Thomas Pridgen.

As if firing one drummer isn’t enough, antiquiet has now confirmed through Thomas Pridgen’s facebook page that he is no longer part of the Mars Volta.

The Mars Volta had cancelled the last show on the US tour in Raleigh, North Carolina and rumors started flying around the message boards that it was because of a tiff between Pridgen and the band. In a Facebook post where Pridgen reported that he was recording new material, he confirmed that he was no longer working with the Mars Volta.

Rumors have Dave Elitch as the new drummer in the band according to the band’s forum.

T-Pridge in his natural habitat

So after a baffling month long series of events, Thomas Pridgen has confirmed that his time is spent with those enigmatic visionaries, The Mars Volta. Events came to head last month at a gig in Columbus which saw our favorite kit destroying banshee take a taxi home alone during sound check. Fans were entirely SOL and worse rumors began quickly of a fight between Cedric and Thomas. Band poltics don’t concern me, however I will miss T-Pridge. I’ve come to love the level of joy he brings intp every insane roll and paradiddle he inflicts on the drum kit. Thomas was simply fun to watch the two times I saw him. He gave his debut with the band 2008’s The Bedlam in Goliath a frenetic terrifying energy and for that he will be missed. The question now remains as to who has the chops to live up to Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and his drive for perfection. Best of luck.

Prog Happenings will be a semi-regular summary of the various events that have punctuated the prog landscape recently, as well as some of my thoughts on each. Basically they’re the events that don’t justify an entire post, but are still worth talking about. So without further stalling:

Dream Theater Wins ‘Spirit of Prog’ Award at Classic Rock Awards (http://bit.ly/23iZRW)

This past Monday Classic Rock, a UK hard rock magazine, had their yearly Roll of Honor awards, and Dream Theater was presented with the ‘Spirit of Prog’ award. Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman presented the award to band leader and drummer Mike Portnoy and had some very high praise of the group during the presentation.

For all the crap I dish out on Mike Portnoy and Dream Theater on this blog, I’m glad they got this award. Without them prog would probably be a dead genre, and Portnoy in particular has done a lot to promote progressive music in the main stream. I personally wouldn’t have ever become enamored with the genre if it wasn’t for Dream Theater, so I think this award is absolutely deserved by the band. This doesn’t mean I’m going to stop ripping them though.

Emerson, Lake, and Palmer Reform for Performance at High Voltage Festival in the UK(http://bit.ly/4hZq83)

ELP, one of the classic prog rock groups that your average music fan might at least recognize the name of if they were alive during the 70’s, will be reforming for one performance at the new High Voltage Festival being held next July in the UK.

Older prog fans are giddy with excitement over this. Personally I’m going to be interested in seeing how the band has aged. While they didn’t stop making music on their own, the group last performed together in the 1990s. I’m predicting that they won’t be lighting any more cannons on stage, MAYBE one if they’re feeling spry. Seriously, Greg Lake is one of my personal prog bass heroes, so I’m praying there will be a recording of this at some point.

Mars Volta Fire Drummer Thomas Pridgen. Maybe. Kind of. Anyone know if this actually happened?

Rumors are flying all over the web right now about the current status of the Mars Volta and their drummer Thomas Pridgen. A recent show was canceled with fans at the venue being told by security that the band had fired their drummer during sound check. The band and Prigden have been totally silent about the rumors thus far, which only adds to the speculation. Fans are fairly split right now on 1) whether or not this is true, 2) whether or not losing Pridgen would be a good or bad thing, and 3) who should take his place (Zach Hill and former drummer Jon Theodore seem to be the most popular choices).

I personally love Pridgen, so I hope these rumors are just that, rumors. That being said, the Mars Volta’s line-up has always been growing and shrinking on the whims of Omar Rodríguez-López and Cedric Bixler-Zavala, so I’m preparing myself mentally for this rumor to be true. I’d love to see Theodore back with the group, as he’s a drummer with great energy, great chops, and a unique style behind the kit. However I’m guessing the door between Theodore and the band has been nailed, screwed, and welded shut, so I don’t expect that reunion to happen any time soon. Keeping my eye on this one…

Between the Buried and Me/Cynic/The Devin Townsend Project/Scale the Summit Announce US Tour (http://bit.ly/8IDu0)

Almost as if to prove that progressive rock is starting to flourish in the US again, fans will be able to feast on this prog smorgasbord starting in January of 2010.  BTBAM have seen an absolutely huge growth in their popularity since appearing as a supporting act on last year’s Progressive Nation tour, large enough that they are headlining this tour that contains two other prog heavyweights, Cynic and Devin Townsend.

Cynic is a band no one in the world knows outside of prog historians, as they recorded one integral album in the history of prog before disbanding. Their reunion was something prog fans have been asking for for over a decade, so the fact that they’re serving as a supporting act here is kind of surprising. Devin Townsend is one of progressive rock’s mad scientists (in fact, I think we ONLY have mad scientists). Some consider him to be a more metal, more more balding, more Canadian Frank Zappa. He’s one of the darlings of the prog online community, and living proof of how the internet has impacted the genre. Scale the Summit is another beneficiary of the Progressive Nation tour, having been the opening act on this past year’s US leg. They’re very young but many people see this as being a good thing, and predict many quality albums in their future as the band continues to mature.

