Formation and Shabütie (1995–2001) In March 1995, after the split of
Claudio Sanchez and
Travis Stever's band called Toxic Parents, they formed a band with
Nate Kelley called Beautiful Loser. The band featured Stever on vocals and guitar, Sanchez on guitar, Kelley on drums and Jon Carleo on bass. The group was short lived, breaking up by June 1995 after an argument over gas money. Stever left the band, and the resulting trio was named Shabütie, a word taken from African tribe chants that means "naked prey" in the film
The Naked Prey. The band spent nearly a year experimenting with a multitude of different musical styles, including
punk rock,
indie rock,
acoustic rock,
funk, and
heavy metal. When Carleo left the band in August 1996, Kelley recruited
Michael Todd to take his place. Todd, who was primarily a guitarist, picked up the bass specifically for Shabütie. As Shabütie, the band wrote dozens of songs and released their first studio demo
Plan to Take Over the World in 1999. The band also released
The Penelope EP in 1999, shortly after which Stever rejoined the band. Kelley left the band during a performance in late 1999.
Josh Eppard (then the drummer of his brother
Joey Eppard's band
3) replaced him.
The Amory Wars, The Second Stage Turbine Blade, and In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 (2001–2004) Several songs that appeared on
Delirium Trigger were adapted into a series of science fiction comics written by Claudio Sanchez called
The Bag.On.Line Adventures, which was later renamed
The Amory Wars. Sanchez's side project originally developed during a 1998 trip to Paris, where the band members decided to rename themselves Coheed and Cambria, named after two of the story's protagonists, and adopted the concept story as a theme that would unify their future albums. This side project also created Coheed's official logo, the Keywork, a symbol for the planetary alignment of the
Amory Wars universe. In February 2002 the band released its first studio album
The Second Stage Turbine Blade after signing with
Equal Vision Records. Influenced by the
post-hardcore group
At The Drive In, The band eventually played several tour dates in the United States and Japan, as well as a brief stint on the 2002
Vans Warped Tour. In August 2002, Coheed and Cambria started working with manager Blaze James.
''Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV'' (2004–2006) The band also supported the release by filming an August 2004 concert at New Jersey's
Starland Ballroom. The performance was converted into the band's first live DVD,
Live at the Starland Ballroom, which was released in March 2005. The success of
In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 attracted the attention of the record label
Columbia Records, The band stopped touring to record their third studio album and first major-label release ''
Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness'' in early 2005 for a September 2005 release. Their most commercially successful album to date,
Good Apollo Volume One has sold almost 1 million copies and peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard charts. The album represented a departure from their previous melodic
post-hardcore influenced rock toward a
progressive rock sound. The single "
Welcome Home" was described by John A. Hanson as "a heavily Led Zeppelin-influenced metal tune". The band supported the album with American and European tours accompanied by
The Blood Brothers,
Circa Survive,
Dredg,
Head Automatica, and
Avenged Sevenfold, tours culminating in the release of the exclusive iTunes EP
Kerrang!/XFM UK Acoustic Sessions and their second live DVD
The Last Supper: Live at Hammerstein Ballroom.
