We are creators and consumers of music. While we’re partial to our tunes, we can’t ignore the good feels we’ve had or the musical influence that resulted from playing songs that we didn’t write.

So, we put together a list (and playlist!) of our favorite cover songs from past and present to share those good feels and influence.

Next up is “Cloud Connected” by In Flames:

Em: We love In Flames, but most folks had no clue that this song wasn’t just another of our originals that they didn’t know either. Lots of fun to play even if the harmony was tough to sing over a weird bass drum pattern.

Chris: Em is leaving out that she was also playing to a click and keeping the rest of us in time too!

Some of you may be wondering why electronic hard rock band Chemcoma would cover a song by melodic death metal band In Flames. Well, it’s a pretty rad song and we had a relatively broad style within the electronic hard rock realm (perhaps as much liberty as In Flames had with melodic death metal). Depending on the show, Chemcoma was usually the lightest or heaviest band on a bill.

I’m pretty sure I put In Flames on our radar and I remember the first time I heard them. MTV2 rebooted Head Bangers Ball in 2003 and on one of those episodes, I saw the video for the In Flames tune “Trigger.” I bought the EP and told my buddies Brady and Adam Sadler about them (we had been jamming together during my weird post-Adrenaline/pre-Chemcoma time warp, before they formed Lorenguard).

Anyway, they laughed and let me bum their copies of Reroute to Remain and Clayman. Of course, In Flames was already on their radar. Those dudes had taste (still do, I imagine). If the Sadlers are out there, I still have those copies. Let me know if you want them back. 🙂

The Reroute album got “Cloud Connected” stuck in my head. Eventually, one thing led to another and we worked it up for Chemcoma shows in 2008 using the “Runaway” formula (wasn’t broke, didn’t fix it).

Here’s a video of Chemcoma playing “Cloud Connected” at Jerilee’s Pub on July 19, 2008 (this may be the first time we did it live):