The Mars Volta
Encyclopedia
The Mars Volta is a Grammy award winning American progressive rock band from El Paso
, Texas
. Founded in 2001 by guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López
and vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala
, the band incorporates various influences including progressive rock
, krautrock
, jazz fusion
, Latin American music
, and the rhythm
ic complexity of math rock
into their sound. They are known for their energetic live shows
, as well as their concept-based
studio albums. In 2009, the band won a Grammy Award
in the "Best Hard Rock Performance
" category for the song "Wax Simulacra
." They were named rock music's "Best Prog-Rock Band" of 2008 by Rolling Stone
magazine.
. ATDI imploded on the verge of breakthrough, partly due to boredom, partly to musical differences. Then ATDI members Cedric Bixler-Zavala
and Omar Rodríguez-López
started flirting with an experimental, dub reggae-influenced side project called De Facto
, which featured Bixler-Zavala on drums, Rodriguez-Lopez on bass, Isaiah "Ikey" Owens on keyboards, and Jeremy Michael Ward
on vocals, loops and sound effects.
Due to creative differences and discomfort with mainstream
success and drug abuse, Rodriguez-Lopez and Bixler-Zavala quit At the Drive-In in 2001. The remaining members of the band formed Sparta
. During 2001 Eva Gardner
joined the members of De Facto
on bass, and they recorded two songs with drummer Blake Fleming
and producer Alex Newport
, which became the first demo by The Mars Volta. The lineup for their first public show at Chain Reaction in Anaheim, California
was Rodriguez-Lopez, Bixler-Zavala, Owens, Gardner, Ward, and drummer Jon Theodore
. This lineup recorded three more tracks with Alex Newport
, which became the EP
Tremulant, released in early 2001 by Gold Standard Laboratories
.
After the demise of At the Drive-In, Rodriguez-Lopez and Bixler-Zavala found themselves once again starting from the ground up, touring and performing in smaller venues. In their early years The Mars Volta were characterized by chaotic live shows and very heavy drug use.
, produced with Rick Rubin
and released on June 24, 2003. Whereas Tremulant had no general theme (except the prophetic mentioning) De-Loused was a unified work of speculative fiction
telling the first-person story of someone in a drug-induced coma
, battling the evil side of his mind. Though lyrically obscure, The Mars Volta stated in interviews that the album's protagonist is based on their late friend Julio Venegas, or "Cerpin Taxt", an El Paso
poet
and artist who went into a coma
for several years after a deliberate drug overdose
, recovered and later committed suicide
. He died jumping from the Mesa Street overpass onto Interstate-10 in El Paso during afternoon rush-hour traffic. (Venegas' death was also referenced in the At the Drive-In song "Embroglio" from their album Acrobatic Tenement
.)
In an interview with The Aquarian Weekly
in 2008, Cedric Bixler-Zavala said about working with Rubin, "Rick really over-simplified some of the parts that we thought were unique, and just made them very digestible. He’s got this thing about representing the common man’s ears—I’d rather jab the common man’s ears. If we don’t, we’ll never get to a place where future music exists."
The Mars Volta had no official bassist during the recording session, but Flea
(of the Red Hot Chili Peppers
) played bass on nine of the album's ten songs, with Justin Meldal-Johnsen
playing double bass
on "Televators
." Flea's bandmate John Frusciante
also contributed additional guitar, synthesizer and backing vocals to "Cicatriz ESP". After several temporary replacements, permanent bassist for the band was found in the face of Juan Alderete
(formerly of Racer X).
Despite limited promotion, De-Loused earned strong reviews, and appeared on several 'year-end best-of' lists. The album remains The Mars Volta's best-seller, with over 500,000 copies sold, and Rolling Stone ranking a track from "De-Loused"- "Drukenship of Laterns, the 91st Best Guitar Song Ever. The band later released a limited-edition storybook version of the album, available by download from the Gold Standard Laboratories website. The book speaks of Cerpin Taxt (Julio Venegas) and his suicide.
While on tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers
in support of the album
, founding member Jeremy Michael Ward
died of heroin overdose. The band had canceled the tour's second leg, and the first single
from De-Loused was later dedicated to Ward. It was this event which finally convinced band leaders Rodriguez-Lopez and Bixler-Zavala to purportedly quit using opioids. “One day, we were all getting high, and Jeremy asked me if I could see he had worms in his head,” Cedric recalls. “I never touched the stuff again. His passing was the final nail in the coffin. We never went back.”
began in 2004. That year the band received the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Vanguard Award.
In 2005, the band released Frances the Mute
. The story given by the band on the album's concept concerns a diary that had been found in a repossessed car by late sound technician Jeremy Ward, while working as a repo-man. The author of the diary is unknown but appeared to be someone who was adopted and was searching for their birth parents, and who may have suffered from mental illness caused by the death of a loved one. The lyrics for each track on the album are loosely based on characters and life events described in this person's diary.
Frances the Mute started as a bigger commercial hit than De-Loused, moving 123,000 copies in its first week, and debuting at #4 on the Billboard album charts. Reviews of Frances were generally positive (with a 75 on Metacritic) if somewhat polarized; Rolling Stone
called it "a feverish and baroque search for self that conjures up the same majesty and gravity as Led Zeppelin
three decades before", while Pitchfork Media
called it "a homogeneous shitheap of stream-of-consciousness turgidity." However, even the detractors of Frances the Mute generally praised the band's musical abilities. "L'Via L'Viaquez
" was later released as a single, stripped down from its original 12-minute length to five minutes. Frances the Mute
has sold nearly 465,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan ratings.
Rodriguez-Lopez wrote all the instrumental parts as well as arranging and producing the recording sessions himself. He used a method that Miles Davis
used to evoke great performances from bandmates: refusing to let the other members hear each other's parts, or the context of their own part, thereby forcing them to play each part as if it were a self-sufficient song. In order to accomplish this, the musicians recorded to the pulse of a metronome
. While in the studio, Rodriguez-Lopez recruited Adrián Terrazas-González to play saxophone
, flute
, and additional wind instruments for the album. Terrazas-González was added as a permanent member to The Mars Volta while touring in support of Frances the Mute.
Several songs written during the original recording sessions for the album never made the final cut. Notably, the self-titled 14-minute epic "Frances the Mute
", which was originally to open the album and was ultimately supposed to decode the album's concept, was not included due to time constraints. Instead the track was featured as a b-side to the single
release for "The Widow
". .
On May 20, 2005, instead of playing a traditional set
at KROQ's Weenie Roast Festival, the band played a 50-minute improvisation jam that was jokingly named on-the-spot as "Abortion, The Other White Meat" by Rodriguez-Lopez. In keeping with The Mars Volta tradition of testing and developing new work live, parts of "Abortion" later appeared on "Population Council's Wet Dream" from Rodriguez-Lopez's 2009 album Old Money
.
Mid-way through their headlining U.S. tour, former At the Drive-In
member Paul Hinojos
left the band Sparta
to join The Mars Volta, claiming, "My time with Sparta has run its course, and simply wasn't fun anymore." Hinojos joined as rhythm guitarist and became the band's sound manipulator, the position previously held by the late Ward. Hinojos had previously toured with The Mars Volta in 2003 and 2004.
During mid-2005, the band toured in support of the album with System of a Down
and curated the All Tomorrow's Parties
festival. In addition, a full-length live album named Scabdates
was released on November 8, 2005.
and wrote what became Amputechture
, which was released on September 8, 2006 in Europe, on September 9, 2006 in Australia and on September 12, 2006 in the U.S. Rodriguez-Lopez spent much of his time in Amsterdam working on and performing various solo projects most notably under the name "Omar Rodriguez Quintet." During this time Rodriguez-Lopez also composed the score to the film El Búfalo de la Noche
, which was written and directed by Guillermo Arriaga
and Jorge Hernandez Aldana respectively. The Mars Volta as a whole performed the score.
