CITAZIONE
The Mars Volta
by Nate Shea
There are regular musicians, and then there are those who simply see it all differently. Like demi-gods, they possess a rare ability to blur the limitations of music, and push it in a direction never before fathomed. John Lennon, Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, all people who took the landscape of music and stretched it into art.
Omar A Rodriguez-Lopez fits this mould. Whether you’re a fan of The Mars Volta or not, you have to admire Rodriguez-Lopez’s ability to challenge the limitations of music. In a culture driven by blinkered sounds, Omar’s sonically diverse orchestrations throughout The Mars Volta stand as a breath of fresh air. Whilst many are willing to adhere to the standardised, verse, chorus, bridge, three-minute pop song format, The Mars Volta have turned their back on popular culture. Yet Omar doesn’t see himself as an obelisk of musical creation, rather a pervader of an already existing sound. “When I write our music, I describe it more as just being an antenna, and tuning into a station and writing down what I hear,” he explains. “It’s all floating out in space. It just takes a certain type of person to be able to pin it down and to articulate it – if not me it would be someone else.”
Now five releases down the track, including three full-length studio albums, the days of At The Drive In are well behind Omar and vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala. Despite mammoth touring commitments, as well as Omar’s lengthy list of side-projects and film undertakings, The Mars Volta continue to write, record and release material at a prolific rate. Their latest offering was released in September last year, and work is already in full swing on their next one. A release date has already been pencilled in for August. Whilst it might appear that everything simply falls into place when the band enters the studio, Omar says that it’s by no means a simple process. “I think a common misperception of our music is that we sit around and we make a song out of a jam, which is completely the opposite of how I write our music,” he explains. “Musically it’s a very tedious, architectural process.” After all the tracks are laid down, Cedric enters the studio and layers his vocals over the top – with most of what is included on the final production standing as ad-libbing and first-time takes. “He’s a natural that way; me, I have to refine myself over and over and over and nitpick and bang my head against the wall a little too much.”
Yet whilst they have won the accolades of critics and fans worldwide, it’s an industry and culture that Omar despises. “I don’t like rock groups, I don’t like musicians,” he declares. “I don’t like the people who play rock music; that’s why I have our group touring alone and don’t have any kind of openers. I just don’t fucking like the whole culture of it.” Whilst his beliefs are choked with a sense or arrogance, the true underlying intention is that Omar and Cedric see The Mars Volta more as an exponent of art. Their creations are a mere expression of their lives, the fundamental reason why a whole extra dimension exists unto this LA band past their music. “When you’re doing something that’s more relative to life and the life experience, you have to have more things coming into the sensory inputs – you have to have an experience,” says Omar. “There’s the music, and that’s a big aspect of it, but it's only a foundation. Then there’s a visual, and something you have to smell, there’s something you have to be able to touch, there’s all these things that you gather around, to try and articulate what everyday life feels like to you.”
Whilst it may seem a little contemptuous to some to label Omar and Cedric artists, art plays an integral part in The Mars Volta experience. Their music is merely one facet, with the band placing meticulous importance on releasing intricate artwork, as well as special limited addition vinyl picture discs. As we stream into the digital future, The Mars Volta are among a handful of bands that are still putting strong emphasis on vinyl. “It’s a part of my identity, it’s a cultural thing,” explains the guitarist. “I guess it’s like second nature, if I just got a CD of a record that I made, it would feel fake. That’s just because I’m from a different generation, I’m from vinyl and cassette tapes, I’m old fashioned that way.”
Their rare vinyl pieces have become revered collector’s items, which is certainly the intention of The Mars Volta, and is used to heighten the sensory experience. The release of collector's pieces also heavily draws from the band's own personal interests. The Mars Volta are avid collectors of rare music, and have been seen in the past spending thousands of dollars at record shops around Australia. When they were in Australia for the 2006 Big Day Outs, they spent several hours trawling through the collection at St Kilda’s Rare Records, picking up a bunch of rare Iron Maiden vinyls, as well as a few other treasures. “We bought a Kylie Minogue seven-inch for Henry Rollins. He was on that same tour [and] one of his speeches one day was about Kylie Mingoue, kind of bagging on her,” chuckles Omar.
Despite the joke, vinyl serves a strong nostalgic role with the band, and holds a purity above many of the entertainment mediums popularised today. “We’re realising the reality that it is a generational thing, and it is a thing of the past,” explains Omar. “Most kids today don’t even own a fucking stereo – they’ve got their iPod and they’ve got their computer, which is fine. I just can’t even imagine enjoying music on some piece of shit computer speakers. [Vinyl is] like a treat for the underdogs, the people who are still really into hi-fi music, or just music as a meditation, music as an art form – music as something other than background noise or refrigerator buzz that you put on your fucking computer while you’re hanging out with your friends.
“It’s kind of something a little extra special for all those dinosaur geeks.”
The Mars Volta play Festival Hall on Saturday March 17, tickets through Ticketmaster. Amputechture is out now through Universal / GSL
