After an uncharacteristically sunny spring, festival season is finally upon us. With the pints flowing and music flooding out of booming sound systems, 2025 is set to be a summer to remember. One such band-stacked-banger is Cheltenham’s 2000 Trees festival. Despite featuring headline performances from Kneecap, Alexisonfire and Pvris, it’s the Friday bill that’s got this elder emo feeling clammy under the fringe. For the first time on British shores, two New Jersey legends are teaming up for a co-headline extravaganza – the prog-tinged Coheed and Cambria and the arbiter of countless Myspace profile songs - Taking Back Sunday.
Catching up with both bands’ frontmen ahead of their US run, I quickly learn that their bond lies deeper than just occasionally sharing a stage. With Taking Back Sunday’s Adam Lazzara and Coheed and Cambria’s Claudio Sanchez’ wives co-hosting a podcast, and Coheed’s drummer Josh Eppard responsible for reuniting Taking Back Sunday with ex-member Fred Mascherino last December, the singers reveal a delightful decades-long friendship.
“I'm a bit of an introvert, so when relationships got formed in those earlier years, I was probably more of a recluse,” reflects Claudio Sanchez.
“I wasn't really hanging out with people. I just kind of stuck to my own thing - I sat in the back of the van and wanted to be alone most of the time. But Adam was always very nice to me, and I always remember when people make the effort. Now we’ve formed more of a relationship because of our wives and their podcasts, and he’s super cool, just a great guy.”
“I’ve always loved Claudio, and Coheed’s drummer Josh, too – just absurdly cool and talented people” says Adam Lazzara.
“There was a long time where Fred Mascherino and I didn't talk at all. Josh played with Fred in a band called Terrible Things and Josh would be like, ‘Adam, man, how come you and Fred don't talk anymore?It doesn't make any sense. It breaks my heart.’ I guess Fred was feeling that same way..so, when Fred joined us on stage last year, Josh from Coheed made that happen!”
As the two musical legends reveal their depth of their (My) Chemical Bromance and share old tour stories, the two iconic frontmen list three favourite tracks from each other’s back catalogues.
Adam Lazzara of Taking Back Sunday’s favourite Coheed and Cambria Songs
1. ‘Yesterday’s Lost’
“When bands have been around for a long period of time, often you'll find bands will fall into this trap of saying, ‘Well, we found our sound. We found the thing that we do, so this is just what you get’. With Coheed they've had this consistent sound, but each record, they've expanded on it. They were already some of the best players around, and over the years, they've only gotten better, gotten more comfortable with showing off, and it's those moments that are just magical. With Yesterday's Lost, you can hear how Claudio’s grown as a singer. The first, two lines alone, It's like, holy…buckle up! I listened to it four times on repeat, I had goosebumps. It gave me that feeling that I haven't felt in a while. I think just the ability to write a song that does that is pure magic.”
2. ‘Devil In Jersey City’
“The first time I saw Coheed play was in this restaurant on Long Island. It was basically in a ‘Long Island fancy’ restaurant where everything is made from marble. They would move the tables out of the way, and there was a fake waterfall behind the stage – Ridiculous! But when Coheed started playing, I was blown away. They didn't look like anybody else, and they didn't sound like anybody else. From that moment on, I was a fan. The reason I chose this song specifically, is when we started touring, we had a Ford WinStar for ages, a suburban minivan, until we finally upgraded to a much more comfortable 15 passenger van. Whenever I hear this song, I‘m back sitting in that tiny cramped van, because I put ‘Devil In Jersey City’ on in there so much!”
3. ‘Welcome Home’
“Anytime I hear ‘Welcome Home’ I feel like I'm Mel Gibson from Braveheart. I’m William Wallace, face half painted blue and I'm getting ready to go into battle. That's what ‘Welcome Home’ feels like! I think about all the times I've probably heard that song, and every time, I feel like my chest goes up a little bit, and I stand up a little straighter. I get this feeling of man, I can do anything! It’s just a really cool song. I don’t feel like Mel Gibson any time off screen though, for the record!”
Coheed and Cambria’s Claudio Sanchez’ three favourite Taking Back Sunday songs
1. ‘Cute Without the E’
“The first time we played with Taking Back Sunday, I remember Adam's magical work with the microphone. I'd always been into performers like that — Roger Daltrey, Cedric [Bixler-Zavala, from At The Drive In] — anyone that had the performance figured out. That to me is the hardest thing to do. I've always been a guitar player first so I can't envision myself singing without something on me, and to see someone like Adam do it so majestically, it was just, wow! The melodies on that first record, they are just ear worms. Strong melodies, strong songs, and all performed by a majestic angel swinging a microphone around. I remember watching them on that tour humming along like, man, someone's gonna get knocked the fuck out!”
2. A Decade Under the Influence’
“When Fred joined the band, it was a big deal. Fred’s old band breaking Pangea took Coheed on our very first tour, so there's a special place in all of our hearts for Fred. We'd never been out on the road before, and so we really created a friendship there. When I found out [in 2003 that] Fred joined Taking Back Sunday, I was really happy for him. You could immediately hear his contribution to the band. When members come in, you can always hear their influence on the band — a little bit of nuance that maybe wasn't there before — and I definitely loved Fred’s contributions. Also ‘to hell with you and all your friends’ man, it’s just so good! Maybe we should cover it. Oh, and an honourable mention to MakeDamnSure, too!”
3. ‘Tidal Wave’
“We went out on tour with Taking Back Sunday not too long ago, probably pre-pandemic and this record had just come out. Whenever they would play Tidal Wave live it just felt like a cool progression to that band. Not to be corny, but there was growth there. Some bands find a formula and they'll stick with the formula. That's just something I don't think Coheed necessarily does — our formula is just being fucking chaotic! Tidal Wave was a nice progression to me, a band that wanted to try something, and I thought that song was great.”
“All three of these songs, regardless of how they feel to me - nostalgically or friendship wise - it's all about the melodies, and whether those melodies take my imagination and take me away to someplace else, “ adds Sanchez.
“That's the thing about music that I always love. As a kid, when I would hear songs, they made me envision myself as someone else or painted a picture against the reality that I was viewing. When I think songs are special, when the harmonic structure of the song and vocals merge together it takes you somewhere else.”
A reunion to come?
And there you have it, three Taking Back Sunday and Coheed and Cambria anthems as recommended by two musical legends. As a lifelong Taking Back Sunday fan, however, I couldn’t let Adam go without asking if any more shows with Fred Mascherino are looming on the gigging horizon.
“Those years in my life were very defining years for me,” Lazzara explains of the years that Fred was in Taking Back Sunday.
“Just as far as what I was experiencing personally. Fred was one of those people that was really important to me at that time, and he still remains important to me. So we were just talking back and forth last year, thanks to Josh, but we never talked about playing music. When we were on tour last summer, he was also on tour and he had a day off near where we had a show, so he came to the show and just hung out all day. That hadn't happened since he left the band.”
“Then for the holiday show we do every year at Starland ballroom we just asked him to play, and it felt awesome,” Lazzara continues, with a grin.
“When we played ‘Make Damn Sure’, both he and John just started creating different vocal parts. There's these three vocal parts that we don't really do live, and they just did ‘em, and to hear that coming back in my ears was really crazy! I started to feel emotional in ways that I hadn't thought about. So hopefully we'll get to do more [shows with Fred] if it works out in the future.”
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