Interviste e articoli, su De-Loused

RC: Yes indeed Rock Circus has come here once again to Club Laga,
we've been here so many times. We're here to chill with the
lead vocalist of this band, The Mars Volta, a band I've really
been digging. The CD is great I'ld like to congragulate you
guys on such a good job, it's really fresh stuff.
Cedric: Thank you very much.
RC: You've worked hard towards this. I kind of read about the CD
title, De-Loused in the Comatorium, which I found kind of odd.
But it's a tribute to a friend of yours that passed recently,
or a few years back?
Cedric: A few years ago.
RC: One of your members just died recently?
Cedric: Yeah
RC: I'm sorry to hear that, my deepest condolences.
Cedric: Thank you.
RC: Jeromy Ward
Cedric: Yeah
RC: So tell me about your friend that just passed, what made you
write a CD to tribute him? I mean what kind of a person was he
to influence you like that.
Cedric: He was our mentor. He taught us everything that created what
we are today basically. I think our asthetic as far as artists
are concerned, the applification of the non-musician and the
true definition of what we believe to be punk rock music. Which
means to throw out all the rules and not to have a uniform and
not to copy what the bands look like, but to have them
influence you and not be carbon copies of what's out there.
Which is what I think is a lot of the problem with rock music
today, is that people don't know how to take influence and
influence them. They become exactly what they see, they become
parodies. And our friend Julio, he taught us that anything from
Lenny Bruce to King Crimson to The Swans to Andy Coffman to
Sylvia Plaft, is pretty much considered, it's an example of
punk rock music.
RC: Not so much the American version that everybody gets caught up
in. You kind of stepped out with that with your former band At
the Drive-In, but I read that you guys didn't want that kind of
stamp so you just kind of threw that aside and came up with The
Mars Volta. Which was really cool.
Cedric: Julio is just an example of a starving artist, someone who
was always struggling. And when your struggling I think your
art shows, and he was a living walking embodiment of what art
is or it should be. So therefor it is our going away present to
him, and what better way to give someone a present than to have
a whole album about them.
RC: It's a great tribute. Kind of reminds me of Pink Floyd, when they
did their thing for Syd Barret, Shine on you Crazy Diamonds. Was
that a little bit of the idea, that you got?
Cedric: Well he's our Syd Barret. But yeah, Syd Barret's an
influence so definatley, but we don't want to rip off Floyd or
anything.
RC: Oh you don't, by no means is this a rip off of Floyd. You guys
are very original, very inovative, and probably the most
prolific band to come out this year, and that's no bullshit.
I'm serious, this is some good stuff.
Cedric: Thanks
RC: You went to Rick Rubin's place to record, how did that happen?
How did you hook up with Rick, what kind of a guy is he like?
Cedric: He's a sweetheart, very soft spoken human being, who knows
how to criticize you without hurting your feelings. Most
producers kind of tear you apart and you never wanna play music
again. Rick's just a gentle man and we met him cuz he was a fan
of At the Drive-In. He started coming to shows and he wanted to
help out. We got to know him at his house and we asked if we
could do it at the old Houdini house.
RC: Which is supposedly haunted from what I read.
Cedric: Yeah
RC: Did you feel a presence or something there? Did you see anything
wierd?
Cedric: Just the opening of doors by themselves, and windows, and
vibrations are there on the album.
RC: Yeah, it kind of comes through. What's the story behind that,
does Rick know?
Cedric: Does he know about what?
RC: The ghosts
Cedric: Oh well, Houdini's house is across the street and his wife's
house is the house where we recorded it at, and where I did all
the vocals. It's where they had all the seances every Halloween
to try to...
RC: To bring Harry Houdini back.
Cedric: So that's one story. But also it's a house that Hendrix,
Beatles, Zeppelin, The Doors, The Band, you know everyone has
probably stayed there cuz of the whole area of Laurel King, so
it has a lot of rock history.
RC: Oh yeah, very cool. You brought in Flea and John Frisciante to
play a little on this. Did Rick bring them in or are you guys
friends with them? He's in the video.
Cedric: Yeah, we're friends with them and they just helped us cuz we
needed someone last minute. He did it all in three days, John
just got off the plane and...
RC: He just played on one track?
Cedric: Yeah he played on one track. He does like on Ciciatriz ESP,
when it breaks down in to this ambient part, he does a lot of
the affected parts. And he also does a dueling solo, it sounds
so funny dueling solo, but he does like a dueling thing with
Omar on there.
RC: Like doubles it out?
Cedric: Yeah, he just got off the plane, came over, and I watched
them do it. It was fun.
RC: Is it fascinating to watch Rick work with the board and pull
stuff out of you guys? were you really floored as opposed to At
the Drive-In stuff, was this stuff that really took you over?
Cedric: Rick is more a preproduction guy. There was other people
that were behind the board, but it was primarily like Omar
behind the board. It was a colaberation of producers really.
RC: Which is quite good if the label lets the guitar player do some
production.
Cedric: Well he knew what we wanted and Omar is just very good with
