Josh Eppard

Eppard from a Polaroid.

**Joshua Eric Eppard** (born December 6, 1979) is an American musician, best known as the drummer for progressive rock band Coheed and Cambria from Nyack, New York. He also has worked as a solo rapper under the name **Weerd Science**.

## Music Career

In 1994, Eppard formed a three piece band aptly titled 3, with his brother, Joey Eppard on guitar and lead vocals, and their good friend Chris Bittner on bass. The band was very successful, having signed with Universal, but due to circumstances with the company, released their first album with a different label. During that time, 3 was very close with Coheed as they had been touring frequently together. Sanchez omniously told Eppard, "One day we're going to play in a band together," to which Eppard laughed. Eppard joined Coheed and Cambria upon their original drummer, Nate Kelley's departure in 2000.

Additionally, he began rapping under the stage name, **Weerd Science** at this time, though he mostly collaborated with others under this name, until 2005 when he released his first solo album, *Friends and Nervous Breakdowns*.

On November 2, 2006 it was announced that Josh would be leaving Coheed and Cambria indefinitely. Drum technician Michael Petrak filled in for Eppard during the band's European tour that year, with Chris Pennie later announced as his permanent replacement. The reason for his abrupt departure from the band had been shrouded in mystery. However, in an interview with Michael Dodd of Get Your Rock Out, Josh laid the rumors to rest. Though there was speculation Josh had left the band due to "creative limitations," his split from the band actually resulted from a bout with drug addiction that had been exacerbated by the frantic touring schedule, among other things. Citing an often asked question of him as to whether he quit the band or was fired, Josh's response was that he was likely "about to be fired" before he left.

In 2009, Eppard began drumming again in Terrible Things, a band he formed with fellow musicians Fred Mascherino, Andy Jackson, and bassist Steve Lucarelli. They went on tour and released their debut, *Terrible Things* on Universal Motown Records on August 31, 2010.

In 2011, Eppard signed Weerd Science with Horris Records. With this label, he released a new album titled *Sick Kids*. The album is a creative look into the drug addiction the artist suffered, offering, in addition to a very trying personal account, an insightful social commentary on the current condition of the United States.

On November 16, 2011, Coheed and Cambria revealed on their website that Eppard had officially rejoined the band. On the Terrible Things YouTube channel, Terrible Things vocalist Fred Mascherino announced that Josh had left Terrible Things. Eppard confirmed through Twitter that his "...time in Terrible Things [had] come to an end." During the GAIBSIV Neverender stop in Austin, Texas, Sanchez recounted a moment when he and Stever took Eppard out to eat; still good friends. He and Stever played some demo songs off their soon to be *The Afterman: Ascension* album. Sanchez said that they "weren't going to ask Josh to rejoin the band," but when they played the demos, Eppard began tapping his hands with the music as if he were filling in the drums, which to Sanchez showed his passion for the music, and was "something very special [...] to both Travis and I." And when they dropped him off, they both felt the need to get Eppard back in the band.

Eppard continued to release music for Weerd Science, even though he was officially back with Coheed and Cambria and has release 3 EPs (the *Red Light Juliet* series) that became his third full album in 2016, *The Illogy*. Eppard did say that he was done with the solo project for now, as he accomplished what he needed from it.

In March 2023, Eppard advertised a talk he was giving in April about his drug addiction and recovery. It was very successful and on May 5th, 2023, Eppard partnered with Robert Aronoff to create the Drum Set Confessional organization where he and Rob speak about his story, advertising it as "a cautionary tale" with a "message of hope on addiction and recovery." Other people are also encouraged to share their stories and Eppard discusses them on the DSC YouTube channel.

### Features

* Backing vocals on Blondie's *Panic of Girls* along side his brother Joey and father John in 2011.
* Live drums on Stellar Young's 2014 live at CMJ's Music Marathon.
* Drums for The White Mandingos's *The Ghetto is Tryna Kill Me* in 2013.
* Drums for Fire Deuce's *Children Of The Deuce* in 2016, and *Lords of Diesel* in 2020; credited as "Deuce Newton."

### Instruments

In addition to drums and singing, Eppard also plays guitar, and keyboard.

## Discography

* *Friends And Nervous Breakdowns* (2005)
* *Sick Kids* (2011)
* *The Illogy* (2016)
(A compilation of his three, separately released EPs known as the *Red Light Juliet* trilogy.)

## Trivia

* Eppard is a big sports fan often posting about various games on his Twitter. One of his favorite teams is the New York Mets.
	+ He even has a tattoo of their logo on his chest, right under his neck.
	+ On August 14, 2021, it was revealed that Eppard, along with Cooper, Sanchez, and several other friends and family members were invited to be special guests of the team, even showing up on the jumbotron.
* Eppard plays the drum set in the open-handed style. He uses a single bass drum pedal, which he insists gives a better groove.
* Most of the beats he uses on his tracks are produced by DJ Dirty Ern.
* In a livestream with the band, Eppard shared that he and his wife grow their own vegetables and sometimes rabbits eat them.
* 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). Eppard's symbol was three, interlocking triangles with a circle intercepting at the bottom and a line running through the middle.

## See Also

* 3
* Terrible Things
* Weerd Science

## References

1. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20080724030302/http://www.planetnoiserecords.com/
2. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20080724030302/http://www.planetnoiserecords.com/
3. ↑ https://vimeo.com/681905117
4. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20080202075046/http://www.adequacy.net/interview.php?InterviewID=56
5. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20080205130609/http://www.saveyourscene.com/web/view.php?table=interviews&show=4
6. ↑ https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general\_music\_news/coheed\_and\_cambria\_lose\_members.html
7. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMj5jPS0czM
8. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChrZ-avqLvo
9. ↑ https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p2210678
10. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8-MjPyX1Ok
11. ↑ https://www.discogs.com/Weerd-Science-Sick-Kids/release/2914903
12. ↑ http://www.myspace.com/weerdscience
13. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0CWLCYgNrE
14. ↑ https://twitter.com/Weerd\_Science/status/136893815381434368
15. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv2qt4WY9yo
16. ↑ https://www.discogs.com/artist/1240962-Weerd-Science
17. ↑ https://twitter.com/Weerd\_Science/status/1632793451669356544
18. ↑ https://twitter.com/DrumSetConf/status/1654362000854601729/photo/1
19. ↑ https://twitter.com/DrumSetConf/status/1670469922877755393
20. ↑ https://www.discogs.com/release/7606420-Blondie-Panic-Of-Girls
21. ↑ https://twitter.com/Weerd\_Science/status/1072847968628338695
22. ↑ https://twitter.com/jtb666/status/1072856867200593926
23. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/ujT8F\_rOET/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
24. ↑ https://www.discogs.com/release/4717047-The-White-Mandingos-The-Ghetto-Is-Tryna-Kill-Me
25. ↑ https://www.discogs.com/release/7870328-Fire-Deuce-Children-Of-The-Deuce
26. ↑ https://www.discogs.com/release/14644838-Fire-Deuce-Lords-of-Diesel
27. ↑ https://twitter.com/Weerd\_Science/status/1454890756276109312
28. ↑ https://twitter.com/Coheed/status/712044508121309185
29. ↑ https://twitter.com/Coheed/status/1426711566171267076
30. ↑ https://www.discogs.com/artist/3500692-Dirty-Ern
31. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjSOWv9AZvs