Artist Profile: The Mars Volta

Today's Artist Profile is on one of the best live acts that I've ever seen, The Mars Volta. The Mars Volta is the brainchild of Cedric Bixler Zavala and Omar Rodriguez Lopez. former members of At The Drive In, a hugely influential alt-punk act from the mid 90's to the early 2000's. The band was formed out of the ashes of At The Drive In, which disbanded in 2001 mostly because of creative differences and Cedric and Omar becoming disenchanted with the prospects of mainstream success. The Mars Volta's sound was drastically different than At The Drive In, and had a more abrasive, progressive rock component to them that truly allowed Cedric and Omar to think outside of the box and let their true talents out to shine. The band released their debut effort De-Loused In The Comatorium in 2003, a concept album based on a fictional first person story about someone in a drug induced coma battling the evil side of his mind. The album produced such incredible tracks like "Inertiatic ESP"and "Televators". The album received thunderous critical acclaim, selling over 500,000 copies and was one of the best albums of the year. The band released their follow up effort Frances The Mute in 2005. This was another concept effort based on a diary found in a repossessed car by the the band's late sound technician, Jeremy Ward. The album went on to achieve almost the same success as its predecessor, selling close to half a million copies on the strength of such jarring tracks such as "The Widow" and "L'Via L'Viaquez". The band went on a lengthy tour after that in support of the album which was very warmly received by the audience.

The band wasted no time in beginning work on their next album, Amputechture which came out a year later in 2006. The album contained tracks to the tune of "Viscera Eyes" and "Vicarious Atonement".  The album wasn't as well received as the first two had, but still managed to sell close to half a million copies. The band then later begun work on their next effort, The Bedlam In Goliath which came out in 2008. The band had quite a ordeal leading up to the creation and release of the album after Omar purchased a Ouija board at a curio shop in Jerusalem which the band took on tour with them while promoting Amputechture. After playing with it, the band's drummer at the time Blake Fleming quit the band, Cedric had surgery on his foot leading him to relearn how to walk all over again, songs began to disappear from the computer screens, Omar's home studio got flooded, and the album's engineer suffered a nervous breakdown all leading up to the disc's release. Omar eventually destroyed the Ouija board and the band eventually completed work on the disc, producing such classic tracks like my favorite Volta track "Wax Simulacra", "Goliath", and "Aberinkula". The band's most recent effort Octahedron followed a year later, and gave way to such tunes like "Since We've Been Wrong" and "Cotopaxi". The band is currently in the process of finishing up production on their latest album, tentatively scheduled for release sometime later on this year. The first time I saw The Mars Volta in concert was at the Worcester Palladium in May 2005 and it was the best show that I've ever been to. I remember just being in awe of their presence and watching them unfold on stage was truly an experience to behold. I can't wait to hear what Cedric and Omar have up their sleeves on their next album!