a lot of that stuff. So Rick's very good with preproduction,
organization of the song, telling you if the paintings crooked
or not from the back of the room. I mean he's really good with
the vocal stuff and kind of honing the common man's ear in to
what we do, or every song would be fifteen minutes long.
RC: That's one thing that I wanted to mention, your songs are a
little longer than rock standard format now. How do you plan to
overcome that barrier? Do you think that the music will just
eventually soak through or will you release radio edits like a
lot of other groups do.
Cedric: Yeah, we do radio edits simply just to keep the powers that
be happy, keeps the money flowing for us, for whatever money we
need. But live that's our medium you know, and everything
stretches out. It always changes, the songs don't sound the
same and that's what keeps it interesting, and that's why every
show is an individual show on to itself.
RC: Is your label Golden Standard?
Cedric: That's Omar's label. He runs it with this guy named Sunny K.
He was a silent partner at first and then he bacame more
visible, and now he and Omar Rodriguez run it.
RC: A lot of acts on there. I was on the site today, I saw The
Locust, and a bunch of other cool acts.
Cedric: Kill Me Tomorrow, Pow Pow Pow's (!!!'s) first record,
Outhud's first record, Defacto record, a bunch of other stuff.
I can't think off the top of my head, Go Go Go Airhsart, a lot
of great bands. A lot more of the underbelly of the not so
popular side of post punk and any other style of punk music I
guess.
RC: Stuff that don't sound like Blink 182.
Cedric: Stuff that definately has nothing to do with those bands.
RC: When you see those bands is there..., do you give them like dirty
looks, I wonder?
Cedric: No, no, you know they're people too, they do their style.
RC: They sold their sole.
Cedric: (smiling) They do their style and we do ours. I could spend
all my time with negative energy saying insults about their
music but that's fine, that's what they wanna do, at least
there's that you know. But we just provide a different choice
for people.
RC: Which is great. Are you pretty popular in the UK, in the Eastern
hemispheres.
Cedric: Some parts
RC: You hit there first, I would imagine, right?
Cedric: We did states first with this band on our own, we did a band
tour. We didn't sell anything no shirts, no stickers, no
anything, it was just music. We just wanted to get to know
eachother musically, see who worked in the band or not. Did it
in the band and then jumped out with a band called Asabi Fab in
Europe, and another band called The Apes from DC and did a
European tour in a van. When we did the Red Hot Chilli Pepper
dates we got in to a bus and did it with a bus and, with this
round we have a crew and people helping us.
RC: How were you recieved by the Chilli Pepper fans.
Cedric: Europe is good, the states is different, the states is...
RC: People got that kind of arrogance, we're here to see the Chilli
Peppers...
Cedric: Well yeah, it's umhhh..., when you're a popular band of that
magnitude you're always gonna attract the spring break, Daytona,
Real World, Road Rules, type crowd.
RC: Europeans are more open.
Cedric: Way more open.
RC: I think that's part of the problem with the radio monoploies that
are going on in the United States right now. I know the station
in town hates me so I don't really care, but I say what the
truth is.
Cedric: We totally dislike it or are disgusted by Clear Channel but
it's hard to get around them.
RC: You can't.
Cedric: You can't, it's like the McDonald's of rock music, and
they're as evil as McDonald's, if Nazi like. They're a
completely horrible organization, they're very mob like. If you
ever realize it, but songs like Imagine or Bullet to the Head
are not allowed to be played because they want people to be
frenzied, in a state of war. That's Clear Channel you know.
It's a lot of right wing, I wouldn't be surprised if they had
ties with the KKK. But you know it's impossible to get around
that because they own everything, you know.
RC: You see I think they're a little more arrogant, I just think
they're neo-nazis and that's that.
Cedric: Minus the sheets right.(laughing)
RC: Yeah exactly. The first video you did off of this was
Inertiatic ESP, why did you pick that track? Was it just
because it was the lead off track or was that the favorite
track of the band, or the suits?
Cedric: We didn't, it's the suits.
RC: What's your favorite?
Cedric: Drunkship of Lanterns
RC: I like that, that's a nice one. So when you're out doing the
vocals or the lyric, do you have the lyrics already written
before the music or does that come as you hear the music, track
by track?
Cedric: Yeah, I always add-lyb. I don't ever sing anything concrete
until it gets closer to the deadline and we have to do the
stuff. Omar has everything written pretty much and then we take
it to Theodore, John Theodore our drummer, and he disects it
even more. And then it becomes its own little walking monster.
But yeah, it's always music first, and then the story got put
together bit by bit, even when the record was finished. It's
easier to put all the gaps in, put the cement between the
bricks, so music first.
RC: So you think you're boys smiling on from beyond, here's my boys.
Here it is the name of the CD is De-Loused in the Comatorium,
which I think I've been a few times, I'm not sure. I'ld like to
thank Cedric for coming on the show, wish you the best of luck,
we dig the CD.

