Post by Hennessy Macklemore III on Jun 29, 2024 20:54:31 GMT
Michael Robert "Mic" Todd (August 19, 1980 - )
Years active: 1996-2014
Country of origin: United States of America
Recorded vocal range: F♯2-G5 (G♭2-G5)
Band history:
- 1996-1998 - Shabütie (bass, backing vocals)
- 1998-2006 - Coheed and Cambria (bass, backing vocals)
- 2007-2011 - Coheed and Cambria (bass, backing vocals)
- 2012-2014 - Flux Forteana (lead vocals, rhythm guitar)
Recorded high notes:
G5: "Three Evils (Embodied in Love and Shadow)"
F♯5/G♭5: "Three Evils (Embodied in Love and Shadow)"
E5: "Everything Evil" live at the Electric Factory 2004, "In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3" live at the Electric Factory 2004, "The Camper Velourium II: Backend of Forever" live at the Electric Factory 2004, "The Camper Velourium III: Al the Killer"
D♯5/E♭5: "Everything Evil" live at the Starland Ballroom 2005, "In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth" live New York City 2008
D5: "Everything Evil" live New York City 2008, "Hearshot Kid Disaster", ""In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth" live New York City 2008
C♯5/D♭5: "In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3" live at the Electric Factory 2004, "The End Complete: The End Complete" live at Puyallup Fair 2009
C5: "Delirium Trigger" live at Ottobar 2003, "The Camper Velourium II: The Backend of Forever" live New York City 2008, "The Camper Velorium III: Al the Killer" live New York City 2008, "In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth" live at the Hammerstein Ballroom 2005
B4: "Blood Red Summer" live at the Starland Ballroom 2005, "Everything Evil", "Junesong Provision" live at Ottobar 2003, "Neverender" live at the Electric Factory 2004, "The Camper Velourium II: Backend of Forever" live at the Electric Factory 2004, "The Camper Velorium III: Al the Killer" live New York City 2008, "The End Complete III: The End Complete" live 2009
A♯4/B♭4: "Blood Red Summer" live at the Hammerstein Ballroom 2005, "Delirium Trigger" live at Ottobar 2003
A4: "Delirium Trigger" live at the Starland Ballroom 2005, "Devil in Jersey City" live at the Starland Ballroom 2005, "Everything Evil", "Hearshot Kid Disaster", "Junesong Provision", "The Crowing" live at the Starland Ballroom 2005, "The Light & the Glass" live at the Electric Factory 2004, "Three Evils (Embodied in Shadow and Love)" live at the Electric Factory 2004, "Where Skeletons Live" live Columbus 2010
G♯4/A♭4: "Neverender" live at the Electric Factory 2004, "No World for Tomorrow" live New York City 2008, "33" live Boulder 2003, "The Camper Velourium II: The Backend of Forever" live New York City 2008, "Three Evils (Embodied in Shadow and Love)" live New York City 2008
G4: "Clean Your Room and Open a Window", "Devil in Jersey City" live at the Starland Ballroom 2005, "Reprieve", "The Crowing" live at the Starland Ballroom 2005, "The Light & the Glass" live at the Electric Factory 2004
F♯4/G♭4: "Clean Your Room and Open a Window", "Don't You Worry Child" acoustic session 2013, "Exception", "Hearshot Kid Disaster" live New York City 2008, "In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth" live at the Starland Ballroom 2005, "September", "The Crowing" live at the Starland Ballroom 2005, The future of… YouTube video 2013
F4: "Cuts Marked in the March of Men" live New York City 2008, "Devil in Jersey City" live New York City 2008, "Plans" live at Chameleon's 2013, "The Crowing" live at the Hammerstein Ballroom 2005, "The Light and the Glass" live New York City 2008, "33"
Recorded low notes:
D♯3/E♭3: "Neverender" live at Ottobar 2003, "September"
D3: "Clean Your Room and Open a Window", "Don't You Worry Child" acoustic session 2013, "Plans" acoustic session 2013, "Reprieve", "True North" acoustic session 2013, unknown song live at Chameleon's 2013
C♯3/D♭3: "Carmelita" live at the Astoria London 2008, "Clean Your Room and Open a Window", "Everything Evil" live at Ottobar 2003, "Exception", "Girl in the Basement in Blue", "Shoveling Earth" acoustic session 2013, "True North" acoustic session 2013