Amputechture was produced by Rodríguez-Lopez and mixed by Rich Costey
. Jeff Jordan provided the artwork, making it their first album
not to feature the work
of Storm Thorgerson
. It was once again a concept album, but rather than telling a story, the album was a series of vignettes, with each song telling a different story. It became the last album with drummer Jon Theodore, whom Rodriguez-Lopez fired before touring in support of the album. Rodriguez-Lopez said in an interview with an Italian fan site that Theodore was the only member in the band who wasn't happy playing live and brought down the moods of the rest.
John Frusciante
was featured on every track on Amputechture, except for "Asilos Magdalena." Rodríguez-Lopez contributed the solos and riffs where the guitar work needed to be doubled. Bixler-Zavala said in an interview, "...he taught Frusciante all the new songs and Frusciante tracked guitars for us so Omar could sit back and listen to the songs objectively. It's great that he wants to help us and do that."
On July 28, 2006, the drummer's spot was filled by Blake Fleming
, formerly of Laddio Bolocko
, Dazzling Killmen
, and the very first Mars Volta demos. A new song titled "Rapid Fire Tollbooth" was debuted live on September 22, 2006 in Chicago, Illinois, as reported by fans and attendees of the show who had received set lists from the stage. The song originally appears on Rodriguez-Lopez's solo album Se Dice Bisonte, No Bufalo
. The song eventually evolved into the track "Goliath" from the band's fourth studio album.
On September 25, 2006, The Mars Volta played a unique set on the opening night of a double-header in Toronto, Ontario. Cedric Bixler-Zavala fell ill and could not perform, so The Mars Volta played with John Frusciante
on third guitar. The set consisted of over 47 minutes of instrumental material, including a lengthy cover of the Pink Floyd
composition "Interstellar Overdrive
." On October 17, 2006, while opening for the Red Hot Chili Peppers in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the band played with drummer Deantoni Parks
as Rodriguez-Lopez had fired Fleming because of complications within the band. Parks remained with the band only until the conclusion of the Japanese tour because of his prior commitments with other bands. On October 31, 2006 in Cleveland, Ohio, as Parks couldn't perform, The Mars Volta played approximately 40-minute improvisation set as a rehearsal for another drummer, Thomas Pridgen
.
On a 2006 episode of The Henry Rollins Show
, The Mars Volta performed "Tetragrammaton" and "Day of the Baphomets" in a rare television performance. Afterwards, they did an interview with Rollins about the creation of Amputechture.
In 2007, Thomas Pridgen
became the new permanent drummer for the band. Pridgen's first full-time appearance was at the March 12 show in New Zealand, where the band debuted the song "Idle Tooth" which was later renamed "Wax Simulacra
" for the forthcoming album. After shows in New Zealand and Australia, The Mars Volta toured a few West Coast venues as the headliner, then entered the studio to record their fourth LP, The Bedlam in Goliath
. One of these performances was captured in a live concert DVD (which still remains unreleased to date) shot by director Jorge Hernandez Aldana.
Despite finding a permanent drummer and getting the band back on track, the recording and production of the album was reportedly plagued by difficulties related to a bad experience with a Ouija board
purchased in a curio shop in Jerusalem. According to Rodriguez-Lopez, their original engineer experienced a nervous breakdown, his studio flooded twice, and both he and mixer Rich Costey claimed that various tracks would disappear at random.
On November 5, 2007, The Mars Volta released a document by Jeremy Robert Johnson titled, "The Mars Volta's Descent into Bedlam: A Rhapsody in Three Parts." The document includes a history of the band and describes the obstacles and inspirations they encountered in the creation of The Bedlam in Goliath. On November 20, 2007 "Wax Simulacra
", the first single from the forthcoming album, was released with a cover of "Pulled to Bits" by Siouxsie and the Banshees as the b-side.
The band kicked off their supporting tour with a December 29, 2007 "secret show" at the Echoplex in Los Angeles, California, followed by a special New Year's Eve performance at San Francisco's Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
. That night they played their first ever acoustic set, which included six songs and live performance of "Miranda, That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore" The band then departed on a club tour of east coast U.S. throughout January, with an album release show at San Diego's Soma
, followed by another month's worth of European dates from mid-February to mid-March.
On January 2, 2008, The Mars Volta released an online game
called "Goliath: The Soothsayer", based on a true story that inspired their forthcoming album The Bedlam In Goliath. The album chronicles the band's purported experience with the "Soothsayer", a Ouija board
owned by vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala and its transition from a source of fun on tour to a psycho-spiritual force that almost tore the band apart. The game was available for a limited time exclusively via Amazon.com
.
On January 17, 2008, the band made their U.S. network television debut, performing "Wax Simulacra" on The Late Show with David Letterman (Rodriguez-Lopez, Bixler-Zavala and Hinojos had appeared on the show with At the Drive-In
in 2000). On January 22, they made a surprise appearance at Toronto, Canada's MTV Live
studios, where they performed "Wax Simulacra" and an extended version of "Goliath." In late January, the new album debuted at a career-best #3 on the Billboard 200.
The song "Wax Simulacra" won the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance. It was the band's first nomination and win. The band members thanked their families and Bixler urged people not to forget the memories of the recently departed Lux Interior and Ron Asheton
.
On April 14, 2009, The Mars Volta announced their fifth studio album, entitled Octahedron
. It was released June 23 in the United States and June 22 in the rest of the world. According to Vintage Vinyl Records St. Louis MO the LP will not be released until July 21 with 500 limited edition LP's. In the spirit of distillation of the band's sound, Rodriguez-Lopez asked saxophonist Adrián Terrazas-González and guitarist/sound manipulator Paul Hinojos to leave. Regarding their departure, percussionist Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez
noted that: "it's like we got a whole new band. It's two less members — we got to play differently."
The first single released in North America was "Since We've Been Wrong
". The first European single was "Cotopaxi
".
An excerpt from The Mars Volta's performance at the All Tomorrow's Parties, UK 2005 A Nightmare Before Christmas festival
was featured in the All Tomorrow's Parties film, which was released in cinemas during October 2009.
During the Octahedron tour, the show on October 23 in Raleigh, NC
was unexpectedly cancelled. It was supposed to be the final show of the North American leg of the tour, but was cancelled due to an argument between Bixler-Zavala and Thomas Pridgen, the drummer at the time, which ended with Pridgen abruptly leaving the venue. A month later, Pridgen confirmed his departure from The Mars Volta via Facebook
stating he was "not in TMV anymore". In a February 2011 interview, Pridgen said he left the group "because the singer had a jealous ego trip. There's nothing more to elaborate on." The band later completed the tour with drummer Dave Elitch
. They played throughout Europe and Australia until the end of January 2010.
In October 2010, The Mars Volta played two shows in Brazil and Chile. Long-time keyboardist, Ikey Owens, was absent during these dates due to touring commitments with his own project, Free Moral Agents
.
In an April 2010 interview with Rolling Stone, Rodriguez-Lopez talked about trying to loosen his grip in the studio. He claimed to have finished writing the album, and was awaiting lyrics and vocals from Bixler-Zavala.
