Whether it's your first Bonnaroo or you’re a music festival veteran, we welcome you to Inforoo.
Here you'll find info about artists, rumors, camping tips, and the infamous Roo Clues. Have a look around then create an account and join in the fun. See you at Bonnaroo!!
Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez - Random percussion instruments
Adrian Terrazas-Gonzalez - Wind and brass instruments
Paul Hinojos - Sound Manipulation, Guitar
John Frusciante - Guitar
Biography: After the short lived fame of At the Drive-In from producing their final record, Relationship of Command, band members Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez decided to leave the band, due to creative differences, and form something completely different. titled De-Facto, this band existed towards the end of ATDI, and featured Cedric on the drums, Omar on guitar, and other members that would soon be a part of The Mars Volta. De-Facto was short lived and after a few quickly released albums and the end of ATDI, it morphed into the Mars Volta. The beginning of TMV was that of crazy, NO NO WORD!!! induced wild shows that, depending on the person, were either something awesome, or something completely crazy that made no sense. during the release of their first album, De-Loused In the Comatorium, former member and friend Jeremy Michael Ward died of a NO NO WORD!!! overdose. This event caused their NO NO WORD!!! habits to end, and they focused on their music. obviously devoting lots of time, Rodriguez-Lopez has since recorded six TMV albums, four of which are released, released 16 solo albums and collaborations, and many more are in production. All four of The Mars Volta's released albums are concept albums, and the sound between each album is very different. The Mars Volta Group continues to record, and hopefully will for much, much longer.
De-loused in the Comatorium, their first studio album, is the story of the character Cerpin Taxt. Cerpin Taxt is based on their friend Julio Venegas, who was in a NO NO WORD!!! induced coma and after awaking jumped off an overpass. It tells the story of Cerpin Taxt's battle with his mind, and the results of it. This album is their first, and it is the most popular. while the sound of De-Loused is not mainstream or pop by any means, it is probably the most accessible, and anyone interested but skeptical should choose this for their first listen.
This album is another concept album, based on the characters inside a diary Jeremy Michael Ward found in a car when he was a repo-man. This album is a 79 minute epic journey through many different sounds, whose self titled opening track did not fit on the album and was released as a single. I suggest listening all the way through, beginning to end, for a first listen. the full effect of the album is not achieved if split up.
Often referred by Omar and Cedric as their "autistic child," The Mars Volta's third studio album Amputechture is nothing short of unique. The topic of this album ranges from many different things, but is mostly a commentary about our views on god and religion. This album is odd as it is disliked by many people who love De-Loused and Frances. However, it is the one i was first introduced to The Mars Volta with and love it just as much as their other albums.
This fourth studio album is based on the lives of the characters that The Mars Volta interacted with in an antique Ouija board, called the Soothsayer, that Omar bought in Israel and gave to Cedric. The lyrics of this album were written almost entirely from the characters they interacted with. This album is very loud and very upbeat for the majority of the songs, one of which, Wax Simulacra, won a Grammy for best hard rock performance in 2009.
"Like a donkey choking a waffle" - Omar Rodriguez-Lopez
Genre: Psychedelic Rock, Experimental Rock
Similar Bonnaroo Artists: At Bonnaroo, some bands that if you like The Mars Volta you will probably like as well:
Animal Collective Yeasayer Coheed and Cambria Phish Portugal. The Man MGMT
Suggested Listening
I suggest as a first listen De-Loused in the Comatorium. It is probably the most accessible out of them all. If you like that, then just continue through the albums in chronological order.
Songs from each album:
De-Loused: -Televators -Roulette Dares -Drunkship of Lanterns -Take the Veil
Frances The Mute: -Frances The Mute(Single) -L'Via L'Viaquez -Miranda That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore (long, but awesome)
Amputechture: -Viscera Eyes -Day of the Baphomets -Tetragammaton
The Bedlam in Goliath: -Goliath -Wax Simulacra -Illyena -Agadez
Physical Reaction/Live Show
The Mars Volta always start their shows entering to the sound of Fistfull of Dollars and immediately begin playing afterwards for hours without stopping. Every song is a crazy trip of intense solos, mind blowing jams, extended versions of songs (the show i saw in Atlanta started off with Goliath and it continued for 45 minutes), Crazy and often spasmatic dancing, and the drumming of Thomas Pridgen that could be a whole show itself. All of this is done while keeping dead on time and continuing to play every song with extreme power and emotion. Often in the middle of songs you will begin to question what song they're playing, and then after a while they slowly form back into the original song and keep playing. It is the most intense show i've been to, during which if you're not dancing, you're staring in amazement wondering how something could be this awesome.