C3: "Plans" acoustic session 2013, "Reprieve", "Shoveling Earth" acoustic session 2013
B2: "Carmelita" live at the Astoria London 2008, "Clean Your Room and Open a Window", "Don't You Worry Child" acoustic session 2013, "Girl in the Basement in Blue", "September", "Shoveling Earth" acoustic session 2013, The future of… YouTube video 2013
A♯2/B♭2: "Frames", "Reprieve", "The Camper Velourium I: Faint of Hearts" live New York City 2008, "True North" acoustic session 2013
A2: "The Camper Velourium I: Faint of Hearts", "Clean Your Room and Open a Window", "Exception", "Reprieve", "Shoveling Earth" acoustic session 2013, "True North" acoustic session 2013
G♯2/A♭2: "Frames", "Girl in the Basement in Blue"
G2: "Plans" acoustic session 2013, "True North" acoustic session 2013
F♯2/G♭2: "The Camper Velourium III: Al the Killer", "True North" acoustic session 2013
{Questionable notes}F2: "The Camper Velourium III: Al the Killer" live New York City 2008 - inaudible backing vocal
.......................................................
*Blue marks soft falsetto notes.
*Green marks harsh distorted notes.
*Italics mark spoken or controlled laughed/shouted notes.
*Underlines mark notes in backing vocals or otherwise muffled/obscured in the mix.
{Album ranges}Flux Forteana:
- September (2013) - G♯2-F♯4-G4
{Detailed bio}Mic Todd is best known as the former bassist of Coheed and Cambria, but also played a significant role as a backup vocalist during their early years, and later went on to form his own solo project in which he handled lead vocal duties himself. In Coheed and Cambria, he was largely designated as the band's harsh vocalist - doing screamed passages in a high, guttural false cord technique, and sometimes sang specific harmony parts live. However, his more "natural" singing voice is very different from this, as later revealed in his solo material with Flux Forteana. When singing cleanly, he seems to be most comfortable in baritone range, and sings with a very warm, pleasant timbre. Outside of Coheed and Cambria, he seems to utilize very little high range, but also takes the type of approach to singing that doesn't really focus on range or showing off, and keeps vocal melodies relatively simplistic but sings them very expressively. Overall, the combination of these vocal approaches has culminated in a decent-sized range that he has recorded over the years, though he is still a bit lacking in terms of examples of clean higher singing.
Mic joined Coheed and Cambria in its earliest form before it even went by that name - back in the '90s when it was still known as Shabütie. Having previously been a guitarist, he switched to bass to fill the role that was needed in that band. By the late '90s they had changed their name to Coheed and Cambria, and had established their "classic" lineup - featuring Claudio Sanchez on lead vocals, guitar and keyboards, Travis Stever on guitar and backing vocals, Mic on bass and backing vocals, and Josh Eppard on drums. This lineup would go on to release three of the band's most renowned albums - The Second Stage Turbine Blade in 2002, In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 in 2004, and Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness in 2005. The first two albums of these three took some of the strongest influence from post-hardcore and emo trends that were popular at the time, and as such featured a considerable amount of harsh vocal and screamed sections, many of which were handled by Mic. Such forms of screaming can be heard prominently on tracks like "Hearshot Kid Disaster" and "Three Evils (Embodied in Love and Shadow)", and Mic sometimes took over certain screamed passages live that were originally performed by Claudio, like in some versions of "The Camper Velourium III: Al the Killer". The vocal additions he made to some of these tracks played a significant part in shaping the band's early sound, and the inclusion of those passages became essential to all future performances of said songs.