In May 2010, The Mars Volta entered pre-production for their sixth album. On December 9, 2010 a statement was made via the ORLProductions Twitter page
, which read: "In LA finishing up the new The Mars Volta album". Another notable comment made on Sargent House's Twitter page
confirmed Deantoni Parks as the band's official drummer.. In an interview with Rob Perez on NocheLatina.com, Rodriguez-Lopez stated that "The record is done. Whenever the record label decides to put it out that’s when we’ll hear something new." He also stated the upcoming album will feature thirteen songs which, "[are] a simplified version of what we've done before", and commented on his songwriting process, stating "I want to collaborate more. I've had 10 years of kind of being a benign dictator in this band and I want to make it more like a democracy." Cedric recently took the opportunity to make a few remarks on the sound of the upcoming Mars Volta LP: “Sorry no spanish [sic] on this record, no Zeppelinesque
voyages, no Santana
like flourishes or vishnu
accuasations [sic]. No congas, no Hammond organ
stabs, no 30 minute songs, no drums that sounds like mosquitos buzzing in your ear. Just future punk. That’s the only way to describe it from my point of view.”
At the March 19 Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Group
show at SXSW Bixler-Zavala performed as a vocalist, which led to speculations of this being the secret Mars Volta show under the Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Group moniker, presumably for legal reasons (this rumor was confirmed by the lineup and songs that were performed at The Mars Volta's tour opener in Norway on July 1). The Group (with Bixler-Zavala on lead vocals) continued to tour throughout April, playing material to be released on the upcoming Mars Volta album. Absent from these shows was keyboardist Owens, who was busy with his own band, Free Moral Agents
. When asked about the upcoming Mars Volta album he stated that he knew "absolutely nothing [about the album]". He also stated that he was unsure as to whether he would be performing with the band at their scheduled summer dates or not. On July 2, bassist Juan Alderete revealed via his Twitter account that Owens was no longer in the band as "He is producing bands these days."
Part of the The Mars Volta's summer 2011 tour will consist of them playing dates opening for Soundgarden
on select dates during the summer of 2011. This is in addition to their opening slot for the Red Hot Chili Peppers in their one-off gig in Hong Kong on 9 August 2011.
The Mars Volta played new songs during their set at Splendour in the Grass in Australia in July. Cedric said to the crowd that he was "inviting them to a private rehearsal for their new album".
Cedric Bixler-Zavala has stated on his Youtube channel that the new Mars Volta full-length will not be released until 2012.
Drummers
Bassists
Keyboardists
Wind
Guitarists
El Paso
El Paso, a city in the U.S. state of Texas, on the border with Mexico.El Paso may also refer to:-Geography:Colombia:* El Paso, CesarSpain:*El Paso, Santa Cruz de TenerifeUnited States:...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. Founded in 2001 by guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez
Omar Alfredo Rodríguez-López is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer, writer, actor and film director who was born in Bayamón, Puerto Rico...
and vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala
Cedric Bixler-Zavala
Cedric Bixler-Zavala is a Grammy Award-winning Mexican-American musician known for his work as frontman and lyricist of the progressive rock band The Mars Volta, and previously as frontman and occasional guitarist of the post-hardcore punk group At the Drive-In...
, the band incorporates various influences including progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
, krautrock
Krautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...
, jazz fusion
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
, Latin American music
Latin American music
Latin American music, found within Central and South America, is a series of musical styles and genres that mixes influences from Spanish, African and indigenous sources, that has recently become very famous in the US.-Argentina:...
, and the rhythm
Rhythm
Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...
ic complexity of math rock
Math rock
Math rock is a rhythmically complex guitar-based style of experimental rock that emerged in the 1980s and that was very influenced by progressive rock like King Crimson, Frank Zappa, Henry Cow - and 20th century composers such as Steve Reich and John Cage...
into their sound. They are known for their energetic live shows
The Mars Volta tours
The following is a comprehensive listing of The Mars Volta tours and itineraries.-United States Tour : 10/18 - Anaheim, CA - Chain Reaction 10/23 - Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle 10/24 - Athens, GA - 40 Watt Club 10/25 - Orlando, FL - Sapphire Supper Club 10/26 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL - The Freeze* 10/27...
, as well as their concept-based
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
studio albums. In 2009, the band won a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
in the "Best Hard Rock Performance
Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance was an award presented to recording artists at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, for works containing quality performances in the hard rock music genre...
" category for the song "Wax Simulacra
Wax Simulacra
"Wax Simulacra" is a single from the album The Bedlam in Goliath by The Mars Volta. The single debuted November 18, 2007 on San Francisco's Live 105 FM...
." They were named rock music's "Best Prog-Rock Band" of 2008 by Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine.
Band name
Cedric Bixler-Zavala stated in an interview:Formation and beginning
The roots of The Mars Volta are found in the band At the Drive-InAt the Drive-In
At the Drive-In was an American rock band from El Paso, Texas, considered part of the post-hardcore genre and active from 1993 to 2001. They were known for their extremely energetic stage shows which hearkened back to the 1980s hardcore scene...
. ATDI imploded on the verge of breakthrough, partly due to boredom, partly to musical differences. Then ATDI members Cedric Bixler-Zavala
Cedric Bixler-Zavala
Cedric Bixler-Zavala is a Grammy Award-winning Mexican-American musician known for his work as frontman and lyricist of the progressive rock band The Mars Volta, and previously as frontman and occasional guitarist of the post-hardcore punk group At the Drive-In...
and Omar Rodríguez-López
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez
Omar Alfredo Rodríguez-López is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer, writer, actor and film director who was born in Bayamón, Puerto Rico...
started flirting with an experimental, dub reggae-influenced side project called De Facto
De Facto (band)
De Facto was a dub reggae band which included Cedric Bixler-Zavala, Omar Rodríguez-López, Isaiah "Ikey" Owens and Jeremy Michael Ward.- Biography :...
, which featured Bixler-Zavala on drums, Rodriguez-Lopez on bass, Isaiah "Ikey" Owens on keyboards, and Jeremy Michael Ward
Jeremy Michael Ward
Jeremy Michael Ward was the sound technician and vocal operator for The Mars Volta and for the dub outfit De Facto. He created many of the soundscapes heard on The Mars Volta's album De-Loused in the Comatorium...
on vocals, loops and sound effects.
Due to creative differences and discomfort with mainstream
Mainstream
Mainstream is, generally, the common current thought of the majority. However, the mainstream is far from cohesive; rather the concept is often considered a cultural construct....
success and drug abuse, Rodriguez-Lopez and Bixler-Zavala quit At the Drive-In in 2001. The remaining members of the band formed Sparta
Sparta (band)
Sparta is an American band from El Paso, Texas, formed in 2001. Founding members Jim Ward and Tony Hajjar are former members of post-hardcore group At the Drive-In...
. During 2001 Eva Gardner
Eva Gardner
Eva Gardner is an electric bassist from Los Angeles, California. She is a graduate of the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, where she studied under trumpet player Bobby Rodriguez. She holds a degree in ethnomusicology from UCLA . Her professional credits include teaching stints at...
joined the members of De Facto
De Facto (band)
De Facto was a dub reggae band which included Cedric Bixler-Zavala, Omar Rodríguez-López, Isaiah "Ikey" Owens and Jeremy Michael Ward.- Biography :...
on bass, and they recorded two songs with drummer Blake Fleming
Blake Fleming
Blake Fleming is a drummer known for his involvement with several influential experimental bands. Fleming started drumming at age 8, and spent several years in fife and drumming corps, bagpipe bands, jazz bands, orchestras, etc. His first band was Dazzling Killmen, which he joined at age 15. Later...
and producer Alex Newport
Alex Newport
Alex Newport is a Grammy-nominated record producer, mixer and engineer, based in New York City.Newport was born in Wolverhampton, UK, in 1970 and grew up in the Midlands area....
, which became the first demo by The Mars Volta. The lineup for their first public show at Chain Reaction in Anaheim, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
was Rodriguez-Lopez, Bixler-Zavala, Owens, Gardner, Ward, and drummer Jon Theodore
Jon Theodore
Jon Philip Theodore is a drummer, formerly a member of The Mars Volta. He has become best known for his explosive, multi-textural and dynamic playing style.-History:...
