Taking Back Sunday and Coheed and Cambria Have Come Far

Taking Back Sunday and Coheed and Cambria go way back.

Both bands are from the same area of New York — Coheed formed in NYC suburb Nyack, while Taking Back Sunday calls Long Island’s Amityville home — and came up together in the late 1990s and early 2000s, before blowing up.

“We’d play some club in New Jersey to a couple hundred people, so to see it grow from there has been insane. They’re the same sweethearts that they were back then,” recalls longtime Taking Back Sunday bassist Shaun Cooper, adding that he and Coheed drummer Josh Eppard were just talking about how they even gigged at a kids summer camp in the early days. “We used to share each other’s bass cabinets because it’s annoying to load in and out. Now we’re sharing semi-trucks to get merch in. It’s crazy.”

The two crews are currently on a co-headlining tour, as Coheed is promoting this year’s Vaxis – Act III: The Father of Make Believe and Taking Back Sunday is bringing 2023 album, 152, out.

The run rolls through Red Rocks on Friday, September 12. Foxing is providing support.
Taking Back Sunday is still one of the biggest emo acts of the Y2K movement, thanks to hit releases Where You Want To Be (2004) and Louder Now (2006). And while there’s been changes over the years — even Cooper took a seven-year hiatus before rejoining in 2010 (he and Eppard teamed up in supergroup Terrible Things at one time) — the band’s staying power is impressive.

“That’s the thing, we’ve never gone anywhere. We’ve always been here doing the thing and grinding it out because we love it,” Cooper says, adding that being able to play massive venues and festival spots such as When We Were Young nowadays is mind-blowing.

“Any of these waves, we’re here for it. We’re grateful for the chance to play these shows and continue,” he explains. “Because we were five kids in a basement with a dream, then some of our friends started singing along to our songs, now we’re selling out amphitheaters with Coheed and Cambria. I can’t believe we’re still in this place.”

And they’re damn sure not going anywhere — and may look a little more familiar, especially if you haven’t kept up recently. For this trek, former guitarist Fred Mascherino, whose signature playing is all over those 2000s keystone records, is back after stalwart guitarist John Nolan needed spinal surgery. The operation at the end of last month was a success, and Nolan’s posted updates an socials since.

“He’s been amazing. He learned all the songs he wasn’t a part of, spent a little of time doing it and making them his own,” Cooper says of Mascherino’s second act. “He’s got such a style that it would be doing it a disservice if he didn’t put his spin on things. It’s been really fun to see, too.”

Mascherino initially rejoined his Taking Back Sunday brethren, including blue-raw vocalist Adam Lazzara, on stage during last year’s tenth-annual Holiday Spectacular in New Jersey for the first time in over fifteen years. There aren’t necessarily plans to welcome Mascherino into the fold on a regular basis, but Cooper mentions it’s not off the table, either. Guitarist Nathan Cogan and drummer Mitchell Register are current touring members.

“Now it’s the honeymoon phase. Everyone’s getting along great, everything’s awesome,” he says. “Then it’s how are we going to feel after this tour? As we get older, it’ more like we’re just going to chill and let it ride and see where it lies and it’s going to be all right.”

The same can be said about 152, the group’s eight studio effort and inaugural 2020s entry. At ten songs and just over 31 minutes, the album is concise, but also a more mature and fully realized version of where Taking Back Sunday is now. Songs “The One” and “New Music Friday” sound familiar while not being full-blown nostalgic, while “S’old,” including the remix and acoustic versions, is all amped-up emo.

Even after all these years, from how far they’ve come and the new/familiar faces, one thing has remained constant in the music, as Cooper sees it.

“We have no formula. It’s all gut,” he shares. “It’s not thought out. It’s just, ‘Does this feel good? Does this sound right?’”

Spoiler: it does. And Cooper feels Taking Back Sunday is playing better than ever, too.

“In these crazy times, you just got to get lost sometimes,’ he concludes. “We want you to get this lost with us and enjoy the moment, live in that moment.”

Taking Back Sunday, Coheed and Cambria and Foxing, 7 p.m. Friday, September 12, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 18300 West Alameda Parkway, Morrison. Tickets are $111.