Perched high above Laurel Canyon is the supposedly haunted mansion chosen by the Mars Volta to record their much-anticipated debut album, De-Loused in the Comatorium. In 1991, it was the home of the Red Hot Chili Peppers while they made their classic Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Both albums were produced by Rick Rubin, and for the Mars Volta album, he chose engineer Dave Schiffman, who has manned the board for Audioslave, System of a Down, the Juliana Theory and the Peppers' Californication. Rubin also brought in Flea of the Peppers to take care of bass duties.

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Recording
Music Production

The Mars Volta are singer Cedric Bixler, guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, drummer Jon Theodore, bassist Juan Alderete and keyboardist Isaiah Owens. After the band's triumphant European tour this spring opening for the Chili Peppers, rave reviews at the Coachella Festival and more U.S. dates with the Peppers, their electronics wiz, Jeremy Ward, died on May 25 at his home in L.A. But the band is carrying on and has been gaining momentum with each passing month.

Bixler and Rodriguez were known previously for their work in the El Paso post-punk band At the Drive-In, aggressive art rockers famous for their energetic live shows and seen by some as “the next big thing.” Following the dissolution of that band, the Mars Volta released Tremulant in 2002, a three-song EP that critics and fans compared to Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Yes and even Led Zeppelin. It was big music: long songs with broad strokes and cinematic detail.

However, Rodriguez cites salsa music as his main influence, along with such unlikely sources as Gang of Four, Miles Davis, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Genesis and dub reggae. On the spiral staircase leading up to the dark rooms of the mansion, Rodriguez tells me he started out playing the bass at age 12, but at 15 switched to guitar because he “needed more strings.”

When I asked Rodriguez about the difference between his previous work and the debut of the Mars Volta, he replied, “This one is fun! Just kidding. This is a lot looser, a lot more interesting for us, and there are a lot of different areas we are going into now.”

Bixler says that Björk is his main inspiration as a singer; both have an affinity for dramatic and dynamic stage acrobatics. When quizzed about the mysteries of the old mansion, Bixler explains, “We really don't go up to that certain room at the top where the bell tower is. There are doors leading to the attic. I keep closing them, and they are always open when I go back. Weird.”

In the secluded mansion, engineer Schiffman set up a control room complete with a vintage Neve console, priceless outboard gear and rare microphones from the renowned Ocean Way collection, along with his own stash of outboard engines. Drums were on risers in the grand ballroom, while guitars and stomp boxes festooned the adjoining chambers. A makeshift vocal booth was assembled from goboes and packing blankets. Smaller rooms and walk-in closets housed banks of amplifiers, while more recording gear filled an adjacent spa. Schiffman tells us about the complex process of recording the Mars Volta.

You've worked with producer Rick Rubin on a number of albums. Why do you think he picked you for this daunting project?

I think it's because we have a real good relationship; he likes things to sound a certain way. I know how he likes things to sound, and I can achieve that relatively quickly.

What is the difference between recording here and in a traditional haunted recording studio?

Basically, we had to build the recording studio from scratch, which meant treating the live room to dampen it down because it was like an echo chamber. Ocean Way's Classic Equipment Rentals, which we refer to as “Ocean Way to Go,” provided the majority of the gear and technical assistance. We had to set up the control room and run all of the mic lines and bring everything up here, as opposed to a studio where it's all in place.

Do you get a distinctively different sound?

No, I would say this setup sounds as good as a good recording studio. It definitely has its own signature, but I would put it on par with the best rooms I've tracked in.

Could you tell me about the monitoring in your control room?

Rick really loves ProAc monitors powered by Yamaha 2002 amps. Sounds great. It seems that with the ProAcs, the more wattage you send to each side the better; I think we're sending 250 watts per side. We also have a pair of Yamaha NS-10s, because I just know them so well and feel comfortable with them. I'm running a pair of BGW amps on those, 150 watts a side.

What do you have in the way of consoles?

