Usually the average rock music fan has to rely on sheer luck or happenstance to hear obscure personal favorite songs from their rock bands onstage, knowing that most likely they’ll hear only the popular singles. For fans of Coheed and Cambria, last month was that rare concert opportunity to hear every one of their songs performed live. As part of their “Neverender” tour, Coheed and Cambria played four nights in a row, each night dedicated to one of their four studio albums. Chicago was one of only four cities to host such an event.  Boosh Magazine’s Nelson Carvajal caught up with the band on their second night in the Windy City to talk about their comic book storyline, favorite beer and some weird noises coming from a room in one of their recording houses.

Boosh Magazine: Well, first off, “The Armory Wars”…why do a storyline with your songs?

Coheed and Cambria: Really the story is Claudio [Sanchez’s] but at the same time I think for us personally it’s a really cool addition to have lyrics that not only are something you can relate to on a normal level but also being able to look deeper into it, with this concept and its alternate world. And they come in comic book form and there are already numerous copies of “The Armory Wars” out. You could be into us as a rock band and not even know about the comic books but we’d like them to be in a kind of equal marriage. If a fan wants to dig deeper [than the song lyrics] and get into that concept [of the comic book story] they have that there as well. There’s a lot of things in the concept—yes it’s about the characters “Coheed and “Cambria” and when they meet their demise, it’s about their son’s quest for vendetta. But all the things that happen in the story usually have some importance or some kind of reality to them that happened to Claudio—or even us. I think it’s cool. I think it’s a cool addition. I think it’s cool that people are into dive into that and relate to it on a personal level or just get into the comic.

BM: It’s risky a concept. Was everybody on board with this idea from the start?

CAC: Yeah. I mean we had a different band name before. We were called Shabutie. We didn’t like that name. It really just was never a fitting band name for us. Searching for names, we went through quite a few names that we didn’t end up really liking and Claudio had a side project called “Coheed and Cambria” and we all liked that name. So when we adopted the name we therefore adopted the story.

Although hip-hop has become a family friendly phenomenon in the last ten years, it still delivers its fair share of controversy.  The latest example of this being The East Coast Avengers (ECA), an underground hip hop group that is speaking out against right wing conservative news in a bold manner. 

They have proved to become the 2008 version of NWA with their marquee single, “Kill Bill O’Reilly”.  

The song, which calls for Fox News to stop broadcasting altogether and for Bill O’Reilly to be executed, has been applauded by the hip hop community, condemned by the “right-wing blogoshere” and has gotten the ECA a spot in Keith Olbermann’s “Worst Person in the World” TV segment.

“We may hate the guy, but we don’t actually want to kill Bill O’Reilly,” says ECA emcee Trademark. “Anyone that thinks that is completely missing the point of what we are saying. Our messages may be strong and may shock certain people, but we are saying what we believe. People are blind to the pollution in our news and media. Bill O’Reilly is a prime example of that. At one time he was a real reporter that covered the fall of the Berlin Wall and other important world events. Now he just transmits propaganda. That has to stop.”

Ben Nichols, frontman of the Memphis-based outfit Lucero which can best be described as Harley Davidson fueled alternative-country, has a solo release that we think is worth you're bandwith. Nichols has this awesome voice that has defined Lucero's sound since 2001. It is gravely and dark, the audible translation of a man who has spent a lot of time driving on empty back road highways. The band has released six albums and is constantly on stage (150-200 shows a year). They recently signed a four album deal with Universal Media Group with their first major label release coming summer of 2009. 

While Lucero can provide some stellar biker bar tunes, Nichols' solo debut The Last Pale Light in the West has a really cool sound that you're either going to love or hate. I've been a fan of Lucero since I heard their song "Bikeriders" on a road trip out west a couple years ago, and if you've never heard of the band before this track will give you a good idea of whether their for you. The free download we found is the title track "The Last Pale Light in the West". The song features Nichols' awesome lyrical infliction over an acoustic guitar and an accordion. I've listened to it a couple times thru now, each time I feel like I'm sitting at a truck stop diner watching the sun go down and wondering where the past ten years of my life went. 

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Seriously. What the hell Prodigy?