A comical, probably unintentional coincidence on this tour is that it features bands with growling vocals (BTBAM), computerized vocals (Cynic), weird-ass vocals (Devin Townsend), and no vocals (Scale the Summit). If you’re the kind of person who’s bothered when the douche bag next to you at a concert is singing louder than the band, you won’t have any problems on this tour.

Umphrey’s Mcgee S2 Shows Walk The Line Between Progressive and Hippie Bullshit (http://bit.ly/2zNYtv)

Progressive jam band Umphrey’s Mcgee has come up with a very…creative concept for some of their shows. Their “Stew Art Series” lets fans suggest themes that the band then uses as inspiration for a totally improvised concert. Fans can use cue cards, text messaging, and other media to suggest themes before and even during the show, and it’s up to the band to them turn these concepts into music.

While I think this is certainly a ‘progressive’ effort, I’m unsure of whether or not this will actually translate into quality music. UM is absolutely the band to undertake this effort, as I think they’re among the best improv jamers on the planet, but this just seems like an exercise in hippie silliness to me. To be fair I’ve only heard the samples from the first show that the band has provided on their blog, so I don’t know what the overall product has sounded like so far. The list of themes I’ve seen fans come up with have also been fairly entertaining, like ‘mudslide on mars’ and ‘Chaka Khan at an Iron Maiden show’.

Cracked Tells You How to Be a Prog Rocker (http://bit.ly/2FYtec)

While I wanted to cover most of this in the second half of my post on Stereotypes in Prog rock, cracked.com has done a great job in poking fun at the genre I love. Check it out if you want a good laugh. Now I just need to figure out how I can write the second half of that post without looking like I blatantly plagiarized from this…

Thank you!

A ton of people have started reading this blog in the past few days, so I just wanted to say thank you to anyone who stops by. Hopefully you like what you see and will keep coming back to read my bullshit.

Check em out.

Great drumming, powerful stuff…

So, I’ve been slacking quite a bit, but hey…I had school, an internship, and a new job, so it’s been tough to add blog entries into the mix. Having little access to the interweb doesn’t help much either. Anyways, the summer is here, and thus a new era for The Hatching Gizzard is born.

As many of you probably know, Octahedron is scheduled for its official release a week from tomorrow. Octahedron is the band’s 5th LP, and one that explores the world of pop music. No, the band is not selling out! Pop doesn’t even mean bad, by any means. I don’t know why so many people automatically associate the term “pop” with “bad.” Just another bad generalization out there.

Octahedron is yet another new direction for the band. Confronting the difficult task of simplifying things a bit, multi-instrumentalist Adrián Terrazas-González and guitarist/sound manipulator Paul Hinojos were asked to step aside for the album, and possibly the entire Octahedron tour (according to shows so far). On top of this, Omar has limited the amount of tracks, sound tweaking, editing, and overall complexity, giving a more “acoustic” feel.

There is quite a bit of ambience used throughout the album. From the start, a simple note and its upper neighboring octave are drawn out for about a minute and a half. Although it may seem a bit unnecessary, it appears to be the back bone of the entire album, reoccuring several times. The most successful use of ambience throughout the album comes in during the build up section of Cotopaxi, bringing back a feeling similar to that in the song Frances the Mute.

Thomas Pridgen has made a pretty big change since The Bedlam in Goliath. Keeping things a bit more on the simpler side, Thomas restrains himself from throwing mad fills left and right and utilizes them a bit more accordingly to the new sound. Like the last album, he is one of the biggest standouts, throwing out very sick grooves in songs like “Desperate Graves” and “Teflon”.

The biggest surprise of them all is Cedric. Maturing as a singer, Cedric really knows how to utilize different tones from his vocal cords. Throughout the entire album, we hear a truly beautiful tone coming out from Cedric, most notably in “With Twilight As My Guide.” What’s more impressive about this tone is that it’s two-sided. As beautiful as it is, there is still something quite haunting about it. Combine the two and you get a body full of goosebumps. Another big surprise from Cedric was his use of harmonizing in “Copernicus.” It’s something new from Cedric, and although not perfect, still sounds very nice.

Overall, the album is quite pleasing. Nothing that’d I’d consider one of the best albums ever, but great for what it is. The only areas which could have been much better involved the mixing of tracks (ex. piano solo at the end of “Halo of Nembutals”. Although it’s supposed to be subtle, it’s almost too quiet to the point where your brain might not even recognize its presence right away). Fix that issue and you have yourself a fairly perfect album. The album’s lack of experimentation was an experiment that Omar accomplished quite well, and I look forward to seeing what move he’ll make next.

Key Songs: “Teflon,” “Halo of Nembutals,” “With Twilight As My Guide,” “Desperate Graves”

The band just started their tour last Tuesday with a show at the Ventura Majestic Theater in California (review to be posted soon) and a performance on Saturday at Bonnaroo. From here they are scheduled to go to Europe until Outside Lands Festival (San Francisco, CA) in August. Hopefully more dates will be announced soon.

It’s that time again, I have a few new albums on my plate at the moment and I’ll try to review as many as I can, firstly, Mars Volta.

This band’s always been a head trip, they quickly became one of my favourites back in the days of “De-Loused in the Comatorium” and continue to put out mind-bending pieces worthy of Psychadelic, Prog heaven (or hell).  Cedric Bixler-Zavala’s lyrics are still largely a mystery to me, he seems to string sentences together about the most abstract concepts and imagery fathomable, and there are plenty of songs from their back catalogue that I still struggle to compehend. Not that I can’t understand what he’s saying, just that I don’t understand what he means when he’s saying it.  I wanna ask him about that actually if I ever get the chance to meet the guy.  “Do your songs always have meanings or is it just whatever comes to mind when your laying it down?” Who knows.