The main console is a beautiful old Neve 8058 alongside a small Neve BCM-10 with 1066 mic pre's. I put all of the drums, guitars and keyboards through the 8058 faders, and the bass and vocals through the rack of outboard mic pre's. We have a big Pro Tools rig, running 96k straight to two FireWire drives simultaneously; close to a Terabyte of space. On the front end, we use Benchmark Media Systems AD2408-96 converters, running at 96k, 24-bit, 24 channels.

How did you record Omar's guitars?

We tracked using an old Marshall cabinet with Celestion drivers, with a Neumann U67. Then we got into some serious guitar science. We were on a quest for clarity. Omar's vision was of a very dense soundscape with a lot of complex parts. The challenge was to make it all come out clearly and still maintain the excitement and power. The first thing we did was address the amp issue. Omar had been playing live through an old SVT bass head into an old Marshall cabinet. For live playing, this setup works really well, but under the microscope, the tone was not punching through enough: not enough focus. We turned to combo amps.

A major portion of the guitar sounds came from an amazing Supro amp, a Fender Princeton and a very small Fender Tweed. We also used a Fender Super Reverb and a Vox AC30 for some songs, as well. The beauty of these small amps is that they cut through the track but don't overpower it. Also, because they don't push as much air as a cabinet, I can use tube mics and not be afraid that they will blow up. I used Neumann U67s with the -14dB pads in on all of the combos and stuck to a single mic per amp. Sometimes, I would put an SM57 in the back, but found the sound to be clearer and punchier usually without the back mic.

Because we were recording 96k/24-bit, I ran through a bunch of tube gear: a Fairchild 670, Pultec EQP-1 and sometimes a Distressor or 1176, or an LA-2A. With the higher sampling rate, the tube equipment sounded even better to me, because nothing gets lost in the murk of low-level analog tape or lower sampling rates. It was an awesome feeling to get a sound exactly how you liked it and have it sound identical on playback time after time. 96k, I am sold!

Omar's guitar pedal collection is massive, and we dove into it wholeheartedly. I own a couple of Roland Space Echos that worked great as tape delay and reverb for special effects, as well as slap. In keeping with our clarity mission, a lot of times we would record a part drier, less effected, and then double it with a heavily effected track playing the same or slightly simpler part, sometimes editing the part to work with the effect. A really nice result from this was being able to pan to two guitars hard left and right, and we would get this really lush, but clear, sound. Of course, Omar's arrangements really created the dynamic, but I think we outdid ourselves in creating some of these tones. The guitar soundscape of this record is very dense and complex, but I think we got everything to fit, and in listening back, it all makes sense. I learned so much about creating unique guitar tones; it was truly a gratifying experience.

For Cedric's vocals, I see you have a vocal booth made with goboes and blankets set up in the sunroom, with sightlines into the main hall. What mics did you use for vocals?

I used a Shure SM-7 for the main vocal track with a 57 taped to it, which sent a feed to Jeremy, the vocal voodoo dude, which went into his mixer, through his toys and then back to me. Once we got into overdubbing vocals, we used a Neumann U67 for quieter sections and the SM-7 for louder parts. Also, I used a Neve 1073 for preamp and EQ, and an 1176 for compression. For Jeremy's effects tracks, we ran the comped vocal back to his pedals through a Little Labs distribution box, so he got the vocal at -10 and it came back to me at +4.

How did you record drums?

For the kick drum, I had a Sennheiser 421 inside and a Neumann FET 47 in front; for the snare, a Shure 57 on top, a Sennheiser 441 under; hi-hat was AKG 451; overheads were a pair of AKG C 12s; for the toms, a pair of AKG C 12As; the close mic is a Neumann P-47, a cool old omni mic that sounds great; and we had a pair of Neumann M-49s for the room. All the mics came from Ocean Way's mic locker.

Can you give me the details on recording Flea for this album?

For the bass, we had Flea play a beautiful '64 Fender Precision P bass through an SVT bass head and 8×10 cabinet. I used a Neumann FET 47 on the cabinet and a Demeter DI. I compressed with LA-2As on both channels. It was a slightly different sound for Flea, but he is such a talented musician that he fit in perfectly. The bass needed to be full and present, because, essentially, the bass was the foundation of every track.

What percentage of the entire project was done here at the house?

Just about everything, including vocals, with mixing taking place at Cello with mixer Rich Costey, just to get a different perspective…and automation, of course.

Did you spend much time with the band before recording?

No, I didn't. I usually like to go to one or two rehearsals to get the vibe of what it's all about. But for this project, I picked up the Mars Volta EP to suss from that, and I had conversations with Rick about what he was looking to get out of this situation. Then the band told me what they were looking for, we did a bit of searching and listened to a bunch of different drum kits tuned in various ways. All of the songs have very involved arrangements, very involved parts, and we wanted to hear it all together, so it was very important that the drums sound clear and precise.