It's like apples and peanut butter, Shaun Cooper says. "It" being the co-headlining tour where Cooper's band Taking Back Sunday joins progressive/alternative rockers Coheed and Cambria crossing the U.S. for the first time in their some 16 years of friendship.
"Their songs are so different, and their narrative is so different from what we do, but somehow it goes really, really well together," the TBS bassist explains. "It's two completely different things, but you put them together and you've got an awesome snack. So it's a very, very cool, rock 'n' roll, bad analogy."
FAQ
Taking Back Sunday
& Coheed and Cambria
WHEN — 6:30 p.m. July 31
WHERE — Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion in Rogers
COST — $29.50-$59.50
INFO — 443-5600, waltonartscenter.or…
BONUS — The Story So Far opens the show.
"But more than that," Cooper adds of the bands' original talks of hitting the road together, "one plus one will equal three, and it will get people excited to come to the shows!"
Still riding the high that was their 2016 release "Tidal Wave," Cooper says Taking Back Sunday is "as solid as any band could ever be." Despite considerable personnel changes over the band's nearly two decades -- including the exit of Cooper himself and original lead guitarist/keyboardist John Nolan in 2003 and their return in 2010 -- Cooper says the chemistry between members and in the songwriting is the best it's ever been.
"When John and I left, things were very, very crazy. We were gone for seven years, and now we've been back for eight, and just that timeline is so wacky. But I think the four of us in the band, we saw it come from nothing and develop into something bigger than we had ever hoped or dreamed," he shares. "We thought we'd play a few shows, maybe sell a couple records and then go back to a regular life. And that'd be great. We didn't really think this through as being a touring entity that can go around the world and play shows to tens of thousands of people. When you're a kid, you don't think that far; you don't have that long-term planning."
With three consecutive albums created by the same lineup, combined with the wisdom of time and age, Cooper says he feels the band has finally found the cohesiveness and comfort level they've been seeking all this time.
"For example, with the 'Tidal Wave' song, that song is kind of very Ramones-y, very Clash-y. Sometimes we [used to] try and change that because there was too much of that influence on its sleeve," Cooper reveals. Not so, this time. "We said, 'No, let's just embrace this this time and let's see if it works.' And I couldn't be more proud of that song.
"I think if anything, we now have the confidence to know what we're doing -- to not be afraid, to not feel that pressure, and to rely on us," he adds. "The four of us in the band, we know what we want, we know how the songs should sound, and when the four of us come together, it's going to sound like Taking Back Sunday no matter what we do. [It] seems like, to us, it's greater than the sum of its parts."
NAN What's Up on 07/29/2018