Music
News: The Mars Volta announce Big Day Out sideshows!
Strap yourself in, hold on, and feel free to scream. Few musical experiences match the roller coaster ride that is THE MARS VOLTA, and in 2010, they’ll loop the loop in Australia for the fourth time. You love THE MARS VOLTA?
Here’s three last chances to feel the thrill.
Since emerging from the ashes of El Paso’s lauded and lamented At the Drive-In (who also played BIG DAY OUT way back when) in 2001, composer and guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and incredibly dexterous vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala have followed their muse in whichever direction it takes them; so, far the journey has been the ride of the creative lifetime.
Their fifth album, Octahedron, takes all the energy, all of the furious invention that has characterized THE MARS VOLTA’s music so far, and distills it with a clarity they’ve never before achieved.
The sound may be less aggressive than 2008’s The Bedlam in Goliath, but touring with a pared-down six-piece line-up of Bixler-Zavala, Rodriguez-Lopez, bassist Juan Alderete, keyboardist Isaiah Ikey Owens, Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez on percussion and synths, and drummer Thomas Pridgen, THE MARS VOLTA are still blistering, ferocious, and set the stage alight like no other.
“The only objective, throughout, has been to always move forward,” says Rodriguez-Lopez. “To always make the next album sound different to the one that came before it, to always be evolving.” The latest step in the evolution of THE MARS VOLTA will be on show in Australia this summer.
Tour dates are:
Monday, January 18: The Tivoli, Brisbane Tickets from Ticketek
Wednesday, January 20: Hordern Pavilion, Sydney Tickets from Ticketek
Monday, January 25: Festival Hall, Melbourne Tickets from Ticketmaster
Womadelaide 2010 The Armada, Public Opinion Afro Orchestra, Ethiopiques, Babylon Circus and Ojos de Brujo live @ Botanic Park, Adelaide, SA (5-8 March 2010)
Future Music Festival 2010 Empire of the Sun, Franz Ferdinard, Prodigy, Way Out West and more live @ Sydney, NSW (March 2010)
Your most memorable Festival moment or experience? Our stage manager once fixed things so that I could stand on a podium on the side of the stage and pretend to set my keyboards up while Roky Erickson played a packed tent at Hultsfred in Sweden. He’s very aloof and doesn’t like to have people too close while he plays, so I made myself small and was quiet as a mouse but it was such a treat to get to watch him that closely, he’s just great.
Favourite Artist you’ve seen at a Music Festival? Leonard Cohen’s performance at Coachella last year was about as magical as it gets.
What’s your ideal Festival line-up? Us, PB&J, Jay-Z, Kitty Daisy and Lewis, The Essex Green, Cass McCombs, Joni Mitchell, The Brunettes, Magic Numbers, and Florence Foster Jenkins but she’s dead unfortunately. I can already see this wouldn’t fly with Jay-Z, but I’d settle for just one or two of the above.
What are your tips for attending Music Festivals? Dress to avoid getting cold, wet or sunburned, and take off on your own. In my experience committing to meeting up with too many people always ends up ruining the whole damn thing.
My Festival Experience
