Zach Cooper

Cooper from a Polaroid.

**Zachary A Cooper** (born September 7) is an American musician, best known for being the bassist of alternative/progressive rock group Coheed and Cambria from Nyack, New York. He currently lives in St. Petersburg, Florida with his wife and two daughters.

### Music Career

Cooper has been playing bass since he was 12 years old when his two best friends wanted to start a band and told him they already were learning guitar so he had to be bass if he wanted to join them. They mostly played Nirvana covers. After learning bass, he became very interested in jazz and swing because they were bass-heavy genres. He has said that he prefers the type of jazz that sounds like "things are falling," much to his wife's chagrin.

One of the first bands he played in was called **Life Before This** (early 2000s) which featured Rob Sanchez, Sanchez' cousin, on vocals. It was in this band that another band member made him listened to *Second Stage* and he was hooked. He met Sanchez backstage at a show he performed with this band in Nyack at the venue The Backdoor (which no longer exists). He also worked at a local music store where both Sanchez and Stever would come in to try guitars.

He then played in the Goshen, NY band **Safe as Houses** for a brief period (mid 2000s) and was credited on the release of EP *How It Feels To Be Erased* before leaving the band. The most notable band he played in was AM to AM and was his prior gig (2009–2011) before joining Coheed and Cambria.

Cooper was also a session musician at Applehead Studios, the studio Coheed frequently recorded at. Coheed's manager, James Blaze, reached out to him via cold call after being recommended by Chris Bittner, one of the studios owners. He was asked to come to Woodstock, NY and interview on two unfinished versions of "2's My Favorite 1" and "Domino the Destitute", *The Afterman: Ascension* tracks. Everyone decided he was a good fit and a few days later was formally offered the role, finding out later that his last takes on the two aforementioned songs were the recorded versions that made the album. On April 25, 2012, Coheed and Cambria announced on their official channels, including through a YouTube video, that Cooper had officially joined them.

Having previously only been in smaller bands that toured locally and for just a short time, Coheed's touring in comparison was kind of a culture shock. But the band members and crew all were very welcoming and that it was a real pleasure to be in the band. On the S.S. Neverender, Eppard actually cut into one fan's question about his thoughts being in the band, saying that the band was "the lucky ones" to have him in it. Cooper has gone on to say that not only has the band occasionally hung out outside of touring and practice and usual band stuff, but likened them to being extended family.

### Instruments

In addition to bass guitar, Cooper also plays Cello, and Upright/Double Bass. He also has some knowledge of guitar, and piano/keyboard.

## Trivia

* About the interview: Cooper said he was given 30 secs of each song's demo prior to coming in but once in the studio, they played a more fleshed out version with other instruments added. The rest of the band, Sanchez's wife, and various other staff and crew were present with Echert wanting to record and Stever lying down on the ground (a position the band dubbed "man-down"). Feeling nervous and a bit unprepared, he played pretty safe at first. When finished, Stever sat up and said, "We get it, you can play the roots." He explained that everyone in Coheed kind of has their own sound and style which is what makes them interesting, and told him, "Make it interesting." He played again with much less nerves and just had fun with it. He didn't think he made the cut, but he not only did, they used his "interesting" bass lines on the 2 tracks.
* Cooper was actually a big fan of the band before he joined, calling them "Hometown Heroes."
	+ He was at the Starland Ballroom show which was recorded for the DVD.
	+ His favorite album is *No World For Tomorrow*.
	+ When asked what his favorite song without him is, he answered "Time Consumer" while his favorite song he plays on is "Key Entity Extraction IV: Evagria the Faithful".
* His nickname is "Super Duper" Cooper, which is a reference to *Super Duper Alice Cooper*, a documentary about Alice Cooper.
* In 2017, Eppard released a track for his Weerd Science project titled, "All Eyes On... You", which featured Cooper on the cover playing the upright bass. He was credited as playing guitar for the track too.
* He likes to skateboard and will do so with his eldest daughter, Isla.
	+ He has a large, double-mermaid tattoo on his right arm. His daughter's names are depicted in each of the mermaids.
* In 2013, for the band's *Afterman: Descension* tour, each band member designed a symbol to represent them and the band sold shirts and threw custom picks out to the crowd (even Eppard). Cooper's symbol was very vertical; a circle with an upside-down triangle in the middle and short lines coming up and down from it with broader lines intercepting the bottom one.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kok6hBsVKi8
2. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/BzLyEUbp0v1/
3. ↑ https://beardedgentlemenmusic.com/2013/02/18/interview-zach-cooper-of-coheed-cambria/
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Cooper, Zach. “Live Q&A with Zack Cooper.” Interview by The Liars Club's Discord. YouTube, 28 April 2022, Private URL.
5. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1NhArtIPYo
6. ↑ https://insidepulse.com/2006/04/06/47670/
7. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CBQnW2dJ3BM/
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 https://soundcloud.com/allthingscoheedpodcast/quarantinelivestream
9. ↑ https://youtu.be/3RZB1q7x02U
10. ↑ https://www.discogs.com/release/12123695-Safe-As-Houses-How-It-Feels-To-Be-Erased
11. ↑ https://loudwire.com/coheed-and-cambria-introduce-zach-cooper-as-new-bassist/
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 http://underthegunreview.net/2016/03/07/utg-interview-coheed-and-cambria-talk-the-color-before-the-sun-star-wars-spoilers-adele-and-more/
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mccj6C8V-EQ
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Cooper, Zach. “Q&A with Coheed and Cambria.” 26 October 2021. S.S. Neverender I, Norwegian Gem Pool Deck, Deck 12.
15. ↑ Eppard, Josh. “Q&A with Coheed and Cambria.” 26 October 2021. S.S. Neverender I, Norwegian Gem Pool Deck, Deck 12.
16. ↑ https://weerdscience.bandcamp.com/track/all-eyes-on-you