Cedric Bixler-Zavala | |
|---|---|
 Bixler-Zavala withAt the Drive-In in 2017 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | (1974-11-04)November 4, 1974 (age 51) Redwood City, California, U.S. |
| Origin | El Paso, Texas, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
|
| Instruments |
|
| Years active | 1993–present |
| Member of | The Mars Volta |
| Formerly of | |
Cedric Bixler-Zavala (born November 4, 1974) is an American musician. He has been the lead singer and lyricist of theprogressive rock bandThe Mars Volta since its inception in 2001. He was the lead singer and only constant member of thepost-hardcore groupAt the Drive-In, the lead singer of the bandAntemasque, and is a frequent collaborator with musicianOmar Rodriguez-Lopez.
Cedric Bixler-Zavala was born as Cedric Bixler inRedwood City, California. His father, Dennis Bixler-Marquez, was born inMexico City to a white American man of partial German ancestry and a Mexican woman. His mother, Rosa Zavala, is Mexican-American and was born inEl Paso. His father is a professor ofChicano Studies atUTEP. His parents were bilingual, but Bixler-Zavala says his command of proper Spanish is limited to "Spanglish".[1] HisSpanish maternal surname, Zavala, is a Castilian version ofZabala, ofBasque origin.
Bixler-Zavala is a high school dropout. While attending high school, he was involved in the El Paso punk scene, playing in a number of local bands. This is where he met lifelong friend and collaborator Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, whom he has known since the age of thirteen.[2][3][4]
In the 1990s, Bixler-Zavala played in a slew of local, El Paso punk bands such as Distorted Silence, Three Blind Bats, Phantasmagoria, Jerk, Marcellus Wallace, Thee Gambede Meatleak,The Fall on Deaf Ears, and Los Dregtones, the latter of whom released the cassette,5 Song Alibi, in 1994.[5][6][7] The Fall on Deaf Ears recorded only a handful of songs before bassist Laura Beard and guitarist Sarah Reiser were killed in a car wreck in 1997.[8]
Reflecting on when he first joined Phantasmagoria, Bixler-Zavala stated, "I joined these guys when I was 15 years old. They poached me from a band I was singing for called Distorted Silence . . . Distorted Silence was playing in front of the monkeys at the El Paso zoo and it was kinda my audition for them. You can't learn how to be in a band through music school. You have to just live it. Wether [sic] it be robbing music stores for gear, fighting with other bands, getting chased by the police, and learning how to live in the moment & that's what we did. These people are my heroes and my teachers."[9][10]
In the early 1990s, Bixler-Zavala played drums and was a vocalist for a band namedFoss which includedBeto O'Rourke on bass before the latter's political career.[11] He cites O'Rourke as a source of influence, stating, "The way I make art, I learned it from Beto. He was learning as he went along, too, but he was sort of my older brother/mentor."[12]
In 1994,Jim Ward, along with Bixler-Zavala, created the bandAt the Drive-In. They performed their first live show on October 14, 1994, at The Attic in El Paso. At the Drive-In would go on to release four studio albums and six EPs.Relationship of Command, the band's most successful record, would go on to be certified gold in Australia and the United Kingdom.[13][14] It was also deemed the 37th most influential album of all time byKerrang!.[15] Bixler-Zavala provides harmonious, emotive vocals and surreal lyrics to the record.[16]
He co-founded the dub reggae bandDe Facto in 1998 which incorporated elements of instrumental dub, electronica, Latin and salsa music, and jazz fusion. Bixler-Zavala played both bass and drums at different points in the band's incarnation. The band reunited for a one-off show in 2024 at the SXSW festival.
Bixler-Zavala and Rodriguez-Lopez formed theprogressive rock bandThe Mars Volta in 2001 after the dissolution of At the Drive-In. The band is known for their energetic live shows and concept albums, with Bixler-Zavala frequently demonstrating his frenetic antics onstage. Live performances usually incorporate extended jams and added lyrics. The Mars Volta have released nine studio albums and two EPs to date. The band's first album,De-Loused in the Comatorium, is certified gold in Canada and certified silver in the United Kingdom.[17][18] Their second album,Frances the Mute, is certified gold in the United States.[19] The band is also known for their experimentation in various other genres. The lyrics are characterized by Bixler-Zavala's signature esoteric, surrealist, and poetic lines which incorporateportmanteaus and imaginative narratives. These themes have also appeared in his writing. In particular,De-Loused in the Comatorium, a storybook written about the album, has been described asWilliam Burroughs-esque.[20][21]
A frequent collaborator with childhood friend Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Bixler-Zavala has appeared on many albums of the former's solo discography. Notably,El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez-Lopez's record,Cryptomnesia, is a unique entry into both of the musician's catalogues as it features elements ofmath rock andnoise rock while implementing voice recordings. In addition to his vocal work, Bixler-Zavala contributed drums to at least of two of Rodriguez-Lopez's albums,El Bien y Mal Nos Une andSolid State Mercenaries.
