Omar Rodriguez Lopez

"...So that [The Beatles] was my introduction to rock music, and I didn't really start getting into it until I moved to El Paso and got into skateboarding and heard Black Flag, The Misfits, Metallica, Kiss, the Dead Kennedys...all that stuff. That completely changed my whole perspective, because I never took any other music sung in English seriously. But when I heard those bands, their music spoke to me the way salsa did. It gave me the exact same feeling, the same fire inside." - Omar (taken from the February issue of Guitar World)

Guitar World: Were you ever into the shredders, guys like Yngwie Malmsteen?
"No, not at all. In fact, for a long time, I really opposed the idea of guitar solos. The one exception was [Black Flag's] Greg Ginn. His leads always seemed more impressionistic and completely from the heart. To tell you the truth, my biggest influence as a guitar player is the piano player Larry Harlow. In the seventies, he and Charlie Palmieri were at the forefront of salsa's changing sound, incorporating jazz and electric elements into the music. That is the sound that is in my blood and that I hear in my mother's stomach." - Omar (taken from the February issue of Guitar World)

Oor: Losing yourself in the music, going into trance. Aren't you afraid people will think you're a bunch of old-fashioned hippies?
C: "No, because it think that people can hear our punk roots in the music. And we're not standing arms-crossed on the staged waiting for everyone to go into trance, we shake them up thoroughly every now and then.'
O: "Plus, I think that the concept we are talking about goes beyond the sixties and seventies. I can't imagine that Mozart or Beethoven didn't lose themselves in their music like we did. Same is undoubtedly true for DJ Shadow or Roni Size, they surrender to their total madness when they make music. This isn't limited to a certain era. It's been there since the dawn of times. And it speaks to anyone that is interested in the true power of music, people that see music as a soul, an energy with which people can work. And that's certainly not tied to a decade from the existence of mankind." - Omar

Rolling Stone: What was the last mixtape you made, and who did you give it to?
"I made a mixtape for my girlfriend's brother - he only listens to a certain style of music. So I probably opened the the tape with something heavier like "Jealous Again" by Black Flag Then I threw all sorts of stuff on there - the first track of Alice Coltrane's record, Journey in Satchidananda and some music from Vietnam and a lot of Augustus Pablo and a couple of salsa things. Definitely a lot of Funkadelic and Parliament." - Omar

"I don't really know what's happening in the mainstream world...I know the bands that I follow...like The Locust from San Diego or Le Tigre from New York...The Chromatics from Seattle, Subtitle - a hip-hop artist out of LA..." - Omar

The next three quotes were translated from a Norwegian magazine's interview with Omar...

You can't deny that you're influenced by Robert Fripp and King Crimson, right?
""No, of course not! I make no attempt to hide my affection for Fripps work. I grew up listening to salsa. I knew no music outside of that, so when I heard Black Flag after I had moved between states, I had to re-evaluate everything I thought I knew about music. It lit my heart on fire and I became more certain of my decision of becoming a musician. Four years later, I was introduced to King Crimson and again everything collapsed, but in a constructive way. Many of my friends that liked Black Flag and such hated King Crimson. It was a big mystery to me. Still I don't see Black Flag as diagonal opposites. To me, it's very logical that a Black Flag- fan would also like King Crimson. I feel that Robert Fripp sounds like the Black Flag guitarist if the latter had practiced 11 hours a day. Fripp made the most beautiful notes that I had heard, and he couldn't have been introduced to me at a better time in my life. I had already opened my mind for a marriage between jazz and salsa and found a big Puerto Rico-environment in New York that made it. As soon as someone discovers jazz, it will influence their approach irrespective of which style or band the person concerned contributes to. It can't be denied that Robert Fripp was into jazz throughout his career or the blue notes. The major-scales and euphoric stadium-rock choruses have never appealed to me so when I got familiar with King Crimson's music it was like getting a taste of heaven." - Omar

On punk rock...
Oor: Do you have a hate-love relation with punk?
"Not with the ethics behind it, but with the punk rock idiom that has been cultivated through the years. When I was in high school, I had a mohawk too, and I wore the right clothes. But slowly I discovered the people that were the most punk didn't look like me at all. That punk attitude was on the inside. They looked normal but went to the same shows I did. They pointed out bands to me that I though were great. Then I realized I didn't have to dress like that, and how ridiculous it really was. When the Sex Pistols came in 1977 everyone said: Okay, so this is punk, this is how it sounds and looks like. But that look was only created so Malcolm McLaren could sell the clothes in his store. And John Lydon developed in PiL, he didn't get stuck in that music. Dub, krautrock and Vietnamese folk for my part, are just as punk as the Sex Pistols in 1977." - Omar