Departures and No World for Tomorrow (2006–2009) Claudio Sanchez released an album from his side-project
The Prize Fighter Inferno in October 2006 titled ''
My Brother's Blood Machine''. Like Coheed and Cambria's albums, it was a concept album, related to Coheed and Cambria via a character that appears in both stories: Jesse, "The Prize Fighter Inferno". The album was intended to be a prequel to the Coheed and Cambria albums. Claudio says "when we were called Shabütie, the initial idea for Coheed and Cambria was to be an acoustic/electronic side project. So I guess The Prize Fighter Inferno is kind of the original idea for Coheed and Cambria." In early November 2006, Josh Eppard and Michael Todd left the band for personal reasons, forcing Matt Williams and the band's drum technician, Michael Petrak, to fill out temporarily the band's rhythm section for a handful of shows. In April 2007, bassist Michael Todd rejoined Coheed and Cambria, and the band entered the
Los Angeles-based studio with new producer
Nick Raskulinecz. The following June
Chris Pennie, formerly of the
Dillinger Escape Plan, joined Coheed and Cambria as its drummer, but due to contractual restrictions with his previous record label, Pennie did not appear on the band's fourth release. The album's first single, "The Running Free", was released to radio in August 2007. The second single was "Feathers" with a video starring
Rena Riffel. The band continued touring, headlining portions of the 2007
Warped Tour, a tour supported by
Clutch and
The Fall of Troy, and opened for
Linkin Park's 25-city U.S. tour, which forced the cancellation of Coheed and Cambria's performances on Australia's
Soundwave Festival. In addition to the return of Todd on bass and new drummer Pennie, the band also recruited a touring keyboardist and backup vocalists for its live performances. In November 2007, their song "
Welcome Home" was included as a playable track in the video game
Rock Band, and a cover of their song "
Ten Speed (of God's Blood & Burial)" was later made available as a download for
Rock Band. In 2009 two more songs were made available for download, "The Running Free" and "A Favor House Atlantic", for the video game
Rock Band, later joined in 2010 by the songs "Guns of Summer", "Here We Are Juggernaut" and "The Broken". The band prepared a four-month world tour beginning in January 2008. They later headlined at
The Bamboozle 2008 music festival. The band headlined the 2008
Kerrang! Tour in the U.K., where the band performed and recorded a cover of "The Trooper" by
Iron Maiden, which is featured on Kerrang!'s Iron Maiden tribute album,
Maiden Heaven, that came with the July 16 issue. They were nominated for Best International Band and Best Music Video (for
Feathers) in the 2008 Kerrang! Awards. In October and November 2008, the band played
Neverender, a four-night concert series in which the band played one album per night. The event was held in
New York City,
Chicago, Los Angeles, and in
London in early December.
Neverender: Children of The Fence Edition, a CD/DVD box set of their Neverender performance, was released on March 24, 2009.
Year of the Black Rainbow (2009–2011) Coheed and Cambria toured through most of early 2009. Between January and March, they toured with
Slipknot and
Trivium on the Slipknot-headlined All Hope Is Gone tour. In August 2009, Coheed and Cambria toured in support of
Heaven & Hell on their tour in support of
The Devil You Know. On September 16, 2009, they performed at the Puyallup Fair alongside
Brand New and Jaguar Love. In October they performed at the
Austin City Limits Music Festival in
Austin, Texas. They also performed at the
Wacken Open Air festival, at the UK leg of the
Sonisphere Festival tour, and at the
Lollapalooza festival in Chicago, Illinois. Coheed and Cambria finished recording their fifth studio album
Year of the Black Rainbow in 2009. It is a prequel to their conceptual story, having events that take place before
The Second Stage Turbine Blade. A novel was released to accompany the album co-written by Sanchez and
Peter David. The album was released on April 13, 2010, in both a standard, iTunes special, and deluxe edition (with the deluxe edition including the
Year of the Black Rainbow novel and a special Year of the Black Rainbow "black card" that provided the holder early access to some Coheed shows. The concept of a special card with this privilege would carry over into future album releases). In 2010 the band played the UK rock festival Download, alongside
A Day to Remember and
Bullet for My Valentine. "The Broken", "Guns of Summer" and "Here We Are Juggernaut" were released on the
Rock Band music store on April 20, 2010. Sanchez stated that with the Coheed and Cambria saga completely chronicled on the group's first five albums, he was contemplating the direction of future releases. "I've thought of telling stories of the future and stories of the past, maybe getting involved more in the story of Sirius Amory (sic – Sirius Amory in the stories), the fellow who figured out the value of the Keywork," he said. "Or even stories that kind of parallel the one that we're telling. It's kind of up in the air. I've started writing music for that next record, and I'm kind of hoping that maybe in doing that it's going to tell me which one to do." On July 10, 2011, bassist Michael Todd was arrested and taken into police custody in
Attleboro, Massachusetts, on charges of armed robbery.