Under the pseudonym "Alavaz Relxib Cirdec" ("Cedric Bixler-Zavala" backwards), Bixler-Zavala contributed a two-song single to theGSL Special 12-inch Singles Series, released in December 2005. Closer to the dub ofDe Facto and the ambient experimentation shown inOmar Rodríguez-López's records than the prog-rock ofThe Mars Volta, the two songs Bixler-Zavala has produced under this alias are entirely instrumental.
In 2010, he commented onFacebook about the recording process:
This is my failed attempt at ghost noted shuffelingTony Allen beats! Ha! There is a digital tabla machine running through some DD-5 delay pedal that is being played by a mini hand held tape recorder playing throughout! I wrote the bass line...hummed it toJuan...Omar came up with the guitar and chorus section andAdrian played flute on it. It was squeezed in during tracking drums forAmputechture, and rushed...very very rushed. I had other parts and chorus bits but I didn't want to get in the way of the record (studio time is expensive!). The samples are from 2 places [...] On "Private Booths" the samples at the start are from an interview with a psychic who participated in theMontauk Project...I sampled it from a UK TV show calledDisinformation (RIP!) [...] The other sample is from a movie calledShock Corridor by the lateSam Fuller. Side 2 "Sapta Loka" is a bit of an homage to ambient German music from the [1970s] ... it's one long drone spliced in four places and stacked on each other playing at the same time. A shitty Casio and a banged upChaos pad (very 2005!) are being run and it's all recorded through a hand held mini recorder dumped onto a ProTools file. [...] Omar co-wrote the piece.
Late 2011 saw the release of the first 7-inch record from Bixler-Zavala's new projectAnywhere, a collaboration with Christian Eric Beaulieu ofTriclops! andMike Watt ofThe Stooges,Firehose, andMinutemen.[22] Their self-titled debut album was released by ATP Records in June 2012. Bixler-Zavala contributed drums to one track on the band's second album,Anywhere II, released in 2018.[23]
In 2011, Bixler-Zavala began working on another album, which he described as "mostly ballady type stuff... a very Sunday morning record. Very soft."[24] Eventually the solo project turned into a full-fledged band namedZavalaz, which features Bixler-Zavala on lead vocals and guitar,Dan Elkan on guitar,Juan Alderete on bass, andGregory Rogove on drums. The band performed a number of West Coast tour dates throughout June, supported byDot Hacker and EV Kain.[25] On June 3, 2013, a snippet from song "Blue Rose of Grand Street" off their upcoming albumAll the Nights We Never Met was released on YouTube.[26] The album remains unreleased to date.
Bixler-Zavala contributed vocals on two tracks onNobody's 2013 album,Vivid Green, that being Our Last Dance and the bonus track Aways Away. The songs have been described as psychedelic synthpop, spacy, and "woozily soulful."[27][28]
After a brief falling out with Rodriguez-Lopez, the two eventually reunited and formed thesupergroupAntemasque in 2014. The band consisted of Bixler-Zavala, Rodriguez-Lopez, ex-Mars Volta drummerDave Elitch, and Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez, younger brother of Omar. The band recorded and released theirdebut album that same year. Fans at the time postulated that as Flea and Elitch had previously played with The Mars Volta, a reunion of the then-defunct band might have been in the works. Flea played bass on 2003'sDe-loused in the Comatorium and trumpet on 2005'sFrances the Mute. Elitch toured with The Mars Volta from 2009 to 2010. In February 2018, Bixler-Zavala confirmed onTwitter that The Mars Volta would reunite,[29] but later clarified thatAt the Drive-In activity would take immediate precedence.[30] The Mars Volta officially reunited in 2022 and have remained active ever since.