. This lineup recorded three more tracks with Alex Newport
Alex Newport
Alex Newport is a Grammy-nominated record producer, mixer and engineer, based in New York City.Newport was born in Wolverhampton, UK, in 1970 and grew up in the Midlands area....
, which became the EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
Tremulant, released in early 2001 by Gold Standard Laboratories
Gold Standard Laboratories
Gold Standard Laboratories or GSL was an independent record label which was founded in 1993 in Boulder, Colorado by Sonny Kay. In 2000, it was relocated to San Diego, California, USA, and two years later, to Los Angeles. It was headquartered in L.A...
.
After the demise of At the Drive-In, Rodriguez-Lopez and Bixler-Zavala found themselves once again starting from the ground up, touring and performing in smaller venues. In their early years The Mars Volta were characterized by chaotic live shows and very heavy drug use.
De-Loused in the Comatorium
Following Tremulant, The Mars Volta continued touring with a fluid line-up while preparing to record their debut full-length album De-Loused in the ComatoriumDe-Loused in the Comatorium
De-Loused in the Comatorium is the debut studio album of the progressive rock band The Mars Volta. Released on June 24, 2003 on Gold Standard Laboratories and Universal Records, De-loused is based on a short story written by lead singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala and sound manipulation artist Jeremy...
, produced with Rick Rubin
Rick Rubin
Frederick Jay "Rick" Rubin is an American record producer and the co-president of Columbia Records. Along with Russell Simmons, Rubin was the co-founder of Def Jam Records and also established American Recordings...
and released on June 24, 2003. Whereas Tremulant had no general theme (except the prophetic mentioning) De-Loused was a unified work of speculative fiction
Speculative fiction
Speculative fiction is an umbrella term encompassing the more fantastical fiction genres, specifically science fiction, fantasy, horror, supernatural fiction, superhero fiction, utopian and dystopian fiction, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, and alternate history in literature as well as...
telling the first-person story of someone in a drug-induced coma
Coma
In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...
, battling the evil side of his mind. Though lyrically obscure, The Mars Volta stated in interviews that the album's protagonist is based on their late friend Julio Venegas, or "Cerpin Taxt", an El Paso
El Paso
El Paso, a city in the U.S. state of Texas, on the border with Mexico.El Paso may also refer to:-Geography:Colombia:* El Paso, CesarSpain:*El Paso, Santa Cruz de TenerifeUnited States:...
poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and artist who went into a coma
Coma
In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...
for several years after a deliberate drug overdose
Drug overdose
The term drug overdose describes the ingestion or application of a drug or other substance in quantities greater than are recommended or generally practiced...
, recovered and later committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
. He died jumping from the Mesa Street overpass onto Interstate-10 in El Paso during afternoon rush-hour traffic. (Venegas' death was also referenced in the At the Drive-In song "Embroglio" from their album Acrobatic Tenement
Acrobatic Tenement
Acrobatic Tenement is the debut album from At the Drive-In, released in 1996. Only one of the album's tracks made it to the 2005 compilation album This Station Is Non-Operational, with "Initiation" appearing as a live BBC recording...
.)
In an interview with The Aquarian Weekly
The Aquarian Weekly
The Aquarian Weekly is a regional alternative weekly newspaper based in New Jersey. Founded in 1969, its focus is popular music. It is accompanied by a pull-out section, The East Coast Rocker, which is freely distributed throughout the New Jersey/New York City/Eastern Pennsylvania region.The paper...
in 2008, Cedric Bixler-Zavala said about working with Rubin, "Rick really over-simplified some of the parts that we thought were unique, and just made them very digestible. He’s got this thing about representing the common man’s ears—I’d rather jab the common man’s ears. If we don’t, we’ll never get to a place where future music exists."
The Mars Volta had no official bassist during the recording session, but Flea
Flea (musician)
Michael Peter Balzary , better known by his stage name Flea, is an Australian-American musician and occasional actor. He is best known as the bassist, co-founding member, and one of the composers of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers...
(of the Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers is an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1983. The group's musical style primarily consists of rock with an emphasis on funk, as well as elements from other genres such as punk, hip hop and psychedelic rock...
) played bass on nine of the album's ten songs, with Justin Meldal-Johnsen
Justin Meldal-Johnsen
Justin Meldal-Johnsen is an American musician and bassist, best known for his work with Grammy Award-winning artist Beck. He served as the touring bassist for Nine Inch Nails during their final tours.-Recording career:...
playing double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
on "Televators
Televators
"Televators" is a single from the album De-Loused in the Comatorium by the band The Mars Volta. The cryptic lyrics represent the moment at which the character "Cerpin Taxt" decides to take his own life...
." Flea's bandmate John Frusciante
John Frusciante
John Anthony Frusciante is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, record and film producer. He is best known as the former lead guitarist of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, with whom he had been for a number of years and recorded five studio albums...
also contributed additional guitar, synthesizer and backing vocals to "Cicatriz ESP". After several temporary replacements, permanent bassist for the band was found in the face of Juan Alderete
Juan Alderete
Juan Alderete is an American bassist known for his work with the band The Mars Volta. Prior to his work with that band, he was known for playing in Racer X, where he received credit as John Alderete.-Biography:...
(formerly of Racer X).
Despite limited promotion, De-Loused earned strong reviews, and appeared on several 'year-end best-of' lists. The album remains The Mars Volta's best-seller, with over 500,000 copies sold, and Rolling Stone ranking a track from "De-Loused"- "Drukenship of Laterns, the 91st Best Guitar Song Ever. The band later released a limited-edition storybook version of the album, available by download from the Gold Standard Laboratories website. The book speaks of Cerpin Taxt (Julio Venegas) and his suicide.
While on tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers is an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1983. The group's musical style primarily consists of rock with an emphasis on funk, as well as elements from other genres such as punk, hip hop and psychedelic rock...
in support of the album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, founding member Jeremy Michael Ward
Jeremy Michael Ward
Jeremy Michael Ward was the sound technician and vocal operator for The Mars Volta and for the dub outfit De Facto. He created many of the soundscapes heard on The Mars Volta's album De-Loused in the Comatorium...
died of heroin overdose. The band had canceled the tour's second leg, and the first single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
from De-Loused was later dedicated to Ward. It was this event which finally convinced band leaders Rodriguez-Lopez and Bixler-Zavala to purportedly quit using opioids. “One day, we were all getting high, and Jeremy asked me if I could see he had worms in his head,” Cedric recalls. “I never touched the stuff again. His passing was the final nail in the coffin. We never went back.”
Frances the Mute
As the band resumed touring to support De-Loused, they added Marcel Rodríguez-Lopez (Omar's brother) on percussion. Work on their second albumAlbum
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
began in 2004. That year the band received the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Vanguard Award.
Frances the Mute
Frances the Mute is the second studio album by progressive rock band The Mars Volta released in the US on March 1, 2005. Though not as commercially successful as De-Loused in the Comatorium, it received considerable critical praise...
. The story given by the band on the album's concept concerns a diary that had been found in a repossessed car by late sound technician Jeremy Ward, while working as a repo-man. The author of the diary is unknown but appeared to be someone who was adopted and was searching for their birth parents, and who may have suffered from mental illness caused by the death of a loved one. The lyrics for each track on the album are loosely based on characters and life events described in this person's diary.
Frances the Mute started as a bigger commercial hit than De-Loused, moving 123,000 copies in its first week, and debuting at #4 on the Billboard album charts. Reviews of Frances were generally positive (with a 75 on Metacritic) if somewhat polarized; Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
called it "a feverish and baroque search for self that conjures up the same majesty and gravity as Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
three decades before", while Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
called it "a homogeneous shitheap of stream-of-consciousness turgidity." However, even the detractors of Frances the Mute generally praised the band's musical abilities. "L'Via L'Viaquez
L'Via L'Viaquez
"L'Via L'Viaquez" is the second single from the album Frances the Mute by The Mars Volta. The song, in its unedited form, is 12 minutes and 22 seconds long, but was stripped down to receive radio play. The song, in total, features three guitar solos. John Frusciante performs the first two guitar...
