For all the Led Zepplen/70's phycodeli or prog rock fans... This is a band that you should definately be looking into. The band is nothing short of amazing. Lead singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala lays down some of the most cryptic story based lyrics ever, and layed on the table wrapped within bone shattering octaves. The other lead member being Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, who is the mastermind behind writing and arranging nearly all of the instruments music, asistanting in the song writing, and almost soley responsible for bands original sound.

Almost as interesting as the actual music, is the bands history behind both their members and the lyrical concepts themselves. Omar and Cedric first met, along with almost all of The Mars Volta members, in high school over in El Paso, Texas. They also there met the lead sound manipulator, who chose never really to be in the spotlight, Jeremy Ward. The two had a cover band together but that was about it, and they dropped out and went their seperate ways. Omar, picked up a bad drug problem, addicted to heroin and crack he lived on the streets and had to dumpster dive for food. Eventually Omar was contacted by Cedric and a few others and heard they wanted to start a band, which later was titled De Facto... An experimental group, with a Dub styled sound. When that group split up Omar and Cedric along most of the members from De Facto banded together to form the popular punk/post hardcore band, At the Drive-In.

One of the initial band members and good friend of Omar and Cedric was, Julio Venegas(?), who like most of the band members, had a troubled past and a sevier drug problem. Venegas's life was smothered in cronic depression and pain, he attempted to commit suicid on various occations. The first time, Venegas shot up his arm with a seringe, and injected rap poison into his arm. This attemp failed to kill him, but had left him with a scarred and nearly imobile arm. His second attempt was to simply overdose on drugs, but instead of dieing, Venegas slipped into a coma where he layed for nearly a year before finally waking up. Venegas suffered from a limp now that was a side effect of going into a coma. While on the road performing without Venegas, Venegas dived off a highway bridge into the rush out traffic below and died.

At the Drive-In eventually fell apart due to the fact Omar and Cedric both felt as if the genre of punk/post hardcore were simply to restrictive for what they wanted to accomplish. After the initial break up, the band members of At the Drive-in excluding Omar and Cedric, joined up with a new lead singer and formed the group Sparta. That last for a short while before that group to fell apart and everyone was doing their own things.

Eventually after some soul searching Omar decided what direction he wanted to go and he gathered all the members of the recently disbanned, At the Drive-in. They set out to creat something truely original, using some of the most morbid true life past experiences to fuel the content of their works. The Mars Volta's first full length album was dedicated to their lost friend, Venegas who had commit suicide nearly a decade earlier. The album, "De-Luissed in the Comatorium" ventured into the abstract thoughts of a coma induced mind, reffering to their friend Venegas throughout the album as, Cerpin Taxt. The album was a success and recieved alot of praise, and the band was more than appeased in their attempt to honor a lost friend.

For their next album, Omar and Cedrics friend and sound manipulator for the band, Jeremy Ward, pulled up something from his past. Jeremy had previously worked as a repo-man in El, Paso. Jeremey often collected odd trinkets and gadgets from the cars that he reposessed, and one time he found a strange black bound journal in the back of a car describing an addopted man's hunt to find his biological parents. Jeremy, who was also adopted, was facinated with the stories and their characters. He became so enthrawled in the story that he even finished the journal's blank pages. This journal later laid the foundation for the new album The Mars Volta was starting to work on, "Francis the Mute."

In May 03' before the bands new album was released, the lead sound manipulator and creative mind behind the new album was found dead in his apartment... Ward had overdosed on heroin two weeks before the albums relase.

I dont know, this band is jsut so facinating to me... If anyone else here listens to them I know they'll find this interesting, and to those who dont I strongly suggest you take a listen. This is by far one of the most amazing bands I've ever come across.