Random babbel från freetimes.com
Since splitting from At the Drive In seven years ago, the Mars Volta’s Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodríguez-López have gone through a series of line-ups. “It was difficult right from the start,” Bixler-Zavala says of the changes while speaking via phone. “They never liked the music. The majority of people we’ve asked to leave or were fired. They were after money, fame or women, which is the opposite of the effect we want to have on people. They weren’t in it for the right reason. It was a serious blow to our family to have to ask [drummer] Jon Theodore to leave. Audiences were attracted to him.” The band’s continued to relentlessly push forward, and its latest album, The Bedlam in Goliath, is its most aggressive yet. “[The aggression] has to do with the way [Rodríguez-López] attracts people to the band. You learn your stuff 15 minutes before he hits “record.’ That’s what we want.” And like any Mars Volta album, Bedlam veers all over the musical map, settling into a quieter mode for ballads like “Tourniquet Man” and letting everything out on shredders like “Cavalettes.” “We listen to a lot of different stuff or we’d get really bored with everything,” Bixler-Zavala says. “Everything from Gram Parsons to the new Mary J. Blige song. We listen to lots of ghetto rap, too.” The band’s been called the “most musically adventurous act currently signed to a major label,” something that might change if Bixler-Zavala has his way. “I hope we don’t have to work with [a major label] anymore,” he says. “[Bedlam] is really old because of rules about when people buy records. Our fans don’t pay attention to stuff like that. Hannah Montana is perfect for the demo that buys records on holidays. Mars’ fans are constantly hungry. When you gotta eat, you gotta eat.” The show starts at 8 p.m. at the Agora (5000 Euclid Ave., 216.881.2221). Tickets: $35. — JN