While The Second Stage Turbine Blade easily served as Coheed and Cambria's most post-hardcore/emo-driven release, In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 saw them introducing a mix between this and progressive rock on certain songs. Meanwhile, Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness steered the band in a predominantly progressive rock direction, which saw a significant decrease in screaming parts and harsh vocals in the band's music. Aside from that, Claudio began to handle most backing vocals in the studio himself from this point onward, meaning that Mic's role became more focused on strictly bass as a result. While Mic did still perform some backing vocals live, the more complex (and higher-pitched) vocal arrangements that Claudio began to write saw the band switch over to using dedicated female backup vocalists in many shows, and at other times would use backing tracks for the vocals in songs like "The Suffering". This trend continued for Coheed's next two albums after that - Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow in 2007, and Year of the Black Rainbow in 2010, the latter of which saw them take a step in more of an experimental and at times even industrial rock direction. During these albums, Josh Eppard also left the band and was replaced by drummer Chris Pennie.
Unfortunately like many other great musicians, Mic developed problems drugs along the way during his career with Coheed and Cambria, to the point that he had to temporarily leave the band in 2006 due to a growing heroin habit that he had to check into rehab for. He took leave from the band for about a year, and then rejoined in 2007 after getting clean. However, this would not be the last or most costly encounter with addiction Mic would face in later years. His problems later shifted to addiction to pills, which culminated in him robbing a Walgreens pharmacy for Oxycodone during Coheed's 2011 tour. He was promptly arrested for this later on in the day shortly before the band was set to perform, and never performed with them again from that point onward. He pleaded guilty to the charges, and was sentenced to one year of house arrest and three years of probation, during which time Coheed and Cambria temporarily replaced him with touring keyboardist Wes Styles, and then eventually with new full-time bassist Zach Cooper. In addition to this, Mic was diagnosed with cancer in 2011 and had to undergo surgery, for which fans launched a fundraiser to help him with bills.
In 2013, Mic launched his new solo project - Flux Forteana (alternatively called Flux Fortuna at times), for which he was handling lead vocal and guitar duties. This project marked a major shift from the kind of music he had made with Coheed and Cambria - instead of anything heavy or particularly rock, this band was much more gentle and folk-inspired. His clean vocals proved to be a very good fit for this kind of music, and he also revealed himself to be a very talented rhythm/acoustic guitar player along the way. The band began playing some small shows in 2013, and released their debut EP September in 2014, which featured six new all-original songs written and sung by Mic. In addition to these, the band's YouTube channel also showed videos of work-in-progress versions of a few other songs, but to date the band has never released anything else as finished studio versions. Flux Forteana apparently dissolved later on in 2014, and from that point on Mic largely disappeared from the public eye and seemingly retired from music.
Little is known about what Mic has been up to since the mid 2010s, but according to his Twitter as of 2021 he is apparently working on earning a law degree, and otherwise seems to have given up any sort of rock star life. If that is what he wishes for himself, I'm sure it's what's best for him, but I personally would be interested in hearing more music from him with Flux Forteana if he ever feels inspired to make more, as the one EP that they released sounded very inspired and promising to me, and I quite enjoyed his presence on it as a vocalist. However, if he truly decides that that whole chapter of his life is over, I know fans will continue to cherish and appreciate the body of work that he did record and release for us.