" was later released as a single, stripped down from its original 12-minute length to five minutes. Frances the Mute
Frances the Mute
Frances the Mute is the second studio album by progressive rock band The Mars Volta released in the US on March 1, 2005. Though not as commercially successful as De-Loused in the Comatorium, it received considerable critical praise...
has sold nearly 465,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan ratings.
Rodriguez-Lopez wrote all the instrumental parts as well as arranging and producing the recording sessions himself. He used a method that Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
used to evoke great performances from bandmates: refusing to let the other members hear each other's parts, or the context of their own part, thereby forcing them to play each part as if it were a self-sufficient song. In order to accomplish this, the musicians recorded to the pulse of a metronome
Metronome
A metronome is any device that produces regular, metrical ticks — settable in beats per minute. These ticks represent a fixed, regular aural pulse; some metronomes also include synchronized visual motion...
. While in the studio, Rodriguez-Lopez recruited Adrián Terrazas-González to play saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
, flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
, and additional wind instruments for the album. Terrazas-González was added as a permanent member to The Mars Volta while touring in support of Frances the Mute.
Several songs written during the original recording sessions for the album never made the final cut. Notably, the self-titled 14-minute epic "Frances the Mute
Frances the Mute
Frances the Mute is the second studio album by progressive rock band The Mars Volta released in the US on March 1, 2005. Though not as commercially successful as De-Loused in the Comatorium, it received considerable critical praise...
", which was originally to open the album and was ultimately supposed to decode the album's concept, was not included due to time constraints. Instead the track was featured as a b-side to the single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
release for "The Widow
The Widow
"The Widow" is a song by The Mars Volta, from their second album Frances the Mute. The song was first performed in May, 2004 at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles during The Mars Volta's three-night residence closing the tour supporting their debut LP, De-Loused in the Comatorium...
". .
On May 20, 2005, instead of playing a traditional set
Set list
A set list, or setlist, is a document that lists the songs that a band or musical artist intends to play, or has played, during a specific concert performance...
at KROQ's Weenie Roast Festival, the band played a 50-minute improvisation jam that was jokingly named on-the-spot as "Abortion, The Other White Meat" by Rodriguez-Lopez. In keeping with The Mars Volta tradition of testing and developing new work live, parts of "Abortion" later appeared on "Population Council's Wet Dream" from Rodriguez-Lopez's 2009 album Old Money
Old Money (album)
Old Money is a studio album by Omar Rodríguez-López released by Stones Throw Records in November 2008, and is the musician's first album on that label...
.
Mid-way through their headlining U.S. tour, former At the Drive-In
At the Drive-In
At the Drive-In was an American rock band from El Paso, Texas, considered part of the post-hardcore genre and active from 1993 to 2001. They were known for their extremely energetic stage shows which hearkened back to the 1980s hardcore scene...
member Paul Hinojos
Paul Hinojos
Pablo J. Hinojos-Gonzalez is a Grammy award winning musician, and former member of The Mars Volta, Sparta and At The Drive In. Sometimes credited under the name Paul Hinojos, he was the bass guitarist of At the Drive-In...
left the band Sparta
Sparta (band)
Sparta is an American band from El Paso, Texas, formed in 2001. Founding members Jim Ward and Tony Hajjar are former members of post-hardcore group At the Drive-In...
to join The Mars Volta, claiming, "My time with Sparta has run its course, and simply wasn't fun anymore." Hinojos joined as rhythm guitarist and became the band's sound manipulator, the position previously held by the late Ward. Hinojos had previously toured with The Mars Volta in 2003 and 2004.
During mid-2005, the band toured in support of the album with System of a Down
System of a Down
System of a Down, also known by the acronym SOAD and often shortened to System, is a rock band from Southern California. The band was formed in 1994. It consists of Serj Tankian , Daron Malakian , Shavo Odadjian and John Dolmayan...
and curated the All Tomorrow's Parties
All Tomorrow's Parties (music festival)
All Tomorrow's Parties is a music festival which takes place at Camber Sands holiday camp in East Sussex and Butlin's holiday camp in Minehead, Somerset, England....
festival. In addition, a full-length live album named Scabdates
Scabdates
-CD pressing:-Source of recordings:05/12/2004 – Wiltern Theatre – Los Angeles, CA* "Haruspex"* "Cicatriz"05/13/2004 – Wiltern Theatre – Los Angeles, CA* "Caviglia"05/05/2005 – Roseland Ballroom – New York City, NY* "Abrasions Mount the Timpani"...
was released on November 8, 2005.
Amputechture
Upon finishing the majority of touring for Frances the Mute in fall 2005, Rodriguez-Lopez traveled to AmsterdamAmsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
and wrote what became Amputechture
Amputechture
-Notes:#"Vicarious Atonement" is the theory that the atonement of Jesus Christ was legal in God's eyes and that Jesus died in the place of the humans that sinned....
, which was released on September 8, 2006 in Europe, on September 9, 2006 in Australia and on September 12, 2006 in the U.S. Rodriguez-Lopez spent much of his time in Amsterdam working on and performing various solo projects most notably under the name "Omar Rodriguez Quintet." During this time Rodriguez-Lopez also composed the score to the film El Búfalo de la Noche
El Búfalo de la Noche (film)
El Búfalo de la Noche is a 2007 film directed by Jorge Hernandez Aldana and based on the novel by the same name written by Guillermo Arriaga. It is based on the novel by Guillermo Arriaga and stars Diego Luna. It was released in Mexico on August 17, 2007. The U.S...
, which was written and directed by Guillermo Arriaga
Guillermo Arriaga
Guillermo Arriaga Jordán is a Mexican author, screenwriter, director and producer. Self-defined as “a hunter who works as a writer,” he authored Amores Perros, received a BAFTA Best Screenplay nomination for 21 Grams, and received the 2005 Cannes Best Screenplay Award for The Three Burials of...
and Jorge Hernandez Aldana respectively. The Mars Volta as a whole performed the score.
Amputechture was produced by Rodríguez-Lopez and mixed by Rich Costey
Rich Costey
Rich Costey is an American record producer, engineer, and mixer who has worked with many bands including Muse, Cave In, Thursday, Franz Ferdinand, Glasvegas, The Mars Volta, Doves, Bloc Party, Ontronik , Jimmy Eat World, My Chemical Romance, Supergrass, Audioslave, Rage Against the Machine, Nine...
. Jeff Jordan provided the artwork, making it their first album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
not to feature the work
Graphic designer
A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, printed or electronic media, such as brochures and...
of Storm Thorgerson
Storm Thorgerson
Storm Thorgerson is an English graphic designer, known for his work for rock bands such as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, 10cc, Dream Theater, The Mars Volta, Muse, The Cranberries, and Biffy Clyro.-Biography:...
. It was once again a concept album, but rather than telling a story, the album was a series of vignettes, with each song telling a different story. It became the last album with drummer Jon Theodore, whom Rodriguez-Lopez fired before touring in support of the album. Rodriguez-Lopez said in an interview with an Italian fan site that Theodore was the only member in the band who wasn't happy playing live and brought down the moods of the rest.
John Frusciante
John Anthony Frusciante is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, record and film producer. He is best known as the former lead guitarist of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, with whom he had been for a number of years and recorded five studio albums...
was featured on every track on Amputechture, except for "Asilos Magdalena." Rodríguez-Lopez contributed the solos and riffs where the guitar work needed to be doubled. Bixler-Zavala said in an interview, "...he taught Frusciante all the new songs and Frusciante tracked guitars for us so Omar could sit back and listen to the songs objectively. It's great that he wants to help us and do that."
