Juan Alderete de la Pena, un bassista

How did they describe the Mars Volta’s music to you when you first met?

They never did! I had heard of the band, and I was a supporter—mostly because, growing up Latino, you want to believe there is a band that can say something for you that other bands can’t. Rage Against The Machine had a similar effect. Manny, Distortion Felix’s guitar player, told Cedric I was perfect for them. It was a great fit; they weren’t looking for some modern cat who plays with active pickups and all that. In fact, when Flea played bass on the De-Loused record, they made him play a Fender bass. He came down with all his gear, and they just said, “Man, can you please play this?”

What was the audition process like?

I had been working as a radio producer when Omar called me from the tour in Europe and asked me to pick up a CD. I did, and I thought, Wow—this is like punk rock meets Frank Zappa! I knew it would be another musical challenge, and I wondered if I could pull it off, but my wife said, “Take time off work and do nothing but focus on this music until you get it.” So I worked on those songs every day, and my friend Troy, the drummer from Big Sir, helped me with the odd-meter stuff.

Eventually I auditioned, but they gave me no sign of whether I was cutting it or not. But they said I could leave my gear for the next day. On the second day, I didn’t think I played that well. We jammed some more on the third day, but I was having trouble with this crazy drum break in “Roulette Dares” from the first record. I just couldn’t hear what I was supposed to be doing, so I told Omar, “I don’t know why I’m not getting it, but I’ll really work on it,” and he said, “You’d better get it down, because we have a show on Thursday.”