In 2025, Bixler-Zavala collaborated withSteve Lyman to provide vocals on the 2026 albumSIGNAL TO BURNING.Tigran Hamasyan andNathan Schram also appear on the record, which has been described asexperimental. HOMECOMING and BIRDS SINGING ON THE MOON were the first two singles released ahead of the album's debut.[31]
He has also made guest appearances on a number of other artist's song, ranging fromMastodon toJonny Polonski. Bixler-Zavala, as well as other members of The Mars Volta, contributed to theSympathy for Delicious soundtrack.[32]
In addition to being an accomplished vocalist and lyricist, Bixler-Zavala is also a respected drummer, having contributed drums to a number of bands and artists such asAnywhere,Big Sir,De Facto, The Fall on Deaf Ears,Foss, Los Dregtones, RJs Prospectors,Lisa Papineau, andOmar Rodríguez-López.[33][34] He is also capable of playing a number of other instruments.[35]
.jpg)
Bixler-Zavala has atenor voice type with a vocal range spanning from G#2 to D6, in addition to a speculated possible range reaching as low as E2 and as high as C7.[36] His vocal work spans many different styles, ranging from consistent rhythmic shouts (common in his singing with At the Drive-In) to controlledfalsetto andhead voice singing (a familiar trademark of his singing with the Mars Volta). In 2016, it was also revealed that Bixler-Zavala developedvocal nodules, causing shows to be canceled while on tour.[37][38]
Bixler-Zavala is fond ofFrank Zappaesque humor and writes inEnglish,Spanglish, andLatin. His lyrics have a wide vocabulary and often feature complicatedwordplay. Bixler-Zavala also usesportmanteaus: combining existing words, or parts of words, to create a new word. The song "Noctourniquet", for example, combines "nocturnal" (active at night) and "tourniquet" (a medical device to stop bleeding). He has stated: "I love to take common sayings, pervert them, mutate them a little. So you think I am singing one thing, but when you read it, it is different."[39] He has describedMark E. Smith ofThe Fall as "one of the pillars of influence for me as a lyricist".[40]
When performing with At the Drive-in and The Mars Volta, Bixler-Zavala is known for his eccentric on-stage behavior. He frequently does somersaults on stage, swings his microphone (once unintentionally hitting bandmateIkey Owens in the head), throws objects such as cymbals, microphone stands, and trash cans into the audience, salsa dances, adjustsOmar Rodríguez-López's effects pedals and occasionally plays the maracas.
In 2009, Bixler-Zavala married actress and model Chrissie Carnell. The couple reside inLos Angeles, California. They had their first children, twin boys Ulysses and Xanthus, in 2013. In November 2017, he said in a pair oftweets that actorDanny Masterson had sexually assaulted his wife, and that he wrote At the Drive-In's song "Incurably Innocent" about the alleged incident.[41][42][43]
Bixler-Zavala is a former member of theChurch of Scientology and had credited Scientology with his changed attitude on the use of drugs.[44] He attended the Church of ScientologyCelebrity Centre event in 2013.[45] In 2015, Bixler-Zavala spoke about his decision to stop smokingmarijuana. "I was spending $1,000 a week on weed", he said, and rationalized his use by believing it made him more creative, when he later came to realize "I was using it to form this stoned bubble that helped me justify not wanting to interact with people."[46] However, by 2017 he had become a harsh critic of Scientology, calling its "self help volcano[...] as barren as a floating needle. A placebo of Sugarykool aid"[47] and accusing it of silencing sexual assault victims[48] and of harassing both him and his wife;[49] in 2018, he accused it of covering up his wife's alleged sexual assault and called it "a modern-day version ofThe Handmaid's Tale".[50][51]
In 2020, Bixler-Zavala's dog died after allegedly eating raw meat laced withrat poison that had been tossed into their yard. Bixler-Zavala alleged that the Church of Scientology was responsible, though they have denied the accusations.[52]
Bixler-Zavala's life has been heavily impacted by the deaths of people who have been in close association with him, several of which have become themes for his lyrics. Jimmy Hernandez, bass player for Los Dregtones, died of cancer in 1994. The year after, the original drummer for At the Drive-In, Bernie Rincon, committed suicide.[53] In 1996, a close friend and band-mate of Bixler-Zavala's, Los Dregtones bassist Julio Venegas, also committed suicide. The story behind the Mars Volta's first albumDe-Loused in the Comatorium was loosely inspired by "life and death of Julio Venegas". During the following year, two of his bandmates of the groupThe Fall on Deaf Ears, Laura Beard and Sarah Reiser, died in a car accident.[54] In May 2003, their sound manipulator and longtime friend of Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodríguez-López,Jeremy Ward, was found dead of apparent heroin overdose.[55] In October 2014,Isaiah "Ikey" Owens, former bandmate and keyboardist for Bixler-Zavala's previous bandsDe Facto andthe Mars Volta (the latter from 2001 to 2010), was found dead inPuebla, Mexico, while on tour withJack White.[56] Owens was 39 years old and his cause of death was later confirmed to be a heart attack.[57]
Bixler-Zavala endorsed2020 presidential candidateBernie Sanders and denounced the support ofJoe Biden by his former Foss bandmate and 2020 presidential candidateBeto O'Rourke. In response to a fan onInstagram who said that O'Rourke's support of Biden "bummed me out bad", Bixler-Zavala said "me too."[58]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