The Volta are back again, constipated with backed up albums, their latest effort is Octahedron. Apparently their “acoustic” album, it holds plenty of electricity.  It is, however, anchored on a couple ballady acoustic tracks “Since We’ve Been Wrong” and “With Twilight As My Guide”.  The former being my personal favourite cut from the record.  The opening track has a strong hook and the lyrics actually seem to make sense! Amazing! But I’m just poking fun.  The record ebbs and flows, after the opening track it picks up pace with “Teflon” and continues that momentum until “With Twilight As My Guide”, which brings the listener back down to the level of dynamic established by the opener.  Just as you’re about to dose off into slumberland, BAM! “Cotopaxi” kicks in, the lead single, with the same venom that “Wax Simulacra” had on their previous release “the Bedlam in Goliath”.  Another strong track follows in the form of “Desperate Graves”, this song has more of a traditional rock feel to it but still maintains Volta’s delicious mix of Waltzy grooves and Melodic breakdowns.  The album slowly descends from here, “Copernicus” is a slow-paced, delicate track which comes off very cerebral, and has a similar dynamic to the previous ballads.  The album then finishes up with “Luciforms”, containing an extended ambient intro going into a more upbeat but still slower-tempo’d waltz rhythm throughout the verses, a fitting end to the record.

All in all it’s a fairly typical Volta record, probably on par with Amputechture in my books.  It contains a few gems and is a journey not unlike any of their albums.  Those with patience will be able to get through this, whereas the casual listener will pick their favourites and be done with it.  Omar, Cedric and co. seem to have albums coming out of the Wazoo and I’m sure by this time next year (or maybe sooner) we’ll have another Mars Volta record to ponder over.  This one definitely has repeat value just based on the intricacy of the sounds and the technical playing alone, I don’t imagine this will reach the peaks of “De-Loused” but continues to make it’s mark on their legacy.

3/5

These are samples of some of the best drummers, in my opinion, on the face of the planet. These guys have really shaken up the craft and are worthy of every drummer’s attention. Here they are (in no particular order)

1. Dave Weckl

2. Thomas Pridgen

3. Antonio Sanchez

4. Aaron Spears

5. Keith Carlock

6. Teddy Campbell

7. Steve Smith

8. Chris Coleman

9. Vinnie Colaiuta

10. Darren King

Octahedron, tên album mới của Mars Volta sẽ được chính thức phát hành vào ngày 23/6 tới thông qua hãng đĩa Wanner Bros. Album được viết bởi guitarist Omar Rodriguez Lopez và vocalist Cedric Bixler Zavala, cùng với các nghệ sĩ Marcel Rodriguez Lopez, Thomas Pridgen, John Frusciante, Isaiah Ikey Owens Alderete và Juan de la Pena. Tracklist và Cover của album hiện vẫn chưa được công bố.

Cedric Bixler Zavala & Omar Rodriguez Lopez

Năm 2008 band nhạc đã phát hành album The Bedlam In Goliath là 1 trong những đề cử Best Hard Rock Performance của giải thưởng âm nhạc Grammy Awards.

Theo rockpassion

Marc Broussard – Keep Coming Back

Last September I went to NYC for Marc’s record release party at the Hiro Ballroom.  This was my 3rd time attending one of his shows but it was my first record release party, so I was actually a little anxious this time around to see how the show would go.  It proceeded to be on of the best shows I’d ever been to–where Marc dropped several songs from the new record and made sure to please the fans with some oldie favorites.  I noticed that not many people knew much about Marc, but he knew what needed to be done.  Marc has made significant contributions to music since 2002, beginning with his debut, Momentary Setback, completing three more full length albums, and appearing most recently on all the late-night talk shows to promote his newest LP, Keep Coming Back. It’s noticeable Marc hasn’t reached the level of industry A-listers, but I’m not sure I want him that way.  Consecutively releasing great records with different labels, he’s now found a home with Atlantic Records–maybe it was inevitable he was destined for major label stardom.

Marc’s catalogue shows substantial change from the start of his career–beginning with tracks that were obviously made to break into a popular industry, and while specific tracks are the cornerstone of Marc’s style, he seems to be gaining sizable artistic independence.  Cue Keep Coming Back.  If you haven’t heard Bayou Soul, don’t worry–it’s not an acquired taste, it’s not a trend, it’s just music for the music appreciator.  Check out the horns and guitar licks in “Keep Coming Back,” “Hard Knocks,” “Power’s in the People” and “Man for Life;” if you’re looking for some organ and piano soul, check out “Real Good Thing,” “Why Should We Wait” and “Saying I Love You–” which sounds like an ode to Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions. He also delivers some heartfelt ballads which compliment his acoustic tracks nicely.

Mr. Broussard offers up some of his best this time around and promises more to come.  I pre-ordered his album back in August giving me the chance to grab both the signed CD and a vinyl copy of the record, something that seems to be making a comeback (i.e. just like Jason Mraz’s We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things & Bruce Springsteen’s Working on a Dream) and is equally as cool on the turntable.  iTunes offers up a couple of live bonus tracks giving you a chance to appreciate how his music sounds best.

