“IT'S COOL TO PLAY WITH DIFFERENT PEOPLE"

How the guitarists from My Chemical Romance and Coheed And Cambria find new inspiration in joint project L.S. Dunes

- Ellie Rogers

Post-hardcore "superband" L.S. Dunes represents a meeting of minds between guitarist Frank Iero of My Chemical Romance, guitarist Travis Stever of Coheed and Cambria, vocalist Anthony Green of Circa Survive and bassist Tim Payne and drummer Tucker Rule of Thursday. As the title of their debut album Past Lives suggests, this is not a complete departure from their main bands, but, as Travis says: "What's cool about L.S. Dunes is that you can hear everybody's style peek out. Not once is it dictated by a sound that's My Chem or Thursday or Coheed, but you hear the styles."

L.S.Dunes made their live debut at Riot Fest 2022 on the same day that Iero headlined the festival with My Chemical Romance, and he's since embarked on a lengthy reunion tour with the emo-punk trailblazers. Likewise, Stever remains an active member of Coheed And Cambria, and at the time of this interview we find him on tour in Europe.

Naturally, when a band comes along whose line-up reads like a pick 'n' mix from the top tier of a festival poster plucked from the post-punk and hardcore boom of the mid2000s, it's instinctive to reach for the word 'superband'. Travis contends, is that this is more of an "easy way" to describe L.S. Dunes than a reflection of how the band sees themselves. "It just seems to reduce it," he asserts. "We came together because we wanted to make music. There was no expectation of what the music would be, and, as a matter of fact, there was an agreement that if the music wasn't up to our standards, we'd let it go.'