The Mars Volta On Their Return And Embracing R&B
The Mars Volta have spoken to The Guardian about their return with their upcoming self-titled album, their first in a decade.
Discussing the timing of their return, the cult band suggested they waited until it felt right. “The Mars Volta is a sacred ground as much as it is also a playground,” says guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López. “All of the elements had to be exactly correct for my imagination to open up to it. And that happened naturally over time.”
Singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala agreed and suggested that the new album means the band will be back for the foreseeable future: “We have worked on this in secret for a long time now. Omar said the Mars Volta can be whatever we want it to be, which was refreshing as it sets the parameters of us not being a heritage act that relies on old songs. We can redefine what we are and move forwards. Our original feeling was that anything was possible and now, once again, it is.” “I’m not bound by genre,” agreed Rodríguez-López. “The only thing that matters is if music makes you feel something.”
Bixler-Zavala also spoke about the negative responses to the band’s new, smoother sound. “I’m not bound by genre… The only thing that matters is if music makes you feel something.”Some people might see it as betrayal. I’ve seen some people call it yacht rock. But yacht rock slaps so hard that hip-hop producers sample it all the time. R&B is not alien to our DNA. It’s cholo music. It’s what my parents listened to when I was a kid. Once my skateboard session was over, I’d go home and there would be a lot of Sunny and the Sunliners, a lot of the Penguins being played.”
The Mars Volta will be released on 16 September.