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Cedric Bixler-Zavala

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Cedric Bixler-Zavala preforming at The Big Day Out
Cedric Bixler-Zavala preforming at The Big Day Out

Cedric Bixler-Zavala (born November 4, 1974 in Redwood City, CA) is the lead singer and lyricist of The Mars Volta, and was previously the lead singer and lyricist of At the Drive-In.

Contents

Biography

Raised in El Paso, Texas, Bixler-Zavala, along with close friend and collaborator Omar Rodriguez-Lopez fronts the acclaimed rock group The Mars Volta. He was also the former lead-singer of the seminal post-hardcore band At the Drive-In.

While with At the Drive-In, Bixler-Zavala's vocals were often shouted or screamed. For his work with The Mars Volta, Bixler-Zavala has largely given up the emotive shouted vocals of his youth in favor of melismatic singing the higher register. At some points he even enters the whistle register. He is also notable for experimenting heavily with vocal effects, causing him to sound as if he's singing through a telephone, underwater, or with a mechanical voice box. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez even commented that the amount of distortion on Bixler-Zavala's voice in The Mars Volta precludes their need for a rhythm guitarist.

Bixler-Zavala's lyrics are often abstruse to the point of seeming nonsensical. These lyrics often blend contrasting metaphors, usually dealing with grotesque, speculative fiction imagery. He has cited a variety of influences, such as Werner Herzog, Luis Bunuel, Neu!, Doctor Who, and Mexican folk tales. Commonly recurring motifs in his work are skin grafts, Jet lag, umbilical things and lepers. He has also experimented with bilingual lyrics, switching from English to Spanish several times within the course of a song. The Mars Volta's album De-Loused in the Comatorium was accompanied by a short novel of the same name, written in the same metaphorical style his lyrics are arranged by Cedric and Jeremy Ward.

Bixler-Zavala frequently does somersaults on stage, swings his microphone, salsa dances, sarcastically mocks the audience for fun, and plays the maracas. His behavior during performances has long created speculation as to possible drug habits, and although he used to use drugs quite often, he has now gone sober along with partner Omar Rodriguez-Lopez following the overdose and death of Jeremy Ward, former sound manipulator of The Mars Volta.

Multi-talented Bixler-Zavala also performed on guitar and drums with At the Drive-In. In the experimental reggae dub group DeFacto, he plays drums and bass.

Under the pseudonym "Alavaz Relxib Cirdec", Bixler-Zavala contributed a 2-song single to the GSL Special 12" Single Series, released in December 2005. The inversion of his name is very appropriate, seeing as the musical styles shown on his GSL 12" single would be unexpected to an uninformed fan of his more mainstream contributions. Closer to the Dub of De Facto and the ambient experimentation shown in The Mars Volta and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez records than the prog-rock of The Mars Volta, the two songs Bixler-Zavala has produced under this alias are entirely instrumental, with the exception of samples of speech that can be heard on "Live Private Booths". "Live Private Booths" is a funky Fela Kuti-style jam featuring flute, drums, bass, guitars and samples, while Sapta-Loka is a more ambient exploration of eastern-style drones, with subtle, haunting instrumentation.

Discography

Los Dregtones

Alavaz Relxib Cirdec

Guest Appearances

Trivia

{| style="margin:0 auto;clear:both; width:90%;text-align:center;" align=center class="toccolours" | bgcolor=#6699CC|The Mars Volta |- |style="font-size:90%;"|Omar Rodriguez-Lopez | Cedric Bixler-Zavala | Jon Theodore | Isaiah Ikey Owens | Juan Alderete de la Pena | Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez | Adrian Terrazas-Gonzales | Pablo Hinojos-Gonzalez |- ! style="font-size:90%;" bgcolor=lightgrey|Discography |- |style="font-size:85%;"|Albums: De-Loused in the Comatorium | Frances the Mute | Scabdates | A Missing Chromosome | Amputechture
Extended plays: | Tremulant EP | Live EP
Singles: "Inertiatic ESP" | "Televators" | "The Widow" | "L'Via L'Viaquez" | "Vermicide"

 

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