The Mars Volta Compare Their Albums To The Movie Spaceballs

02/08/08 7:00pm

by Shehzaad Jiwani (CHARTattack)

Five years after The Mars Volta's De-Loused In The Comatorium debut album was released, their name now comes with a bit of baggage. Beyond the iconic afros, what immediately comes to mind are images of prog-rock noodling and the self-indulgence of vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala and guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez.

This makes it all the more surprising the first time you hear the band's latest opus, The Bedlam In Goliath, as it's 10 times more listenable and easier to digest than their last few releases. Similarly, it comes as a bit of a shock upon first meeting Rodriguez-Lopez. He's a friendly, hyperactive guy without even the faintest air of pretension — hardly the haughty artist you'd expect.

"The interesting thing about that is it's another misconception," says the guitarist, referring to the idea many people have about the band. "I think it's something that people put on us.

"We learned a long time ago from At The Drive-In that you can't control the way you're viewed by other people. We used to hate how people used to focus on our hair and our clothing, and they said, 'We're going to control the interviews and photographs,' and all it did was make everybody pissed at us. Ten years later, what we're finding is, they do what they want anyway."

Though Rodriguez-Lopez may be an exacting band leader — he recently fired renowned drummer Jon Theodore, and is notorious for blowing through musicians — it's obvious the man simply loves to play and create music that he believes in, regardless of whether or not other people feel the same way.

He also doesn't have any ill will towards those who weren't exactly fans of their last two records, 2005's Frances The Mute and 2006's Amputechture, although detractors may want to dust off their copies after hearing Goliath.

"I never throw records away," says Rodriguez-Lopez. "If I don't like it, I put it aside.

"If I go back to it, it's not that you don't 'get it,' it's just about whether you relate or not. Maybe at one point you didn't relate. Maybe down the line, because of whatever I was going through at the time, you'll see what we meant by that.

"I watched Spaceballs the other day, and I loved it as a kid, but I watch it now and it's a lot slower. At the same time, there's so many jokes that I didn't get at the time, like sexual jokes that I wouldn't get then. It's a lot like that."

At the end of the day, The Mars Volta's producer and main songwriter would simply like people to have the same open-minded attitude towards the band's music as they have.

"After a while of being misunderstood, you get a bit defensive, too. It's like, 'Look at their hair, their clothes, their photos, they're just trying to be difficult.' Damn, motherfucker, we're not trying to do anything.

"We're playing our music. We're doing what we'd be doing in the garage anyway, but you want to know about it. A lot of writers will come in thinking we'll be reserved, and we come in thinking, 'I wonder if this is one of those writers who already has a story written.' Then there's people who just come in and want to discover. You may have a notion, but you want to see what it's really about. That's the same way we approach our music."