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 Amory 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.

For most people, rocking out in the middle of the week seems like overkill but with a band like Nashville Pussy, such naughty actions and against-the-rules behavior is embraced with welcomed arms. At a recent Wednesday show at the House of Blues in downtown Chicago, the fearless foursome—Blaine Cartwright, Ruyter Suys, Jeremy Thompson and the incredibly sexy Karen Cuda—brought out those guilty pleasures from an eager to party crowd. Even after the three opening bands played their lengthy sets, the Chicago crowd wasn’t fazed one bit; they were hungry for some of that wild energy which Nashville Pussy is worshipped for drawing out. Writer Nelson Carvajal gets down and dirty with the Georgia band that has the balls to call themselves “pussy.”

Boosh Magazine: Were you excited about coming to play in Chicago?
Nashville Pussy: Oh hell yeah! We love Chicago. Chicago is one of the few places we go to on our time off. And for a rock band to go anywhere on their time off, instead of staying home—that’s saying a lot. Plus you guys got some really good food here.

BM: Well the name “Nashville Pussy” originated from some Ted Nugent lyrics right?
NP: Yeah it’s from the live album “Double Live Gonzo!” with the song “Wang Dang Poontang” that was recorded in Nashville. Ted Nugent had the balls to dedicate it to all that Nashville pussy. [Laughs].

BM: So it was pretty much a unanimous decision when the time came to name the band?
NP: Yeah, man. You know we had some of the dumbest fucking names in the world. Like one of them was “Bacon Battleship.”

 There’s no question when it comes the originality and overall infectious aura of cool that springs from a band like Deerhoof. They’re the filet of the music menu. During October, the release month of their latest album “Offend Maggie,” Deerhoof played to a packed house at the Metro in Chicago. All four members—John Dieterich, Satomi Matsuzaki, Greg Saunier and Ed Rodriguez—continue to raise the bar of melodic creativity with new tracks like “The Tears of Music and Love” and “Fresh Born.”  Their concert made quite the impression in the Wrigleyville area of Chicago—a happy break from tired catalogue jukebox tracks that seem to ooze out of every bar in that area. Writer Nelson Carvajal sits down with Deerhoof and talks about their improvisational background, quest for continual creativity and those awful “indie” references.

Boosh Magazine: Jazz. That’s what pops into mind when I think of Deerhoof; Very improvisational. To keep up that spontaneity while performing on the road—is there something special you do to give your songs that wonderful sound of them being created on the spot?

Deerhoof: As far as concerts, everybody in the band improvises. What we mostly prepare for is finding out how to play the songs. Getting it so we really understand it so that it’s completely in our being, totally coded. A lot of times playing live, if things happen, like the snare drum breaks or a string breaks, you can use these opportunities to be creative. It’s always something I’ve loved about the band, the feeling that at any moment we can take it in a new direction.

Put it this way: we put a lot of effort into putting notes together. Finding the exact right timings and distances between notes to make something that makes all of our eyes light up. Once all four of us realize, “Yes, this is right!” that’s how we know. It’s right.

Not that there couldn’t be a million other “rights.” There are and we’re always discovering new ones, even on tour, as the songs are always changing. All of us are very meticulous. I’ll leave it that. (Laughs).

BM: Well Deerhoof’s first album was “The Man, The King, The Girl” and now their latest is “Offend Maggie” (which came out in early October)—would you say your sound has grown in any way?

DH: It’s definitely changed. Whether or not it’s grown—I guess I don’t know. I feel like ultimately with any sort of artistic expression is that it’s trying to take whatever tools you have available and express something from deep inside with whatever it is. There’s a surface difference—a great surface difference between the way “The Man, The King, The Girl” sounds like on the surface and with the way “Offend Maggie” sounds like. In terms of actual “content of ideas” and things like that, I think it’s different. But I think there are more similarities than differences.