Mic joined Coheed and Cambria in its earliest form before it even went by that name - back in the '90s when it was still known as Shabütie. Having previously been a guitarist, he switched to bass to fill the role that was needed in that band. By the late '90s they had changed their name to Coheed and Cambria, and had established their "classic" lineup - featuring Claudio Sanchez on lead vocals, guitar and keyboards, Travis Stever on guitar and backing vocals, Mic on bass and backing vocals, and Josh Eppard on drums. This lineup would go on to release three of the band's most renowned albums - The Second Stage Turbine Blade in 2002, In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 in 2004, and Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness in 2005. The first two albums of these three took some of the strongest influence from post-hardcore and emo trends that were popular at the time, and as such featured a considerable amount of harsh vocal and screamed sections, many of which were handled by Mic. Such forms of screaming can be heard prominently on tracks like "Hearshot Kid Disaster" and "Three Evils (Embodied in Love and Shadow)", and Mic sometimes took over certain screamed passages live that were originally performed by Claudio, like in some versions of "The Camper Velourium III: Al the Killer". The vocal additions he made to some of these tracks played a significant part in shaping the band's early sound, and the inclusion of those passages became essential to all future performances of said songs.
While The Second Stage Turbine Blade easily served as Coheed and Cambria's most post-hardcore/emo-driven release, In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 saw them introducing a mix between this and progressive rock on certain songs. Meanwhile, Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness steered the band in a predominantly progressive rock direction, which saw a significant decrease in screaming parts and harsh vocals in the band's music. Aside from that, Claudio began to handle most backing vocals in the studio himself from this point onward, meaning that Mic's role became more focused on strictly bass as a result. While Mic did still perform some backing vocals live, the more complex (and higher-pitched) vocal arrangements that Claudio began to write saw the band switch over to using dedicated female backup vocalists in many shows, and at other times would use backing tracks for the vocals in songs like "The Suffering". This trend continued for Coheed's next two albums after that - Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow in 2007, and Year of the Black Rainbow in 2010, the latter of which saw them take a step in more of an experimental and at times even industrial rock direction. During these albums, Josh Eppard also left the band and was replaced by drummer Chris Pennie.
Unfortunately like many other great musicians, Mic developed problems drugs along the way during his career with Coheed and Cambria, to the point that he had to temporarily leave the band in 2006 due to a growing heroin habit that he had to check into rehab for. He took leave from the band for about a year, and then rejoined in 2007 after getting clean. However, this would not be the last or most costly encounter with addiction Mic would face in later years. His problems later shifted to addiction to pills, which culminated in him robbing a Walgreens pharmacy for Oxycodone during Coheed's 2011 tour. He was promptly arrested for this later on in the day shortly before the band was set to perform, and never performed with them again from that point onward. He pleaded guilty to the charges, and was sentenced to one year of house arrest and three years of probation, during which time Coheed and Cambria temporarily replaced him with touring keyboardist Wes Styles, and then eventually with new full-time bassist Zach Cooper. In addition to this, Mic was diagnosed with cancer in 2011 and had to undergo surgery, for which fans launched a fundraiser to help him with bills.
In 2013, Mic launched his new solo project - Flux Forteana (alternatively called Flux Fortuna at times), for which he was handling lead vocal and guitar duties. This project marked a major shift from the kind of music he had made with Coheed and Cambria - instead of anything heavy or particularly rock, this band was much more gentle and folk-inspired. His clean vocals proved to be a very good fit for this kind of music, and he also revealed himself to be a very talented rhythm/acoustic guitar player along the way. The band began playing some small shows in 2013, and released their debut EP September in 2014, which featured six new all-original songs written and sung by Mic. In addition to these, the band's YouTube channel also showed videos of work-in-progress versions of a few other songs, but to date the band has never released anything else as finished studio versions. Flux Forteana apparently dissolved later on in 2014, and from that point on Mic largely disappeared from the public eye and seemingly retired from music.
Little is known about what Mic has been up to since the mid 2010s, but according to his Twitter as of 2021 he is apparently working on earning a law degree, and otherwise seems to have given up any sort of rock star life. If that is what he wishes for himself, I'm sure it's what's best for him, but I personally would be interested in hearing more music from him with Flux Forteana if he ever feels inspired to make more, as the one EP that they released sounded very inspired and promising to me, and I quite enjoyed his presence on it as a vocalist. However, if he truly decides that that whole chapter of his life is over, I know fans will continue to cherish and appreciate the body of work that he did record and release for us.