Live Videos:
All of these are with their current set including Thomas Pridgen, to give you an idea of what will be at Bonnaroo:
These are from the bonus DVD from the deluxe edition of Bedlam:
This one includes the intro, and sounds alright.
Well, this one is old, but shows the energy the band has.
This one shows Pridgens skills if you didnt catch it in the first two videos:
Post by Funkiknight on Apr 29, 2009 19:27:40 GMT -5
Yeah, I'm really sorry about the lateness. when it was supposed to be done I had tons of work and then just forgot about it. Thanks Funkshiat for reminding me! live videos will be up soon.
And instead of saying all of your goodbyes - let them know you realize that life goes fast - It's hard to make the good things last-you realize the sun doesn't go down - It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round
i'm sure the show would have been more energetic, but i'm glad he isnt' coked out anymore. i love this synopsis of my favorite Roo 09 band, with one exception and that is that you need to include cassandra gemini on the list of songs to check out. its arguably my favorite of all their songs. the fact that you said miranda was a long song makes me think maybe you have included part of cassandra in what you may believe miranda to be.. cassandra is tracks 5-12 of frances the mute and totals like 34 minutes. 34 minutes of bliss!
i'm sure the show would have been more energetic, but i'm glad he isnt' coked out anymore. i love this synopsis of my favorite Roo 09 band, with one exception and that is that you need to include cassandra gemini on the list of songs to check out. its arguably my favorite of all their songs. the fact that you said miranda was a long song makes me think maybe you have included part of cassandra in what you may believe miranda to be.. cassandra is tracks 5-12 of frances the mute and totals like 34 minutes. 34 minutes of bliss!
Haha, thats funny because the original CD my friend gave me of frances had the track names wrong. Yeah Cassandra Gemini is longer, but I enjoy Miranda more, and I couldn't include both because well, that'd be nearly the whole album.
well i just wanted to point out that cassandra is tracks 5-12. miranda is only track 4. the track listing on the back of the cd is confusing. if you knew that already, and still like miranda more, then i respect your opinion.
Post by Funkiknight on May 4, 2009 15:25:59 GMT -5
Wow, I am still very confused as to which track names are right. for mine tracks 4-7 are Miranda, and are more than 13:10, but Vade Mecum is 13:10 and the other parts continue through 5-7. I don't know whats right...
Post by questionablesanity on May 6, 2009 10:38:39 GMT -5
I love the band but cannot stand cedrics voice. I'd be there if they just played instrumentals. I'm sure everyone will be at this show, so there'll be more room for me at another.
A Thieve's Parade 2/24 Conspirator 2/26 Kevin Smith 3/11 Keller 3/17 Papadosio 3/18 JJ Grey 3/25 Bela Fleck/Edgar Meyer 3/26 Toubab Krewe 3/27 O'Death 4/11 Budos Band 4/22 EOTO 4/28 Summer Camp 5/6-29 All Good
I'll catch the end of their show. Hopefully they'll play some At the Drive In, b/c since they started the Mars Volta, each record has gotten worse and worse to the point that they are just a bunch of pretentious twats. Listening to the new one now, and its terrible.
Wow, I am still very confused as to which track names are right. for mine tracks 4-7 are Miranda, and are more than 13:10, but Vade Mecum is 13:10 and the other parts continue through 5-7. I don't know whats right...
This is because some dummy messed up the track listing in the database that a lot of programs like iTunes use. So, if you rip the CD or download it, the track names will be screwed up. Miranda is just track 4, Cassandra is tracks 5-12. This means Miranda is 13:09 while Cassandra comes in at a whopping 32:31. Cassandra Gemini was so long that Universal was only going to pay the band for an EP, since the album would only have 5 songs. So, they arbitrarily broke up the final song into 8 tracks.
I'm not sure why they still haven't fixed the database. It causes a lot of confusion, as is evident by this thread.
They'll probably cut some off because of the shows length, most likely drunkship, wax, or widow would be my guess. but who knows, maybe they'll change it up and throw out some of the new stuff.