Marc Broussard

Join the Bayou Club

Keep Coming Back iTunes

92 out of 100

Lil Wayne -  Tha Carter III

In 2008 Weezy finally completed the trilogy four years in the making (his Return of the Jedi), and after all of the leaked tracks, the leaked albums, and the mixtapes, he’s released his opus to critical acclaim and has retained his World Heavyweight Championship belt as the greatest rapper alive.  In “Dr. Carter,” Wayne is Hip-Hop’s messiah, chosen to resuscitate it’s consciousness and bring the industry back from whence it fell.  He doesn’t forget to enlist the help of some mentors like Jay-Z and some fellow classmates like Kanye West.  Did Hip-Hop need to be saved?  There’s still a lot of veterans in the industry and they’re still releasing records: Nas released his ninth studio album in 2008, Jay-Z is working on finishing the Blueprint trilogy, Dre is dropping Detox this year (hopefully), and Eminem’s Relapse looks like it’s ready to drop soon too.  Regardless, he’s secured his spot with Tha Carter III and joined an elite few.

While this third installment proves to be one of the top albums of the year and certainly the most lucrative, it’s not on par with Tha Carter II’s status.  Wayne starts to transition in this album, knowing full well what the people expect, and still manages to show how he’s on another level.  “Tha Mobb” is probably one of the best intro tracks I’ve heard, letting all those seeking the best rapper crown know they’re gonna have to see Lil Wayne first.

The best tracks off the album include “3-Peat,” “Mr. Carter,” “Dr. Carter,” “Phone Home” and “Tie My Hands” featuring Robin Thicke.  Weezy has already collected four Grammys this past Sunday, including Best Rap Album of the Year, which beat out Jay-Z, Nas, T.I. and Lupe Fiasco.  Now that ‘The Best Rapper Alive’ is set to make his rock debut this April with Rebirth, it’ll be interesting to see if Tha Carter IV is something in our near future.  After listening to the first single from Rebirth, “Prom Queen,” it can’t really come soon enough.

Lil Wayne iTunes

81 out of 100

The Mars Volta – The Bedlam in Goliath

The story goes that on a trip to Jerusalem, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez bought an Ouija-type board to give to Cedric Bixler-Zavala and it quickly became a post show game to play while on tour with The Red Hot Chili Peppers.  Known as “the soothsayer,” it began demanding things from the band, causing problems while writing and recording the new record including Cedric’s foot requiring surgery, audio tracks literally disappearing, Omar’s studio flooding twice, drummer Blake Flemming having to quit the band due to financial difficulties and the album’s main engineer quitting after having a nervous breakdown.  After salvaging what was left of the album, Omar broke the board in half and buried it at an undisclosed location, never to be spoken of again.  The Mars Volta never fails to impress.

Their fourth full length studio album was about to be tossed in the trash, until Omar secured a new engineer and the band enlisted the talents of a new drummer, Thomas Pridgen, who according to Cedric brought the band new life.  At first the thought of not having Jon Theodore in the Volta anymore made me think Bedlam was going to be a momentous disaster, but after hearing this record, I hope Pridgen has found a permanent spot with the band.  Bedlam brings with it a considerable amount of influence–fusing jazz, experimental rock, psychedelic guitar and chaotic vocals that border on insane genius.  Like all of Volta’s records, the tracks are all part of a bigger movement, each track, it’s own little overture.

Tracks worth really looking into – “Metatron,” “Goliath,” “Cavalettas,” “Soothsayer” and “Ilyena–” make sure to check out the jazz-infused saxophone at the end of “Cavalettas” and the use of guitar and vocals on “Soothsayer.”  Best listened to from start to finish, Bedlam proves to be another great album, although not quite on the level of originality as De-Loused.  If you’re into Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, he’s released several solo albums, including Calibration and Old Money in 2008, filled with electronic acid jazz, Latin fusion and experimental progressive rock.  He just released two more solo albums, Megaritual and Despair at the end of January, so if you can’t get enough Volta, check out some of Omar’s new stuff that’s definitely on the experimental side, and definitely shares elements of the Volta.  In the meantime, Bedlam will keep you enthralled enough until their next release, supposedly the band’s attempt at an acoustic piece.

The Mars Volta

Volta on iTunes

Omar Rodriquez Lopez’s myspace

91 out of 100

Q-Tip – The Renaissance

Nine years since Amplified hit the shelves at record stores, it’s no wonder Q-Tip is coming into a renaissance of his own.  Plagued by continually jumping from label to label and several albums being scratched completely, Q-Tip hasn’t forgot how to bring back the nostalgiac sounds of a frontman from A Tribe Called Quest.  What Dead Prez does for political hip-hop, Q-Tip does for upbeat, jazz-inflected hip-hop, which is more of a necessity now in the face of mainstream hip-hop than when People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm first came out.

The cover shows a slight tip of the hat to Herbie Hancock’s 1973 Head Hunters, a defining album of jazz fusion as well.  The tracks display Q-Tip’s flow through nasal filled voice and his ever-present consciousness of everything around him.  Q also has some significant guests to add to the soul including D’Angelo, Amanda Diva, Norah Jones, and yes, Raphael Saadiq. The stand out tracks are many–”Johnny is Dead,” “Official,” “We Fight/We Love,” “ManWomanBoogie,” “Life is Better” and “Believe.”

This album has been long overdue, but someone already said it best; better late than never.  Q-Tip has been a missing member in alternative hip-hop and it’s nice to have him back with the likes of Common, Mos Def, Talib Kweli and the Roots.  Tribe reunited in 2006 playing several shows although there hasn’t been any talk of a new studio album.  They still have one more album on their record deal since breaking up, but they don’t want rush any LP that might disappoint Tribe fans.  It took Q nine years to finish The Renaissance, so there is plenty of optimism here to hope for a Tribe album full of new concepts and wisdom.

