Meatball recently sent full “fan boy” on the front man of one of his favorite bands, Claudio Sanchez of Coheed & Cambria, ahead of their show in Wichita, Tuesday, Sept. 7th.

During their interview, Claudio talked about why he took the approach of putting his stories in the music, into science fiction form.

“I was uncomfortable being the headpiece of the band. That’s why I created the science fiction concept to basically hide my true story.”

Claudio said he uses his real life experiences to shape the stories told in the music, and in the accompanying graphic novels and stories.

“In those early Coheed records, I foolishly put myself in them as a character, but I played the child of Coheed and Cambria… I wrote songs about that stage in my life… Now I see myself as the father, and navigating life as a dad. And that’s really what kind of inspires the music. Then, I just kind of transform that to what I feel makes sense, and what feels fantastic in a science fiction sense.”

The band released “Vaxis part 1: Unheavenly Creatures” in 2018 as the first in a new series of stories told in Claudio’s sci-fi series “The Amory Wars,” which has now developed into Four distinct eras. The first being the “Neverender” series, which started it all, and includes the band’s first four albums; Second, was “Year of the Black Rainbow” which was only one record; and Third was the “Afterman” double album series, taking place WELL in the past of the fictional universe, created by Claudio.

The fourth era kicked off with “Vaxix Part 1.”

“A lot of those (early records) were learning curves for me, especially in the story sense. I just took a shot at creating something I’d never done before… Had I known what I know now, that (Vaxis Part 1) is what Second Stage would have looked like. Vaxis feels like a new beginning to me… Part one of a five-part thing that just feels right… If Ihad a second chance, I would have started the whole thing like that.”

Claudio and Meatball also talked about the new line of coffee products that the band has released.

“When [band manager “Blaze”] brought the idea to me, I loved it… I thought, why not, let’s give it a go. But the concept behind it needs to be right.”

According to Sanchez, the coffee profiles were curated to be somewhat like the alter egos of the Coheed and Camabria characters. “I just really wanted to be right, and I think we got it there.”

You can hear the FULL interview with Meatball and Claudio above, or WATCH Meatball fan boy over Claudio in the video below.

Coheed and Cambria will be at Wave Outdoor in Wichita, Tuesday, Sept. 7th with The Used. Tickets are still available HERE… and watch the video to the new single “Shoulders” below as well.