Life on Mars

By Jenn Plonski
Photo by Daniëlle van Ark

“Spookrijden op het fietspad.” Can’t understand it? No worries, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez has trouble with it, too, and it’s his song! The title translated, “ghost riding on the bicycle path,” is one of the five Dutch-titled songs on Omar’s untitled solo album, which he’s currently on tour supporting in The Netherlands. That track, derived while Omar was bike riding in Holland, was translated with a little help from his friends, explains Omar, “I have some friends who speak Dutch that live close to me, and I can ask them for a translation or what not. Little things here and there stick out to me and find their way into the titles of songs.”

Better known for his onstage guitar antics with The Mars Volta, Omar recently headed home to Amsterdam for a few solo dates. Omar enthused, “It’s exactly what I wanted to do. It’s a nice vacation. It’s great to be back in the van and playing small clubs where you have an intimate environment. We’re having lots of fun, and that was the whole purpose of the trip.”

Digging deep into the depths of his memory, Rodriguez-Lopez recalls how he was first drawn to VOX, “Well, I never know what I’m looking for. I just kind of happen upon stuff. I feel like things choose me, music chooses me. The people I’m in relationships with choose me, or my friends. Things just kind of come my way, and they’re there calling me. It’s all I can think about, and I have to explore those avenues. A while ago when I was adding overdubs to Manual Dexterity (Omar’s first solo album), John Frusciante was playing on that, and he would bring his AC30s. When I go to his house and jam, that’s what I would play. So I guess they were always around, the sound and the name of them.”

Passionately expressing himself about his new amps, Omar continues, “I love the way they look. I do love them aesthetically. I can’t deny that is a part of my obsession with the AC30 Custom Classics. Tone-wise, they sound angry to me. I don’t know how else to explain it beside that. I love gear, and I love equipment. But I wouldn’t consider myself to be a tech head or a technical person, so I can’t be specific in that form. If I’m drawn to something and it sounds like my personality, then I use it. They just sound angry and biting to me. And that’s what I enjoy when I play guitar.” Omar adds, “I’ve been using the VOX Clyde McCoy wah-wah pedal, too. My tech (Henry Trejo) suggested I check it out, and I’ve been using it ever since – it speaks to me. I can use it to express my personality more clearly.”

Omar’s advice for aspiring musicians comes from experience, “Don’t take any advice from anyone! I think every person intuitively knows what works for him or her. When you do something and it feels good, keep doing it. You’ll pick up things here and there from playing with people and sharing music. I think that’s the most important thing. Everybody is an individual, and everybody has a different thing that works for them, and nothing at all is ever wrong!”

Don’t fret Mars Volta fans! Despite his solo run, Omar is still very much involved with TMV. Omar assures fans, “The Mars Volta is my band, it’s my baby, it’s my music and it’s my personality. The new album is almost done.” In early January ‘06 Omar will return to L.A. to finish recording with band members Cedric Bixler and Ikey Owens, and then it’s up to the label to pick a release date. And “of course,” states Omar, the new AC30CC2X and Clyde McCoy Wah pedal will be featured.

In the meantime you can tide yourselves over by picking up a copy of The Mars Volta’s first-ever live album, Scab Dates. Be sure to visit www.themarsvolta.com often for the latest news.

"My clothes or my hair or how skinny I am has nothing at all to do with my music. Let me put it this way: It's worse than dealing with record labels." - Omar Rodriguez-Lopez

"I never wash my hair. I do once every six months and I don't take very many showers. I'm happy with who I am and it took me a long time to realize that. I spent years trying to assimilate when my family moved from Puerto Rico to El Paso, Texas. I would shave my head or bleach my hair and dye it green, anything to look like the other kids. I didn't like anything about myself when I was younger. I went off and lived in a canyon for months. When I got out I realized that I'm proud of who I am. I'm not a musician. I'm just me." - Omar

beh diciamo che questi sono particolari di una certa rilevanza e di un certo spessore, direi...