On July 28, 2006, the drummer's spot was filled by Blake Fleming
Blake Fleming
Blake Fleming is a drummer known for his involvement with several influential experimental bands. Fleming started drumming at age 8, and spent several years in fife and drumming corps, bagpipe bands, jazz bands, orchestras, etc. His first band was Dazzling Killmen, which he joined at age 15. Later...
, formerly of Laddio Bolocko
Laddio Bolocko
Laddio Bolocko was a noise rock band from New York City, formed in 1996 by members of Panicsville and the Dazzling Killmen. Their sound has drawn comparisons to experimental rock groups such as This Heat and Can and free jazz musicians like Albert Ayler. The band favored limited releases, offering...
, Dazzling Killmen
Dazzling Killmen
Dazzling Killmen was a math rock band from the St. Louis, Missouri area. The band combining a punk-inspired noisy ruckus with jazzy Sun Ra-type intelligence and complex arrangements.-Biography:...
, and the very first Mars Volta demos. A new song titled "Rapid Fire Tollbooth" was debuted live on September 22, 2006 in Chicago, Illinois, as reported by fans and attendees of the show who had received set lists from the stage. The song originally appears on Rodriguez-Lopez's solo album Se Dice Bisonte, No Bufalo
Se Dice Bisonte, No Bùfalo
Se Dice Bisonte, No Bùfalo is a 10-track full-length album by Omar Rodríguez-López and the second in the "Amsterdam series". It was written and recorded in 2005 in California and Amsterdam, and was released May 29, 2007 by Gold Standard Labs on both vinyl and CD. A limited edition, brown marble...
. The song eventually evolved into the track "Goliath" from the band's fourth studio album.
On September 25, 2006, The Mars Volta played a unique set on the opening night of a double-header in Toronto, Ontario. Cedric Bixler-Zavala fell ill and could not perform, so The Mars Volta played with John Frusciante
John Frusciante
John Anthony Frusciante is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, record and film producer. He is best known as the former lead guitarist of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, with whom he had been for a number of years and recorded five studio albums...
on third guitar. The set consisted of over 47 minutes of instrumental material, including a lengthy cover of the Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
composition "Interstellar Overdrive
Interstellar Overdrive
"Interstellar Overdrive" is a psychedelic composition written by Pink Floyd in 1966, which appears on their 1967 debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn at almost ten minutes in length. An earlier, longer recording, 16:52, can be heard on the soundtrack to the film Tonite Let's All Make Love in...
." On October 17, 2006, while opening for the Red Hot Chili Peppers in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the band played with drummer Deantoni Parks
Deantoni Parks
Deantoni Parks is a new wave/avant-garde/experimental drummer, songwriter, film director, actor and record producer born in Newnan, Georgia. He is the founder; producer and drummer of the New York band, KUDU, and one-half of the writing duo, Dark Angels with producer and keyboardist Nick Kasper,...
as Rodriguez-Lopez had fired Fleming because of complications within the band. Parks remained with the band only until the conclusion of the Japanese tour because of his prior commitments with other bands. On October 31, 2006 in Cleveland, Ohio, as Parks couldn't perform, The Mars Volta played approximately 40-minute improvisation set as a rehearsal for another drummer, Thomas Pridgen
Thomas Pridgen
Thomas Armon Pridgen is an American drummer, best known for his role as the drummer of The Mars Volta from October 31, 2006 until October 23, 2009, and currently the drummer for his own project The Memorials as well as hard rock supergroup Giraffe Tongue Orchestra.-Biography:Pridgen won the Guitar...
.
On a 2006 episode of The Henry Rollins Show
The Henry Rollins Show
The Henry Rollins Show was a weekly talk show hosted by Henry Rollins on the Independent Film Channel . The show featured Rollins' monologues, interviews with celebrities and uncensored musical performances. The show was canceled after the wrap of its second season.-Sections:Each episode features...
, The Mars Volta performed "Tetragrammaton" and "Day of the Baphomets" in a rare television performance. Afterwards, they did an interview with Rollins about the creation of Amputechture.
The Bedlam in Goliath
Thomas Pridgen
Thomas Armon Pridgen is an American drummer, best known for his role as the drummer of The Mars Volta from October 31, 2006 until October 23, 2009, and currently the drummer for his own project The Memorials as well as hard rock supergroup Giraffe Tongue Orchestra.-Biography:Pridgen won the Guitar...
became the new permanent drummer for the band. Pridgen's first full-time appearance was at the March 12 show in New Zealand, where the band debuted the song "Idle Tooth" which was later renamed "Wax Simulacra
Wax Simulacra
"Wax Simulacra" is a single from the album The Bedlam in Goliath by The Mars Volta. The single debuted November 18, 2007 on San Francisco's Live 105 FM...
" for the forthcoming album. After shows in New Zealand and Australia, The Mars Volta toured a few West Coast venues as the headliner, then entered the studio to record their fourth LP, The Bedlam in Goliath
The Bedlam in Goliath
The Bedlam in Goliath is the fourth full-length studio album by American progressive rock band The Mars Volta. It was released on January 29, 2008, and January 26, 2008 in Australia through Universal Motown Records...
. One of these performances was captured in a live concert DVD (which still remains unreleased to date) shot by director Jorge Hernandez Aldana.
Despite finding a permanent drummer and getting the band back on track, the recording and production of the album was reportedly plagued by difficulties related to a bad experience with a Ouija board
Ouija Board
Ouija Board is a Thoroughbred mare racehorse owned by Edward Stanley, 19th Earl of Derby and trained by Ed Dunlop. In a career spanning four seasons, she won 10 of her 22 races, 7 of them Group 1s, including the Epsom Oaks in 2004 and the Hong Kong Vase in 2005...
purchased in a curio shop in Jerusalem. According to Rodriguez-Lopez, their original engineer experienced a nervous breakdown, his studio flooded twice, and both he and mixer Rich Costey claimed that various tracks would disappear at random.
On November 5, 2007, The Mars Volta released a document by Jeremy Robert Johnson titled, "The Mars Volta's Descent into Bedlam: A Rhapsody in Three Parts." The document includes a history of the band and describes the obstacles and inspirations they encountered in the creation of The Bedlam in Goliath. On November 20, 2007 "Wax Simulacra
Wax Simulacra
"Wax Simulacra" is a single from the album The Bedlam in Goliath by The Mars Volta. The single debuted November 18, 2007 on San Francisco's Live 105 FM...
", the first single from the forthcoming album, was released with a cover of "Pulled to Bits" by Siouxsie and the Banshees as the b-side.
The band kicked off their supporting tour with a December 29, 2007 "secret show" at the Echoplex in Los Angeles, California, followed by a special New Year's Eve performance at San Francisco's Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
The Bill Graham Civic Auditorium is a multi-purpose arena in San Francisco, California, currently named after promoter Bill Graham...
. That night they played their first ever acoustic set, which included six songs and live performance of "Miranda, That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore" The band then departed on a club tour of east coast U.S. throughout January, with an album release show at San Diego's Soma
Soma San Diego
SOMA is a popular all-ages concert venue in the Midway District area of San Diego, California, right next to the San Diego Sports Arena. Over the years it has become one of the more popular concert venues in the city. Claiming to be one of the best all ages venue in the "SoCal" music scene, Soma...
, followed by another month's worth of European dates from mid-February to mid-March.