Wes Styles acted as a temporary replacement for the remaining dates. On August 4, 2011, Todd and the band parted ways by mutual decision. The band recorded a cover of the
ZZ Top song "
Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers" for the tribute album
A Tribute from Friends, and the song "Deranged" was released on the soundtrack for the video game
Batman: Arkham City on October 18, 2011.
Line-up change and The Afterman (2011–2014) Claudio announced at
New York Comic Con in "Radio.com" in October 2011 that the upcoming album was written and that the recordings would begin in November. He also confirmed that the band were continuing to write music following the
Amory Wars storyline, hinting that fans would be surprised by which character was followed in the new album. In November 2011, Chris Pennie departed the band by mutual agreement due to creative differences. Two weeks later, Pennie was replaced by the band's former drummer
Josh Eppard, and the following April, the band announced via social media that their replacement bassist would be Zach Cooper, previously of the band AM to AM. According to an interview with Cooper, Coheed manager Blaze James "cold-called" Cooper to audition for the bass position based upon a personal recommendation. In June, the band completed the recording of their sixth studio album at Applehead Studios. The following month, Coheed announced via their website that the upcoming album would be a double album called "The Afterman." The first part, titled
The Afterman: Ascension, was released on October 9, 2012, and the second, titled
The Afterman: Descension, was released on February 5, 2013. It was produced by Coheed and Cambria, with Michael Birnbaum and Chris Bittner. 'The Afterman' tells the story of Sirius Amory, the namesake of the concept, as he explores the energy source holding together the Keywork (the 78 worlds in which
The Amory Wars is set) and finds that it is in fact an afterlife for departed souls. In the same month, Claudio announced at
San Diego Comic-Con that
Entourage producers
Mark Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson would be developing his comic book series
The Amory Wars into a full-length live action film. In September 2019, Sanchez revealed that Wahlberg's agreement to produce the project had expired. On August 28, 2012, the band released the music video for "Key Entity Extraction I: Domino the Destitute", the first single from
The Afterman: Ascension, on their
Vevo channel, reaching over one million views. Two weeks before the album's release, the band premiered the studio version of the title track "The Afterman" on
Rolling Stone. The second video from the album was later created for this track. In 2013, the band released videos for "Dark Side of Me" and "Number City", from
The Afterman: Descension. On August 18, 2014, it was revealed on a Billboard.com article that Coheed and Cambria would be releasing a remastered version of
In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 on October 21, including some interview questions about why they were releasing it, and premiering the remastered version of the single "A Favor House Atlantic" from that album. On August 25, 2014, a video of Claudio playing a new song titled "Atlas" was uploaded to the band's
YouTube channel. In September and October 2014, Coheed and Cambria went on tour with
Thank You Scientist, playing
In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 in its entirety in correspondence with its remastering. In February 2015, it was announced on
BBC Radio 1 that the band would be performing "In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3" at Hevy Fest held at
Port Lympne, Kent, England.
The Color Before the Sun (2015–2017) in 2016 In an interview, Claudio Sanchez stated that he hoped to take Coheed and Cambria into the studio during January 2015 for a spring or summer release. The band's eighth album,
The Color Before the Sun, was released on October 16, 2015. It is the band's first album not connected to
The Amory Wars storyline. Instead, the album reflects on Sanchez's recent events in his life, such as moving from the country to the city, as well as his child Atlas. The album's first single, "
You Got Spirit, Kid" was released on July 10, 2015. The second single, "Here to Mars", was released on September 3, 2015. The band embarked on an early 2016 U.S. tour with
Glassjaw,
I the Mighty, and Silver Snakes, and a late 2016 U.S. tour with
Saves the Day and
Polyphia. On August 19, 2016, the band released a Deconstructed version of the album which includes demos of the tracks as well as live recordings.
