“the Bedlam in Goliath”; “A Story of the way women are treated in organized religion.”
Cedric utvecklar sina vanföreställningar om andarnas inflytande på den kreativa processen som föregick senaste skivan.
For the Mars Volta, their latest album “the Bedlam in Goliath” isn’t just another mark of their progressive musical talents beyond the imaginations of many; it’s the result of fascinating and often frightening experiences all at the hands of a gift.
Speaking with singer/lyricist Cedric Bixler-Zavala on the phone in the midst of their North American tour, he
explained the theme behind “Bedlam” after being asked about ‘the Soothsayer’ (a Ouija-like board he received as a gift from guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez after a trip to Israel). “In a strange way it works as bait for the heart of the subject matter which I’ve always seen as the story of unfinished business, the way most ghosts are usually unfinished business; it’s a story of the way women are treated in organized religion.”
Although I had done my homework, this took me a bit by surprise so I asked him to elaborate. “Out of the three spirits that we contacted there was two female and one male, or I should say they contacted us. They seem to have this traditional extreme Muslim upbringing the way I’ve interpreted everything. The way I see it, it’s a classic case of an honour killing that is covered up and years later these mischievous spirits are looking for someone to not be afraid to speak about it the way some people are afraid to speak out against certain extreme Muslims for fear of death,” he explains. “The album is really about that. It’s about how they were treated. How anything can be swept under the rug. When you get to the heart of the matter it’s about two women who are looking for someone to unravel the mystery as to why they were murdered.”
This opportunity to communicate their story did come with a price though with the band reportedly experiencing some difficulties while recording the album including their engineer having a nervous breakdown, the studio flooding and lost recordings, but they persevered. “The way I was seeing it was, the male that was involved in the situation who was also contacting us was trying to use scare tactics to stop us from talking about it. A lot of the lyrics in the music can seem nonsensical but life and death can be that way as well. A lot of the mishaps I think directly links to the male trying to cover his tracks and him being afraid of the fact that we have the power of media to talk about this. It’s not every day that a rock band has an album about the way Muslim extremists treat women.”
“We were chosen, we were sought out to tell this story because I think we have always had this streak in us to, whether it be musically or subject matter, not be afraid to tackle certain things. I just think in this day and age, people should realize that the earth is round. It’s just sad that there are some people who really live in the dark ages. It is a complete alien concept to me that there are societies out there that make their women cover their entire bodies from head to toe. For what reason, I have no idea. It’s 2008. I have nothing but mad respect for the way they live and everything that happens over there but things are fucked up over there, and they’re fucked up for a reason; because men use religion to, as the cliché says, it’s the opiate for the masses, and if you can keep more people afraid of you, you can stay in power. That’s exactly what’s going on in the Middle East and Africa. It’s a big problem the way women are treated in general. It to me is the birthplace of humanity and I think there’s something coincidentally attached to the way women are just treated like shit over there.”
Proof not only that the Mars Volta constantly traverse into unchartered territory, whether is be musically or topically, but that they are not afraid to tackle touchy, if not dangerous, subject matter all in the name of art.
Watch for part two of the interview where Cedric discusses the music industry, pirate radio and people smoking cigarettes at concerts.
