Jump to content

The Mars Volta

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 67.79.109.245 (talk) at 15:14, 4 April 2005 (→Etymology). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.


File:The Mars Volta, 2004 Big Day Out.jpg
The Mars Volta onstage at the 2004 Big Day Out, Melbourne, Australia.

The Mars Volta is a musical group founded by Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. They are generally considered rock, with heavy punk, prog and Latin influences. They are known for their wild live shows and oblique lyrics, which have gotten them rave reviews and vehement criticism from fans and critics alike.

History

After the "indefinite hiatus" of the Texas based aggro-punk band At the Drive-In, Cedric and Omar recruited keyboardist Ikey Owens and audio technician Jeremy Ward to form The Mars Volta, a band they envisioned would fulfill their every musical whim. The Mars Volta soon released Tremulant, a collection of three songs - including "Concertina", a condemnation of a former ATDI member - that explored prog rock, punk rock, salsa, free and avant-garde

Following the EP, The Mars Volta continued to tour while preparing for their next release, De-Loused in the Comatorium. Whereas Tremulant was a record with no general theme, De-Loused was a unified work of speculative fiction that told the story - from the first person perspective - of someone in a drug induced coma. Though lyrically obstuse, The Mars Volta have stated in interviews that the protagonist of the album is based on a friend of theirs who, several years prior, was himself in a coma and who subsequently walked onto an overpass and killed himself by jumping into rush hour traffic.

The ten-track LP would become their biggest hit yet, both critically and commercially, eventually selling in excess of 500,000 copies and featuring on several critics' "Best of the Year" lists. The band would later release a limited edition storybook version of the album, currently available to download from Gold Standard Laboratories. The book speaks of Cerpain Taxt (sometimes refered to as the album/story's "hero", and his suicide.

While on tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers in support of their album, The Mars Volta's "Sound Manipulator" and contributing lyricist Jeremy Ward was found dead of an apparent drug overdose. The second leg of the tour was cancelled and the first single from De-Loused would later be dedicated to Ward.

Currently

Currently the band is touring Europe in support of their second full length album, Frances the Mute, which draws from a diary late sound tech Jeremy Ward found while working as a repo man. The fragmented diary supposedly details the story of a young man searching for his family. Ward, himself adopted, identified with the diary and was in the process of completing it at the time of his death.

The first single, "The Widow", was released in early 2005. However, in December 2004 a full copy of "Frances the Mute" was leaked to the internet from the vinyl version. The rip was of horrible quality: encoded at 96kb/s mp3, other versions reencoded to 192kb/s wma from the source mp3 resulting in even worse audio quality. Gold Standard Laboratories issued a statement saying:

"The collective GSL staff and certain members of the band think what you are doing is fucked. You should honor the band's wishes and take the songs down. Leaks suck, and are an unfortunate evil of the Internet. It sucks even more when it's such a bad copy as what is being passed around right now. As much as the hype that's swept over the internet for this release is amazing, no one wished anyone to hear such an amazing album in such piss-poor quality this side of the 70s."

Despite the leak and others following it, "Frances the Mute" was released on midnight, March 1, 2005 and sold over 100,000 copies within the first week of release and debuted at number four on the Billboard Album Charts - no mean feat for a virtually unmarketable album. The title track, "Frances the Mute," which the band has said "decodes" the album's story, was not included in the album and does not yet have a release date. It is believed that the song will be issued as a single, either on CD or vinyl. The band recently released dates for a North American tour beginning in April, 2005.

Etymology

According to the band, "Volta" was a term used by surrealist filmmaker Federico Fellini to describe a radical change in art and social contexts. "Mars" alludes to the band's love of science fiction. "The" is used to disambiguate the band from a group of European Techno artists that previously took the name "Mars Volta".

Members

Currently

  • Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Guitar
  • Cedric Bixler-Zavala - Vocals
  • Jon Theodore - Drums
  • Isaiah Ikey Owens - Keyboards
  • Juan Alderete - Bass
  • Marcell Rodriguez-Lopez - Percussion
  • Adrian Terrazas - Flute, Tenor Saxophone, Bass Clarinet and additional percussion

Previously

  • Jeremy Michael Ward - Sound Technician (2001-2003)
  • Evan Gardner - Bass (2001-2002)
  • Ralph Jasso - Bass (2002)
  • Jason Laden - Bass (2003)

Discography

Albums

EPs

Singles

Current US Tour Dates

File:Voltatix.jpg
A ticket to the April 25 2005 Mars Volta show at the Austin Music Hall

The Mars Volta are currently about to start on a US tour covering much of the country.

Official Sites

Fan Sites

Reviews

  • Mix Online Article - Technical report/interview on the making of De-loused in the Comatorium.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Mars_Volta&oldid=11877295"