Vaxis – Act I: The Unheavenly Creatures (2018–2020) On February 20, 2018, the band announced a summer tour with
Taking Back Sunday and
The Story So Far. It was announced on April 5, 2018, that the band had signed with
Roadrunner Records and released a teaser potentially for a new album set to release in 2018. The band decided to premiere a new song after a show at the Chameleon Club in Lancaster, PA on May 5, 2018. After videos of the song went viral among fans on YouTube the band decided to premiere the video for a new song, "The Dark Sentencer" along with the album's "Prologue" (the album's backstory), on May 31, 2018, against their promotional plan set forth by Roadrunner Records. On June 22, 2018, the band announced their new album,
Vaxis – Act I: The Unheavenly Creatures, would be released October 5, 2018. It continues the
Amory Wars storyline that the band's first seven albums followed. The second song on the album, "Unheavenly Creatures", was released on June 28. A third single, "The Gutter", was released on August 16. A fourth, "Old Flames", was released on September 27. A fifth, "Love Protocol", made its debut on BBC Radio 1 on September 30. The band embarked on an early 2019 tour with
Maps & Atlases. On February 12, 2019, the band announced The Unheavenly Skye Tour, co-headlined with
Mastodon and featuring special guests
Every Time I Die. On August 21, 2020, the band released "Jessie's Girl 2", a sequel to
Rick Springfield's 1981 song, "
Jessie's Girl", featuring Springfield on the recording. The song was released on both a red and blue 7" vinyl on September 4. According to an article by
Entertainment Weekly, the band reportedly has considered releasing a whole album called
Sequels entirely composed of sequels to other songs.
Vaxis – Act II: A Window of the Waking Mind (2021–2024) In early 2021, the band announced a tour co-headlining with
The Used. On July 21, 2021, they released the lead single, "Shoulders", from their tenth studio album. The album continues the
Amory Wars "Vaxis" saga from the previous album, though frontman
Claudio Sanchez noted that parts of the story were still in flux as some plot points felt insensitive in the wake of the
COVID-19 pandemic, such as a song titled "Hallelujah Quarantine" written before the pandemic, centered around a "celebration called The Quarantine. It's almost like a cotillion where the young come to party and to decide their fates. But this organization is really just taking these young kids to use them as blood banks." On November 10, 2021, the band released their new album's second single, "Rise, Naianasha (Cut the Cord)". In December 2021, the band announced The Great Destroyer Tour with
Sheer Mag, to take place in February and March 2022. In January 2022, the band announced the title and track listing of their tenth album:
Vaxis – Act II: A Window of the Waking Mind, which released on June 24, 2022, to critical acclaim. A third single, "The Liars Club", was released on February 22, 2022. The next day, the band announced the A Window of the Waking Mind Tour with
Dance Gavin Dance and
Mothica. A fourth single, "Comatose", was released on May 18, 2022, and the band added European tour dates with
Thrice and
Touché Amoré. Due to sexual assault allegations against Dance Gavin Dance singer
Tilian Pearson and his departure from the band,
Alkaline Trio replaced Dance Gavin Dance on the A Window of the Waking Mind tour. On January 24, 2023, the band announced the Neverender: No World for the Waking Mind Tour with
Deafheaven. On February 6, 2024, the band announced a tour supporting
Incubus, and on February 20, they announced a co-headlining tour with
Primus. On May 8, 2024, the band released a new song, "The Joke", a track cut from
Vaxis – Act II.
Vaxis – Act III: The Father of Make Believe (2024–present) On July 12, 2024, the band premiered a new song, "Blind Side Sonny", on tour. They released a music video for the song on October 2, 2024. On November 20, the band revealed the title of their eleventh studio album,
Vaxis – Act III: The Father of Make Believe, the full tracklisting, and second single, "Searching for Tomorrow", along with a release date of March 14, 2025. On December 9, 2024, the band announced the Infinite Arc Tour with
Mastodon and
Periphery. On January 14, 2025, the band released the single "Someone Who Can" and announced a second leg to their 2025 tour with
Taking Back Sunday and
Foxing. On June 3, 2025, the band announced the Welcome to Forever Tour, a UK and European tour with
Haken. On September 10, 2025, the band announced a deluxe edition of
Vaxis – Act III, called the
New Entities Edition, with four new tracks that was released on October 3, 2025. In February 2026, the band was confirmed to be on the roster for the
Louder Than Life festival taking place in
Louisville in September. ==Musical style and influences==