The Renaissance has two bonus tracks on iTunes – “Good Thang” and “Move”

Q-Tip

Q-Tip iTunes

83 out of 100

Jamie Lidell – Jim

I feel like a lot of the artists I’ve been talking about have been taking their inspirations from the blues, soul and R&B greats–Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Sam Cooke, Ray Charles.  I know it’s not exactly groundbreaking territory coming out with yet another soulful album during 2008, but shit, if you want to put your own twist on it, and it sounds great, than why the hell not?  Enter scene as Jamie Lidell just got back from the 60’s, all notes ready to begin production of Jim.  Mr. Lidell (aka Jim) has blended some of the greatest parts of soul, leaving behind a little more of the electronic funk from Multiply creating something that makes you wonder, what the hell got into Jim?

Jim has gone on a Motown kick here, throwing ten tracks into the mix for your listening pleasures, ranging from upbeat sunny day tunes (“Another Day”) to the soothing warmth of his ballads (“All I Wanna Do”).  [side note: if you're into Amos Lee, check out the track "All I Wanna Do"]  “Another Day” begins with birds chirping in your bedroom for a wake up call, giving the listener a revelation–I’m going to enjoy this.  Me personally, I would wake up to this track everyday; giving you a reason to get out of bed even when you don’t have one.  “Wait For Me” plays out like Billy Joel on piano mixed in with Sam Cooke’s Live from Harlem Square in 1963.  The album is beautifully arranged bombarding you with sounds of Wilson Pickett on “Out of My System,” orgies with guitars, harmonicas, and horns on “A Little Bit of Feel Good,” along with Al Green soul and rhythm on “Green Light.”

This album is a guilty pleasure; don’t feel obligated to hide it.  As soon as you drop the needle on this record at a party, count on someone in the crowd asking you who that was and where to get it.  Luckily, you’re in the know.  If you get the chance to catch Mr. Lidell, do it immediately, but as he’s in Europe most of the time, you might have to wait awhile, or until his next record drops.  You can check out his iTunes Live album on the link below. Satisfaction guaranteed.

Jamie Lidell’s website

Jim on iTunes

Jamie Lidell Live Sessions iTunes

92 out of 100

The Roots – Rising Down

Back for their 8th studio album, The Roots bring with them a collection of digital samples filling in over an always enjoyable ?uestlove on the drums.  One of the best live acts today, The Roots are continuing their journey, this time to a darker place than even Game Theory.  Another album named after significant works of literature, Rising Down is the title of William T. Vollmann’s 2004 book, Rising Up and Rising Down: Some Thoughts on Violence, Freedom and Urgent Means, and to boot, it was released on the 16th anniversary of the Rodney King riots in LA.  Socially serious and politically pissed off, The Roots are lashing out at a Bush-era administration that is doing nothing but destroy what little is left–turns out they’re not too far off.

Always count on ?uestlove for his mastery on percussion, but as he talks about the album, there have been some changes on this album from previous.  Changing some of the sounds included Kamal’s Fender Rhodes in search of new innovative sounds. Keyboards, synthesizer effects, and horns create some edgy music, something you would hear in a post-apocalyptic movie.  Also met with several guest appearances including Saigon, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Common, Malik B and Styles P, Rising Down continues the strong tradition of Alternative Hip-Hop that according to “The Show,” “must go on.”

Tracks making the cut–”Rising Down,” “Criminal,” “I Will Not Apologize,” “Get Busy,” “Lost Desire” and “The Show;” however the album on a whole is pretty amazing.  Even with a 3-piece set, ?uestlove manages to pull out a different set of sounds every time.  While lyrically this may not be the strongest Roots album, but it still gets the message across–The Roots are still phenomenal.

Rising Down on iTunes

The Roots Website

85 out of 100

John Mayer – Where the Light Is: Live From Los Angles

Even though this is a live CD set (and an optional DVD) containing old songs and covers, it really showcases Mayer’s body of work as well as some of his great influences.  Mayer breaks the concert down into three sets playing one acoustic, one blues set with the John Mayer Trio and one set with his live band.  Mayer provides some amazing guitar playing on this one to compliment a voice that comes across so smooth and mellifluous, showcasing his love for the blues.

The acoustic set kicks off the show, bringing the crowd together, lighters extended during a blues-inflected “Daughters” and a truly unequaled version of Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’.”  The Trio continue the next set, where Mayer starts off with an Elmore James cover of “Everyday I Have the Blues,” but he really heats up the guitar with his ten minute performance of “Out of My Mind,” where it looks like Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, and Jimi Hendrix all just join him on stage for a jam session.  If there’s one song off this record I could recomend for blues lovers, please be aware you have been instructed to listen to “Out of My Mind” immediately.  Another Hendrix tune can be found in Mayer’s classic cover of “Bold as Love.”

The show ends with Mayer’s rock band playing some of the usual album fare, “Waiting on the World to Change,” “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room,” and an ever soulful ten minute rendition of “Gravity.”  This album is not easy listening–and that’s a good thing.  If you’re a Mayer fan, this one is a must, but if you’re just into good music, this one’s not a bad idea either.  My only wish would have been to hear “Covered in Rain,” which he played only once (on Any Given Thursday), but alas, I’m afraid some rare gems have to stay that way.

