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The Mars Volta go their own way
BY SEAN RICHARDSON
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Why did At the Drive-In break up? That’s been one of the most pressing questions in rock since the El Paso post-hardcore giants called it quits on the verge of a mainstream breakthrough two years ago. With the recent release of De-Loused in the Comatorium (Strummer/Universal) — the long-awaited first album by the Mars Volta, the band featuring former At the Drive-In principals Cedric Bixler and Omar Rodriguez — the answer is here. And it’s a simple one: the epic, roots-tempered fringe rock on De-Loused proves that frontman Bixler and guitarist Rodriguez disbanded At the Drive-In because they wanted to do something completely different. From AFI to Cave In, reinvention has been the crucial theme behind the best modern-rock albums of early 2003. Like those two bands, the Mars Volta have a rich history that dates back to the mid 1990s. The members of At the Drive-In were teenagers when they got together; by the time they signed to Virgin for the landmark 2000 album Relationship of Command, they already had two indie discs and a fanatic cult following to their name. After the break-up, Bixler and Rodriguez went to LA and teamed up with keyboardist Ikey Owens, sound manipulator Jeremy Ward, bassist Eva Gardner, and drummer Jon Theodore to form the Mars Volta, who last year released the EP Tremulant on Rodriguez’s Gold Standard Laboratories label. Meanwhile, the rest of At the Drive-In regrouped in El Paso as Sparta, who’ve just finished touring behind their first album, Wiretap Scars (DreamWorks). Thanks to the sterling reputation of At the Drive-In, the Mars Volta have all kinds of music-industry clout behind them. De-Loused is the first release on Strummer, the new label headed by former Capitol chief Gary Gersh, and the band are managed by John Silva, Gersh’s long-time business foil. The album was produced by the legendary Rick Rubin, and the group spent this spring opening arenas for one of Rubin’s most famous clients, the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The Mars Volta’s Chili Peppers connection doesn’t quit there: when they parted ways with Gardner prior to the recording of De-Loused, Flea stepped in to play bass in the studio, and guitarist John Frusciante also guests on the disc. The band underwent a more sobering line-up change when Ward, their old El Paso buddy and a cousin of Sparta frontman Jim Ward, died of a drug overdose in May. On their current headlining tour, which hits Axis this Saturday, Sparta guitarist Paul Hinojos is filling in for Ward, and Juan Alderete of shred-guitar mainstays Racer X takes over on bass. De-Loused entered the Billboard album chart at #39, higher than Wiretaps Scars or anything At the Drive-In achieved. That’s a rare triumph for experimentalism in the pop marketplace: the Mars Volta don’t have any radio or TV exposure under their belts, and when they do end up going that route, they’re going to have a harder time fitting in than the more anthem-minded Sparta. AFI and Cave In might be pushing the boundaries of commercial hard rock, but the Mars Volta aren’t even playing hard rock half the time — though Bixler and Rodriguez still know how to rage against the Zeppelin, these days they sound more like an incensed hybrid of 1970s groove kings Yes, Santana, and Miles Davis. Their prog-rock ambitions are no joke: most of the songs on De-Loused exceed five minutes, and the album is a narrative based on the life of Julio Venegas, an El Paso artist who befriended a young Bixler and Rodriguez before committing suicide in 1996. The story is a bit of a mystery, since the official lyrics won’t be available until Gold Standard Laboratories releases the disc on vinyl this fall. But the basics go like this: the main character, Cerpin Taxt, falls into a coma after a botched suicide attempt, hallucinates wildly, and kills himself soon after regaining consciousness. Challenging as it is, De-Loused shouldn’t sound totally foreign to At the Drive-In fans. On "Inertiatic ESP," Bixler’s powerful voice reaches stratospheric new heights, and Rodriguez bears an uncanny resemblance to Steve Howe of Yes with his mammoth guitar blare. They still write real melodies: the frantic seven-minute blowout "Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of)" makes room for an uplifting chorus that could almost be called emo. The stony salsa jam "Drunkship of Lanterns" co-exists happily with the haunting unplugged meditation "Televators," and Rodriguez and Frusciante engage in a monumental guitar duel on "Cicatriz ESP." The Mars Volta have delivered on the promise of At the Drive-In with one of the best rock albums of the year: this is exhilarating music by a hungry young band who are as virtuosic as they are fearless. The Mars Volta perform this Saturday, July 19, at Axis; call (617) 262-2437.
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