The Mars Volta - Interview Preview

Clash met up with Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodríguez-Lopez – a.k.a. the founding, core duo of prog-rock mavericks The Mars Volta, and formerly of phenomenally acclaimed hardcore act At The Drive-In – a few weeks back for a lengthy chat about all things relating to ‘Octahedron’, their new studio album, and much more beside.

The full feature – with talk of the appeal of British television comedies, the impossible task of shutting one’s brain off, and some rather tongue-in-cheek sexual suggestions – appears in the next issue of Clash Magazine, on newsagent shelves August 6. For now, though, we’ve a little snippet of what to expect.

When critics commend The Mars Volta – ostensibly the pair of Omar and Cedric, but both on stage and in the studio they’re assisted by a wealth of talented musicians – for their complex polyrhythmic passages, their skewed signatures and conceptually deep lyricism, what do they think? Do they hear the same, or…

“I hear a lot of inside jokes, sarcasm and absurdity,” answers Cedric. “I hear a celebration of the absurd.”

“That’s the best way to describe it, I think,” continues Omar. “I did an interview on the television the other day, and the guy’s first question was: ‘People describe your music as…’, and he went on to describe it, before asking, ‘And how do you describe it?’ And he was looking for something musical, but I think what Cedric just said is perfect – it’s a celebration of the absurd thoughts that we all have, that sort of spring from the darker side of our subconscious. Rather than repress them – like, ‘What the fuck was that all about?’ – we go: ‘That was a weird thought, I’d better write that down! I have no idea what the fuck it might mean, but it was inside of me and I’m not trying to keep it in there.’ It’s better to celebrate these things, rather than let them freak you out.”

The latest tangible product of this everlasting outpouring of peculiar passion is ‘Octahedron’, The Mars Volta’s fifth studio album – that their first, ‘De-Loused In The Comatorium’, was released in 2003 is evidence enough that the band have hardly been slacking in the productivity stakes. While traits remain present from record to record, the group’s sound has morphed over time, from beguiling interstellar overtures to subdued flirtations with the most reserved introspection, and everything between.

‘Octahedron’ is, by its makers’ admission, not as rigid of thematic framework as previous efforts, the relatively freeform ‘Amputechture’ of 2006 aside, but its tracks do touch upon definite narratives. The track ‘Cotopaxi’, for example, tells of child disappearances in a small town, lines like “Don’t stop dragging the lake” vivid in their imagery. Cedric’s words aren’t as wrapped up in mystery as once they were; here, like the music that surrounds them, there’s an emphasis on directness, and ‘Octahedron’ is without doubt their most comparatively traditional album yet.

“People have always been saying that we don’t know how to write songs,” says Omar, referring to the perception that the band live only to confuse with their compositions, “but they don’t know anything about us beyond what they’ve read in the magazines. We started by writing traditional songs – when we were very young we wrote like that, but slowly you get fucking bored.

“So, you take the traditional structure of a song and you break it up a bit, you insert new sections, and you keep yourself interested – not anyone else, just yourself, because you’re the only one playing it in the practise room for four hours a day. You begin to fuck with the traditional formula of the song… and then people ask us why we can’t write a song? Writing a song is the easiest part; you can do that in your sleep. But challenging yourself to go further and further and further, that’s what takes will and exercise.

“Now, we’ve flipped that, and we’re a little bored of breaking up a song. It’s like, ‘Hey, remember when we were fourteen and we used to write those little songs? Let’s do that again, but with the sound we’ve got now.’ So we’ve done that, and now what? We’re constantly searching for the new feeling.”

The Mars Volta’s ‘Octahedron’ is out now on Mercury – read the Clash review HERE, and find the band on MySpace HERE.