Where the Light Is iTunes

89 out of 100

Ray LaMontagne – Gossip in the Grain

I recently discovered this guy while ruffling through some records at the Princeton Record Exchange (if you’re from around NJ, you need to hit that place up) and I gotta say that I was initially impressed by him.  Immediately, I grabbed a hold of his earlier stuff–full of folk rock allusive to a group like The Band with a voice concoction somewhere between Van Morrison and a raspy James Taylor.  This record takes a short departure from the earlier, dipping into a little of everything, but with a few exceptions, ends up being more of the same.

His first departure takes place on the lead-off track, “You Are the Best Thing,” trading in the folk for a little bit of a do-wop soul ballad.  “I Still Care For You” sounds like it could be a song off The Bends if Radiohead wrote a psychedelic folk track and “Meg White” feels like a slice of the early Velvet Underground.  Cue the banjo on “Hey Me, Hey Mama” adding a country twang of lightheartedness to the album and “Henry Nearly Killed Me (It’s a Shame)” finding a bluesy rhythm with a harmonica and voice on board.

Overall, the record has solid points of good folk while moving across the musical spectrum for some breaks in between, but the record too closely resembles those he’s already done.  I was waiting for some break out songs in the mix, but LaMontagne’s passion seems to be in folk, not tempted to stray too far off course.  Side note, for anyone who saw Letterman this past week, does he not resemble recently retired actor/aspiring rapper Joaquin Phoenix? If you haven’t seen, please take a minute and see for yourself here, because not only is it classic, but I can’t wait to review his new album that’s supposed to resemble the golden age of rap between ‘86 and ‘93.  Anyways…as for Ray, I dig it for when I’m trying to sleep, but for now, I want to hear something more catchy.

Gossip in the Grain on iTunes

Ray LaMontagne’s Website

62 out of 100

Weezer – Weezer(Red Album)

Weezer’s 6th studio album (and 3rd color) has a lot of what you would expect from the band singing about rebelling from the norm, feeling its nerd nostalgia, making jokes about anything that’s relevant, but this time, maybe Weezer doesn’t feel particularly upbeat about it.  Then again, when were they ever?  Rewind to “Undone – The Sweater Song” on the Blue Album–a sweater is destroyed when you hold the thread and I walk away, or just simply the song titled “The World Has Turned and Left Me Here…you get the point.

“Pork and Beans” takes its jabs at the music establishment, evidently written because they didn’t have enough pop material for the record.  Sometimes you get what you ask for even though its not for the better good.  “Troublemaker” let’s Rivers Cuomo have some fun with wordplay and rhymes, “The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn)” is played in 8-bar segments showcasing sounds from hip-hop to melodic drum marching, and “Heart Songs” is Cuomo’s opus for all of the artists that influenced him back in the day–”These are my heart songs/They never feel wrong.”

The second half of the album feels a little more downtrodden with slower numbers including “Cold Dark World” and the “The Angel and the One;” this subsequently happens to be my favorite part.  There are also several bonus tracks on here, including a cover of The Band’s “The Weight,” along with “Pig,” “King” and “The Spider.” On a whole, this is one of Weezer’s weaker attempts unfortunately, mostly because it felt rushed.  Weezer was the nerdy complaint rock band you yearned for in the 90’s, but now that most of the band are approaching their 40’s, it feels less likely they can give us what we ask for.  The Red Album plays some of the catchy tunes of their youth but later tracks are bringing out a maturing band; and I kind of like it.

Weezer on iTunes

Weezer’s Website

Weezer – The Weight (UK Bonus Track)

76 out of 100

Nas – Untitled

I remember sneaking Nas records into my house, hiding them from my mom when she didn’t want me listening to the cursing–a lesson I learned after my Wu-Tang Forever CD got snagged away.  I managed to sneak in It Was Written, a record I thought was amazing, and then I got a hold of Illmatic, which completely blew my mind.  Nas was New York’s ultimate lyricist, so good, he even battled and destroyed Jay-Z with “Ether.”  With Untitled, it’s more of the same mastery, this time wrapped up in protest and political strife–still armed to the teeth with verbal assaults, honoring NYC traditions and old fashion commitment to the street.  This album is less about his inner demons as he turns his lyrical scope outward looking at the current state of the Union–and after looking at the cover of the album, it’s clear Nas is gonna be heard.

Right off the line, Nas lets you know where you’re at–as he spits in “Breathe,” “In America you’ll never be free/Middle fingers up, fuck the police.”  In “Hero,” Nas makes it clear that he was definitely stiffed when it came to creative differences between him and the music industry; “This universal apartheid/I’m hog-tied, the corporate side,” elaborating, “Still in musical prison, in jail for the flow/Try telling Bob Dylan, Bruce, or Billy Joel/They can’t sing what’s in their soul/So Untitled it is.” On the track “America,” Nas makes sure that know only “snitches and suckers” believe in the American economy because in the end, it’s all bullshit.  “Sly Fox” warns us on what we’re watching because we’re being watched at the same time–i.e. “O’Reilly?/Oh Really?/No rally needed.”

The lyrical genius goes on and on, smothered in controversy, oozing with frustration–and full of truth.  Nas shows us the light at the end of the tunnel though, ending the record with “Black President,” starting out with that famous line from Tupac, “And though it seems heaven sent/We ain’t ready to have a black president,” a line which may have been true only a year ago.  On the album, there is also the bonus track, “Like Me” worth a listen.  Untitled is another crowning achievement for Nas, and like Illmatic, this record is another example of why Nas is still on hip-hop’s top tier.

