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The Mars Volta explore musical freedom on conceptual rock album - 10/22/03
 
BY PAULINE M. MILLARD
Associated Press Writer
 
NEW YORK (AP) _ When Cedric Bixler looks out from the stage into the audience, he sees himself.
 
The Mars Volta vocalist sees the kids that got picked on at school, who didn't fit into any clique and who probably weren't even cool enough to be punk. He sees fans looking for something beyond the predictable rock overwhelming the music scene.
 
The Mars Volta is anything but predictable.
 
Bixler and guitarist Omar Rodriguez's first album, "De-Loused in the Comatorium," is a conceptual collection of manic bursts of rock coupled with sublime lows. Some of the songs, which were inspired by a friend who committed suicide in 1996, carry on for more than 10 minutes. The album is supposed to explore their friend's mindset as he lies in a coma and tries to decide whether or not to kill himself.
 
"When we were being shopped around to labels it was known that The Mars Volta were not going to be easily digestible," Bixler told The Associated Press as his tour headed to New York for the CMJ Music Festival. "Everyone knew what they were getting into."
 
The album, released in June, has sold about 200,000 copies; critics have called it one of the year's best. It's heavy stuff, both lyrically and musically, but that's where Bixler and Rodriguez needed to go after breaking up their previous band, At the Drive-In, in 2001.
 
At the time, At the Drive-In was riding a high of great reviews and a loyal indie following. But Rodriguez and Bixler didn't feel that the band was right for them anymore, so they left.
 
Bixler admits that their exit might seem a bit selfish, but in retrospect he still feels that the purpose of At the Drive-In was for him and Rodriguez to cut their teeth and evolve as musicians.
 
"Right now I feel that Omar and I are picking up where we left off before we were in At the Drive-In," Bixler said. "We want our music to be a lot freer with more jazz and salsa influences."
 
"Comatorium" might be a solid rock album, but the two don't plan to staying in that genre for too long. The two are from El Paso, Texas and were raised on 1970s salsa acts such as Celia Cruz, Willie Colon and Larry Harlow, a few in a long list of others Bixler rattles off in a perfect Spanish accent.
 
"Going to Mexico and Puerto Rico was a great way to start the tour," Bixler said sounding mellow during a phone interview. "In a way it was like coming back to our roots. At those shows there was a lot more passion, more Spanish, more salsa."
 
The Mars Volta aren't sure exactly where they're headed for their next album, which will begin production this winter in Australia. Like most things Mars Volta, Bixler said he is going to let the songs guide them and take on a life of their own before they make any decisions. Bixler said they're not ruling out the idea of another concept album, but the group plans on inserting more Spanish lyrics and more salsa into their next project.
 
"I really feel like we are a 'working class' band because we really worked in order to get to a point where we have a nice bus and get to stay in the nice hotels," Bixler said.
 
"A lot of people remember At the Drive-In from their last two years, but some of my fondest experiences are the ones when we really had to work hard, play for no one and sometimes woke up after sleeping in a van with icicles dripping from our foreheads."