On January 2, 2008, The Mars Volta released an online game
Online game
An online game is a game played over some form of computer network. This almost always means the Internet or equivalent technology, but games have always used whatever technology was current: modems before the Internet, and hard wired terminals before modems...
called "Goliath: The Soothsayer", based on a true story that inspired their forthcoming album The Bedlam In Goliath. The album chronicles the band's purported experience with the "Soothsayer", a Ouija board
Ouija Board
Ouija Board is a Thoroughbred mare racehorse owned by Edward Stanley, 19th Earl of Derby and trained by Ed Dunlop. In a career spanning four seasons, she won 10 of her 22 races, 7 of them Group 1s, including the Epsom Oaks in 2004 and the Hong Kong Vase in 2005...
owned by vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala and its transition from a source of fun on tour to a psycho-spiritual force that almost tore the band apart. The game was available for a limited time exclusively via Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
.
On January 17, 2008, the band made their U.S. network television debut, performing "Wax Simulacra" on The Late Show with David Letterman (Rodriguez-Lopez, Bixler-Zavala and Hinojos had appeared on the show with At the Drive-In
At the Drive-In
At the Drive-In was an American rock band from El Paso, Texas, considered part of the post-hardcore genre and active from 1993 to 2001. They were known for their extremely energetic stage shows which hearkened back to the 1980s hardcore scene...
in 2000). On January 22, they made a surprise appearance at Toronto, Canada's MTV Live
MTV Live (Canada)
Live is a 26 minute flagship show of MTV Canada, on the air since March 21, 2006. The program began as an interactive talkshow where viewers were encouraged to jump into the conversation...
studios, where they performed "Wax Simulacra" and an extended version of "Goliath." In late January, the new album debuted at a career-best #3 on the Billboard 200.
Ron Asheton
Ronald Frank Asheton was an American guitarist and co-songwriter with Iggy Pop for the rock band The Stooges.Asheton is ranked as number 29 on Rolling Stones list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time....
.
Octahedron
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez had discussed the band's next album as early as January 2008, the month that The Bedlam in Goliath was released, claiming "I consider it to be our acoustic album." Cedric Bixler-Zavala had expressed an urge for the album to not be released on a major label. In February 2009, Rodriguez-Lopez claimed "the next two Mars Volta records are already recorded and waiting for a release date."On April 14, 2009, The Mars Volta announced their fifth studio album, entitled Octahedron
Octahedron (album)
Octahedron is the fifth full-length studio album by American progressive rock band The Mars Volta, released on June 23, 2009. The album was released by Warner Bros. Records in North America and Mercury Records worldwide...
. It was released June 23 in the United States and June 22 in the rest of the world. According to Vintage Vinyl Records St. Louis MO the LP will not be released until July 21 with 500 limited edition LP's. In the spirit of distillation of the band's sound, Rodriguez-Lopez asked saxophonist Adrián Terrazas-González and guitarist/sound manipulator Paul Hinojos to leave. Regarding their departure, percussionist Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez
Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez
Marcellus Rodriguez-Lopez is a multi-instrumentalist musician and younger brother of Omar Rodríguez-López.- Biography :He has been noted as to playing the bongos, congas, Drums, cymbals, Maracas, keyboards and Shekere....
noted that: "it's like we got a whole new band. It's two less members — we got to play differently."
The first single released in North America was "Since We've Been Wrong
Since We've Been Wrong
"Since We've Been Wrong" is a single from The Mars Volta's fifth studio album, Octahedron. It was released in June 2009 as the first single in North America, while "Cotopaxi" was the European single. The band premiered the song during their first acoustic set at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in...
". The first European single was "Cotopaxi
Cotopaxi (song)
"Cotopaxi" is a song from The Mars Volta's fifth studio album Octahedron. It was released as the first single in Europe while "Since We've Been Wrong" was released as the first North American single...
".
An excerpt from The Mars Volta's performance at the All Tomorrow's Parties, UK 2005 A Nightmare Before Christmas festival
All Tomorrow's Parties Festival lineups
This page lists past lineups for all past UK and US All Tomorrow's Parties music festivals, as well as other festivals the ATP organisation has been involved with such as the Pitchfork Music Festival and Primavera Sound. Unlike most music festivals, ATP lineups are chosen by a curator, usually an...
was featured in the All Tomorrow's Parties film, which was released in cinemas during October 2009.
During the Octahedron tour, the show on October 23 in Raleigh, NC
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...
was unexpectedly cancelled. It was supposed to be the final show of the North American leg of the tour, but was cancelled due to an argument between Bixler-Zavala and Thomas Pridgen, the drummer at the time, which ended with Pridgen abruptly leaving the venue. A month later, Pridgen confirmed his departure from The Mars Volta via Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
stating he was "not in TMV anymore". In a February 2011 interview, Pridgen said he left the group "because the singer had a jealous ego trip. There's nothing more to elaborate on." The band later completed the tour with drummer Dave Elitch
David Elitch
David Elitch is an American musician best known for his work with the American progressive rock band The Mars Volta. Dave grew up in Sebastopol,CA and later moved to LA to join Los Angeles-based metal band Daughters of Mara before joining The Mars Volta in a touring capacity in 2009, following...
. They played throughout Europe and Australia until the end of January 2010.
In October 2010, The Mars Volta played two shows in Brazil and Chile. Long-time keyboardist, Ikey Owens, was absent during these dates due to touring commitments with his own project, Free Moral Agents
Free Moral Agents
Free Moral Agents is a collective of musicians brought together by Isaiah "Ikey" Owens as a means to expand the sounds of what started as a solo recording project...
.
Sixth album
Shortly after Octahedron's release, Omar claimed to have put the supposed follow-up "on hold", as he felt the album was boring. He claimed to have started working on a completely new album as the follow-up.In an April 2010 interview with Rolling Stone, Rodriguez-Lopez talked about trying to loosen his grip in the studio. He claimed to have finished writing the album, and was awaiting lyrics and vocals from Bixler-Zavala.
In May 2010, The Mars Volta entered pre-production for their sixth album. On December 9, 2010 a statement was made via the ORLProductions Twitter page
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
, which read: "In LA finishing up the new The Mars Volta album". Another notable comment made on Sargent House's Twitter page
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
confirmed Deantoni Parks as the band's official drummer.. In an interview with Rob Perez on NocheLatina.com, Rodriguez-Lopez stated that "The record is done. Whenever the record label decides to put it out that’s when we’ll hear something new." He also stated the upcoming album will feature thirteen songs which, "[are] a simplified version of what we've done before", and commented on his songwriting process, stating "I want to collaborate more. I've had 10 years of kind of being a benign dictator in this band and I want to make it more like a democracy." Cedric recently took the opportunity to make a few remarks on the sound of the upcoming Mars Volta LP: “Sorry no spanish [sic] on this record, no Zeppelinesque
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
voyages, no Santana
Santana (band)
Santana is a rock band based around guitarist Carlos Santana and founded in the late 1960s. It first came to public attention after their performing the song "Soul Sacrifice" at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, when their Latin rock provided a contrast to other acts on the bill...
like flourishes or vishnu
Vishnu
Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
accuasations [sic]. No congas, no Hammond organ
Hammond organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
stabs, no 30 minute songs, no drums that sounds like mosquitos buzzing in your ear. Just future punk. That’s the only way to describe it from my point of view.”
At the March 19 Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Group
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Group
The Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group is the main side project of Omar Rodríguez-López. The group is most often a live entity to perform the various outlets of his solo music aside from The Mars Volta.-History:...
show at SXSW Bixler-Zavala performed as a vocalist, which led to speculations of this being the secret Mars Volta show under the Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Group moniker, presumably for legal reasons (this rumor was confirmed by the lineup and songs that were performed at The Mars Volta's tour opener in Norway on July 1). The Group (with Bixler-Zavala on lead vocals) continued to tour throughout April, playing material to be released on the upcoming Mars Volta album. Absent from these shows was keyboardist Owens, who was busy with his own band, Free Moral Agents
Free Moral Agents
Free Moral Agents is a collective of musicians brought together by Isaiah "Ikey" Owens as a means to expand the sounds of what started as a solo recording project...