Untitled on iTunes

93 out of 100

Congratulations to The Mars Volta for winning the Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance. The Grammy was given to the band for their single Wax Simulacra, off their last release The Bedlam in Goliath. This is the bands first ever Grammy!!!

Video of Grammy Presentation

This is very exciting news opening up the possibility for new revolutions in mainstream music.

The band is scheduled to release their next LP sometime early/mid this year. This will be the band’s last album to be released under Universal. The possibility of two albums this year isn’t out of the question either.

The Mars Volta was also confirmed as one of the bands performing this year at Bonnaroo.

In case you don’t already know, Thomas Pridgen is the drummer for The Mars Volta (replacing the seat of Blake Fleming, who filled Jon Theodore’s spot for only several months). This is one crazy brotha with some serious chops. Don’t believe me, check out his resume and videos on the web. How many people do you know that win drum offs before hitting the double digits in age? Even though Pridgen has only been with the band for a little over two years now, he has quickly won my vote favorite member in the band. With his amazing chops, and even more hilarious humor, you’ll soon learn to love the guy.

Just this past Saturday, Thomas Pridgen made a special guest appearance at Guitar Center’s Drum Off. Alongside Pridgen was Thomas Lang, yet another phenomenal drummer. Together the two made Thomas Squared, and from there an endless finale of wicked chops.

Thomas Squared Part 1
Thomas Squared Part 2

Here are two recent interviews of Thomas Pridgen:

The Greenhaus Effect Interview (towards the very bottom)
Laist Interview (with pictures)

El pasado viernes 7, mi novio Fidel y yo nos lanzamos al concierto de Mars Volta en el Vive Cuervo Salón. Yo estaba emocionada, que va… ¡Emocionadísima! Al irnos acercando a la entrada del lugar sentí que mi corazón retumbaba fuera de mi cuerpo y que la sangre en mis venas corría más rápido que lo habitual…

Pero – Oh Joy, Oh Rapture! – los problemas apenas comenzaron cuando me revisaron la bolsa. No me dejaron meter mi infalible cámara digital al evento y tenía demasiada desconfianza cómo para dejarla en paquetería, pero no tuve otra opción… (No hubo problema, al final pude recogerla sana y salva… Pero obviamente no logré tomar fotos de calidad D: )

Llegamos como media hora antes de que iniciara como según se había acordado: a las 9:00 PM… Encontramos un lugar relativamente bueno y cercano al escenario, podría decirse que estábamos a unas 4 filas de personas a distancia del mismo… Pero era casi imposible ver algo en él.

El evento se tardó por lo menos media hora más de lo esperado, en lo que unos técnicos probaban no sé que desmadres con el sonido, el cual al final resultó ser pésimo (al momento del soundcheck uno de los micrófonos ni siquiera se oía). Ya incluso antes de que empezara bien el desmadre, el público ya se estaba dando sus buenos empujones (lo que provocó que me engentara terriblemente y mis preciados Vans con diseñito cool acabaran todos sucios…)

Bien.

A pesar de estar a escasas 4 filas del escenario, mi visión era muy limitada… MUY LIMITADA. Ni si quiera vi cuando la banda entró, para emocionarme y gritar y brincar, lo último resultaba imposible gracias al muégano humano en el que nos habíamos convertido dentro de la multitud… Ya cuando empezó todo, nos empujaron todavía más hacia atrás, reduciendo nuestra visión más de lo que ya estaba y dejándonos sin respirar.

Dos gordos mariguanos todos excitados, intentando abrirse paso entre la multitud, casi nos caen encima.

Cool.

Yo fui con la idea de oír Elvia L’Viaquez en vivo (una de las mejores canciones que he escuchado en la maldita vida), la cual fue pedida por varios fans al grito de “¡ELVIA! ¡ELVIA!”, pero como el buen Cedric estaba de mamón esto no sucedió, y todo pasó así de “tocamos y nos vamos”. Ni un gracias México. Sólo me queda atribuir como razón de su seriedad al comportamiento del público.

A Cedric le CAGA que el público se esté empujando. Y por lo menos 80% del mismo, frente al escenario, se estaba propinando unos buenos putazos mutuos. Afortunadamente, a diferencia de un festival donde se presentaron alguna vez, Cedric se limitó a no a hablar en vez de emputarse con el público y dejar de cantar.

Regresando al asunto de “Mexicanos al grito de Elvia”, nunca sonó Elvia. Empezaron con una rolilla (cuyo nombre ignoro) que se oía mística al principio… Pero lentamente el asunto se fue degradando con el pésimo sonido, con el cual (a mi parecer) dejaba que la batería (a cargo de un eufórico Thomas Pridgen) opacara a la guitarra de Omar y la INCREÍBLE voz de Cedric.

La mayoría de las rolas que tocaron fueron del Bedlam in Goliath – un disco que no he escuchado con detenimiento, con una historia muy interesante por cierto – y que por consecuencia, no pude reconocer. Aunque se dieron el lujo de tocar Viscera Eyes, The Widow y Rapid Fire Tollbooth (una rola del disco solista de Omar: “Se dice bisonte, no búfalo”).

Con esa última rola hubo un pequeñísimo problema: lleva saxofón y NO se oía.

