anything particular in this this song or the lore other than Koheed and his playful relationship that he's developing with Cambria. It's obvious knowing where they go with their lives and their future. And I have a lot of questions about them that I'm gonna save for future episodes, but just in general, I I think this is just more of the budding relationship, and file it away for later because you know it's gonna expand. And they're obviously they're the name of the band. They're gonna be important characters moving forward, and their relationship is gonna be very important.
SPEAKER_00There's uh there's two things I want to file away for later. And one is not necessarily like it's gonna come back in a huge, meaningful way, but I just thought it was interesting, and we didn't point it out yet in this episode is when Koheed is talking to Pearl, she says, You have his eyes. And he says, Whose eyes? And she says, You have my son's eyes. And that confirms that he was at least made with some of their late son Joseph's DNA.
SPEAKER_04Right.
SPEAKER_00Uh, which I think we talked about maybe a little bit last episode, but I just thought it was an important context to point out that you know, it in in more ways than one, Koheed is kind of their new I mean, all all three of them are kind of like their children, their new children in a way, which is fucked up because they're weapons bred for war. But and they're adults. They live and they're adults, yeah. But they literally put their own son's DNA in Koheed. So Koheed presents kind of like what an older Joseph might look like, I think. But in a real foul this away for later, and this is a follow this away for way later, like No World for Tomorrow later, there's a uh there's a brief paragraph where Inferno, and again, Inferno is kind of like the guy in the chair for their dynamic, but he's he's the unofficial leader of of this trio, kind of keeping them aligned. Inferno tells Koheed and Cambria that they keep essentially that they can't hesitate. And if in the midst of battle, Wilhelm Ryan is lying there with a sucking chest wound, begging for succor, the only action you take is to finish him off. Follow that away, follow that away for later for four albums from now.
SPEAKER_04We'll see that in 2028.
SPEAKER_00I suppose maybe we can maybe we can get lucky and do it by 2027 for the 20th uh uh anniversary of that album. That would be cool, but we'll see.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, we'll have to pick up the pace maybe. But anyway, that concludes this episode far. Make sure that you like and subscribe to the podcast, tell your friends about it. Check us out on Instagram at the Koheed Chronicles or both also individually on Instagram.
SPEAKER_00And tell your enemies about it too.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, tell everyone you know. Tell the lady from Evanescence about this podcast.
SPEAKER_00Anyone you anyone so if you love Koheed, you should tell your friends, and if you hate Koheed, you should tell your enemies. And if you know people that hate Koheed, you should tell them to listen to this if they are your enemies because you want them to suffer. Yeah, perfect. Perfect, perfect. Live in the suffering.
SPEAKER_04Oh. And with that, ladies and gentlemen, that concludes this episode. Thank you. Goodbye.
SPEAKER_00Thanks, guys. See you next time.