. When asked about the upcoming Mars Volta album he stated that he knew "absolutely nothing [about the album]". He also stated that he was unsure as to whether he would be performing with the band at their scheduled summer dates or not. On July 2, bassist Juan Alderete revealed via his Twitter account that Owens was no longer in the band as "He is producing bands these days."
Part of the The Mars Volta's summer 2011 tour will consist of them playing dates opening for Soundgarden
Soundgarden
Soundgarden is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington in 1984 by singer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto...
on select dates during the summer of 2011. This is in addition to their opening slot for the Red Hot Chili Peppers in their one-off gig in Hong Kong on 9 August 2011.
The Mars Volta played new songs during their set at Splendour in the Grass in Australia in July. Cedric said to the crowd that he was "inviting them to a private rehearsal for their new album".
Cedric Bixler-Zavala has stated on his Youtube channel that the new Mars Volta full-length will not be released until 2012.
Band members
According to the liner notes for Amputechture, The Bedlam in Goliath and Octahedron: "The partnership between Omar Rodríguez-López & Cedric Bixler-Zavala is The Mars Volta. These compositions are then performed by The Mars Volta Group."Current
- Omar Rodríguez-LópezOmar Rodriguez-LopezOmar Alfredo Rodríguez-López is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer, writer, actor and film director who was born in Bayamón, Puerto Rico...
– guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, director, production, live backing vocals (2001–present) - Cedric Bixler-ZavalaCedric Bixler-ZavalaCedric Bixler-Zavala is a Grammy Award-winning Mexican-American musician known for his work as frontman and lyricist of the progressive rock band The Mars Volta, and previously as frontman and occasional guitarist of the post-hardcore punk group At the Drive-In...
– lyricsLyricsLyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
, vocals (2001–present) - Juan AldereteJuan AldereteJuan Alderete is an American bassist known for his work with the band The Mars Volta. Prior to his work with that band, he was known for playing in Racer X, where he received credit as John Alderete.-Biography:...
– bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
(2003–present) - Marcel Rodriguez-LopezMarcel Rodriguez-LopezMarcellus Rodriguez-Lopez is a multi-instrumentalist musician and younger brother of Omar Rodríguez-López.- Biography :He has been noted as to playing the bongos, congas, Drums, cymbals, Maracas, keyboards and Shekere....
– percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
, synthesizerSynthesizerA synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
s, keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
(2003–present) - Deantoni ParksDeantoni ParksDeantoni Parks is a new wave/avant-garde/experimental drummer, songwriter, film director, actor and record producer born in Newnan, Georgia. He is the founder; producer and drummer of the New York band, KUDU, and one-half of the writing duo, Dark Angels with producer and keyboardist Nick Kasper,...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
(September−November 2006, 2010−present) - Lars Stalfors – sound manipulation, keyboards (2009–2010 backstage, 2011–present on stage)
Former
Sound manipulators- Jeremy Michael WardJeremy Michael WardJeremy Michael Ward was the sound technician and vocal operator for The Mars Volta and for the dub outfit De Facto. He created many of the soundscapes heard on The Mars Volta's album De-Loused in the Comatorium...
– (2001–2003) - Paul HinojosPaul HinojosPablo J. Hinojos-Gonzalez is a Grammy award winning musician, and former member of The Mars Volta, Sparta and At The Drive In. Sometimes credited under the name Paul Hinojos, he was the bass guitarist of At the Drive-In...
– (2003–2004 live offstage, 2005–2008 joined officially in recording and onstage, also performed additional guitar)
Drummers
- Blake FlemingBlake FlemingBlake Fleming is a drummer known for his involvement with several influential experimental bands. Fleming started drumming at age 8, and spent several years in fife and drumming corps, bagpipe bands, jazz bands, orchestras, etc. His first band was Dazzling Killmen, which he joined at age 15. Later...
– (2001, July−September 2006) - Jon TheodoreJon TheodoreJon Philip Theodore is a drummer, formerly a member of The Mars Volta. He has become best known for his explosive, multi-textural and dynamic playing style.-History:...
– (August 2001–July 2006) - Thomas PridgenThomas PridgenThomas Armon Pridgen is an American drummer, best known for his role as the drummer of The Mars Volta from October 31, 2006 until October 23, 2009, and currently the drummer for his own project The Memorials as well as hard rock supergroup Giraffe Tongue Orchestra.-Biography:Pridgen won the Guitar...
– (October 2006−October 2009) - Dave Elitch – (November 2009–October 2010)
Bassists
- Eva GardnerEva GardnerEva Gardner is an electric bassist from Los Angeles, California. She is a graduate of the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, where she studied under trumpet player Bobby Rodriguez. She holds a degree in ethnomusicology from UCLA . Her professional credits include teaching stints at...
– (2001–2002) - FleaFlea (musician)Michael Peter Balzary , better known by his stage name Flea, is an Australian-American musician and occasional actor. He is best known as the bassist, co-founding member, and one of the composers of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers...
– (2002 in studio for De-Loused in the Comatorium sessions, also performed trumpet on Frances the Mute) - Ralph Jasso – (2002)
- Jason LaderJason LaderJason Lader is a bass guitarist, producer and mixer from USA known for his work with The Mars Volta and Furslide.- As Producer :Albums2007*Maroon 5 - It Won't Be Soon Before Long*Rilo Kiley - Under The Blacklight2008...
– (2003)
Keyboardists
- Isaiah Ikey OwensIsaiah Ikey OwensIsaiah Randolph "Ikey" Owens is an American keyboardist known for his work with The Mars Volta and an array of other bands from the Long Beach music scene.-Biography:...
– (2001–2010) - Linda GoodLinda GoodLinda Good is a songwriter, producer, keyboardist, singer and television and film composer. She is co-founder, with her twin sister Laura, of the alternative pop band, The Twigs...
– (2002)
Wind
- Adrián Terrazas-González – (2004 in studio, 2005–2008 live, also performed additional percussion)
Guitarists
- John FruscianteJohn FruscianteJohn Anthony Frusciante is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, record and film producer. He is best known as the former lead guitarist of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, with whom he had been for a number of years and recorded five studio albums...
– (2002–2008 in studio, occasionally part of a live setting)
Studio albums
- De-Loused in the ComatoriumDe-Loused in the ComatoriumDe-Loused in the Comatorium is the debut studio album of the progressive rock band The Mars Volta. Released on June 24, 2003 on Gold Standard Laboratories and Universal Records, De-loused is based on a short story written by lead singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala and sound manipulation artist Jeremy...
(2003) - Frances the MuteFrances the MuteFrances the Mute is the second studio album by progressive rock band The Mars Volta released in the US on March 1, 2005. Though not as commercially successful as De-Loused in the Comatorium, it received considerable critical praise...
(2005) - AmputechtureAmputechture-Notes:#"Vicarious Atonement" is the theory that the atonement of Jesus Christ was legal in God's eyes and that Jesus died in the place of the humans that sinned....
(2006) - The Bedlam in GoliathThe Bedlam in GoliathThe Bedlam in Goliath is the fourth full-length studio album by American progressive rock band The Mars Volta. It was released on January 29, 2008, and January 26, 2008 in Australia through Universal Motown Records...
(2008) - OctahedronOctahedron (album)Octahedron is the fifth full-length studio album by American progressive rock band The Mars Volta, released on June 23, 2009. The album was released by Warner Bros. Records in North America and Mercury Records worldwide...
(2009) - TBA (2012)
Filmography
- Coachella (2006)
- All Tomorrow's Parties (2009)