The Mars Volta

The Mars Volta is the name of a partnership between guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López and singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala founded in 2001. The Mars Volta Group is the progressive rock group that interprets the songs written by Rodríguez-López and Bixler-Zavala. They incorporate various influences, including jazz fusion, funk and Latin, into their sound. They are known for their wild, energetic and improvised live shows, as well as their usually concept-based studio albums. They were named in 2008 by Rolling Stone magazine as rock music's "Best Prog-Rock Band".

Cedric Bixler-Zavala stated in an interview:
“ The Volta is taken from a Federico Fellini book about his films, what he characterizes as a changing of scene, or a turnaround; a new scene to him is called Volta. Y'know, changing of time and the changeover. And Mars, we're just fascinated by science-fiction so and it's something that ultimately looked as in anything I write, its meaning is always up to the listener. As the way we write songs and words, if it looks great on paper then to us it's like painting, so if it looks good meaning the second then people usually have a better interpretation than we ever would.”

The definite article "The" is used to distinguish the band from a group of European techno artists that previously used the name "Mars Volta."

The roots of The Mars Volta are found in the band At the Drive-In (ATDI). ATDI members Cedric Bixler-Zavala, and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez formed 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, Rodriguez-Lopez and Bixler-Zavala quit ATDI in about 2001. The remaining members of ATDI formed Sparta. By the time bassist Eva Gardner joined De Facto, they'd changed their name to The Mars Volta. During 2001, the band recorded two songs with drummer Blake Fleming and producer Alex Newport, which became their first demo. Later 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, which saw limited release in early 2002.

After the success of ATDI, Rodriguez-Lopez and Bixler-Zavala found themselves performing in small clubs characterized by chaotic live shows and heavy drug use.

Cedric Bixler-Zavala has expressed an urge for their next album to not be released on a major label.

A new song, dubbed "Beneath the Eyelids" by fans, was played at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium on December 31st, 2007. A low quality 30-second studio clip of this song was also leaked on Facebook for a short while in September, which was originally falsely assumed by fans to be a clip from The Bedlam in Goliath.

In an interview with Omar on February 22nd, 2008 before his concert in Copenhagen, Omar mentioned that if the record label doesn't interfere, he expects the new album and the Australian concert (at festival hall, march 17 2007) DVD to be released by the end of the year, along with 8 of his solo recordings.

In addition, other future projects have been mentioned by band members. One is a film shot by Rodriguez-Lopez documenting the entire history of the band including studio and backstage footage taken over the years. Another is a new live album similar to Scabdates featuring songs from Frances the Mute and Amputechture.

UPCOMING SHOWS:
Oct 25 2008 8:00P City Park New Orleans, Louisiana
Oct 29 2008 8:00P Parque Simon Bolivar/Columbia FEST Bogota
Nov 3 2008 8:00P Movie Star Arena/SUE FESTIVAL Santiago
Nov 5 2008 8:00P Cabaret Guadalajara
Nov 8 2008 5:00P Parque Fundidora Monterrey