Written By Cary Barnhard

Coheed And Cambria's new CD "Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness" concludes an epic saga that connects with a series of comic books and graphic novels created by vocalist/guitarist Claudio Sanchez. As the band prepares for their next tour, we spoke with guitarist Travis Steever.

HB: How is it different writing music to fit a concept as opposed to just writing a bunch of songs?

TS: It's really the lyrics. I suppose the music, it's epic-style for the story, but for us as a band, we do the music primarily as a Rock band. We're not thinking of the story when we're writing the music.

HB: Your music does have an epic quality to it. What influenced you to play in that style?

TS: I don't think there was anything in particular. As for this album, a lot of our old influences from growing up came out; things we really liked throughout the years musically--Classic Rock stuff and even newer stuff. We took them all and put them together as a band. Obviously that's something that plays its part in any kind of writing music.

HB: And you worked with producer David Bottrill this time. What does he bring to the table?

TS: He just made a really good mix of the record. He had said that the mixes the master, and when we mastered the record, we found out that he really does mix the master. We're very happy with how things turned out.

HB: You played some shows in conjunction with San Diego Comicon this year. How is that is different experience than a regular show?

TS: It wasn't that different. We played at a club in the same town and a lot of people who were at the show were at Comicon, but for the most part it was all fans of the music.

HB: And you did a Hurricane Katrina relief show with Dashboard Confessional?

TS: Yes we did. Help wise, we're trying to do everything we can. We all feel for the people who have to go through that.