Para ese entonces nos pasamos a la parte trasera del recinto, donde pudimos respirar mejor, alejados de las masas. Pero aún así, era difícil captar algo en el escenario. Ignoro si el saxofonista se encontrara haciendo otras cosas o de plano el sonido estuviera tan del asco que no se oyera en el riff principal. Ya en el solo y en las improvisaciones (las cuales extendieron la rola de 4 minutos como a 7 y con LA MISMA tonada todo el tiempo), se oyó BIEN el saxofón.

Ah, no… Esperen.

No era Rapid Fire… ¡Era GOLIATH! Sí, patéticamente me acabo de dar cuenta. Cómo escuché el disco de Omar antes que nada me quedé con esa idea.

Aún así, creo que me gusta más en cierta forma como suena la primera versión… Por así decirlo.

Tal vez me tocó verlos en un mal momento (mi novio dice que en el Zero Fest estuvieron rifadísimos)… Pero al menos tocaron The Widow y eso me hizo muy feliz (lolque).

Fue bonito verlos relativamente de cerca, pero pudo haber estado mucho mejor (empezando por el lugar y el sonido). Cómo dato cultural, las playeritas oficiales no estaban tan cool cómo esperaba, y los puestos no-oficiales afuera del lugar estaban lo suficientemente abarrotados como para que no pasáramos a comprar… Y vi unas que me gustaron mucho *sniff*

Ojalá para la próxima que vengan, sea una mejor experiencia ._.

With my ears still ringing from last night’s Mars Volta concert at Hammerstein Ballroom, I can’t help but feel like I would be doing the people of Earth a major disservice by not spreading the gospel of drummer the band’s 24-year-old drummer, Thomas Pridgen. Pridgen plays the drums in a manner that is completely alien to me, with influences including Gene Krupa, Bonham’s ‘Moby Dick’ solo, the heartbeat of a hummingbird, the guitar stylings of Eddie Van Halen and the sounds that Chris Plog hears in his head.

Prior to reading up on Pridgen’s backstory, I assumed that he must have been discovered by The Mars Volta beating the shit out of an old set of drums in an alley somewhere in a scenario parallel to the Mighty Ducks’ discovery and subsequent recruitment of Fulton Reed. However, it turns out that those on the drumming scene have known about Pridgen for some time, as he began winning drum competitions and recording professionally at age 9, and received a full scholarship to the Berklee School of Music in Boston when he was just 15; dude is the Alex Rodriguez of drummers.

With The Mars Volta, Pridgen replaced Jon Theodore, a guy I would have previously named as a possible ‘best drummer ever’ prior to hearing Pridgen, and again, plays the drums like I’ve never heard them before. The band’s first single of the Pridgen era, ‘Wax Simulacra,’ (see video above) opens with a 15-second drum solo, announcing his arrival. ‘Wax Simulacra’ continues with the drums seemingly playing the lead throughout the song as the guitar generally would in a rock n’ roll song.

In concert, The Mars Volta make it known that they are completely aware of the weapon they have sitting on the drum riser. Playing a clear, tom-heavy kit, Pridgen is given license to go nuts, and he doesn’t disappoint, stealing the show despite the presence of the approximately 130 other musicians employed by the band and the man himself, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez.

One can’t help but wonder where a musician of Pridgen’s caliber goes from here. At 24, he has already established himself as a premier big-leaguer. I’m thinking that there are really only two options for Pridgen’s future. He either:

A) Begins inventing new numbers that man has yet to conceptualize in order to keep the time of the bizarre beats and time signatures that only his mind and body are capable of performing and is subsequently appointed king of Earth.

OR

B) He collapses into himself and disappears from which he came, bringing with him all of the matter in the universe and leaving behind nothing but a faint whistle of what has been.

It’s one or the other, folks, there is no middle ground here.

Cette album va devenir une référence musicale. Pour moi, ils viennent d’atteindre un seuil de complexité hyper élevé! Et c’est en grande partie grace au nouveau drummeur Thomas Pridgen, un protégé de Dennis Chambers. À première écoute j’étais impressionné par la performance énergique de Pridgen, ensuite j’ai appris qu’il jouait avec une pédale simple… C’est vraiment le pied le plus rapide et précis que j’ai entendu.

Petit fait cocasse, l’audition de Pridgen était devant une foule de 14000! Et il l’a su à la dernière seconde, avant que le rideau tombe!

[RLP, 2008]

Modern Drummer Announces Initial Line-Up Addition For Drum Festival Weekend 2008!

Modern Drummer is pleased to announce the addition of
Thomas Pridgen to the Modern Drummer 2008 Festival line-up.

Thomas Pridgen
The Mars Volta
Thomas Pridgen’s been winning drum-offs, endorsements, and scholarships since the second grade. And now he’s in the coolest, most advanced rock band of the age.

The Prodigal Son

At a Guitar Center in Oakland, CA, way back in 1993, Thomas Pridgen set ablaze a trail for what is now a legendary tale. At the age of nine, he won the coveted ‘Guitar Center Drum-Off Grand Champion’ title. The next year, he became the youngest Zildjian endorsee ever. At the age of 15, he was the youngest student to have received a 4-year scholarship to the Berklee School Of Music. Now 24, Thomas travels the world playing with The Mars Volta, a rock outfit whose influences, recordings and live shows are as much mystical as they are creative.

We caught up with Thomas while he was on the road with The Mars Volta in Norway, fifteen years after he told his grandma he was going to win Guitar Center’s Drum-Off, and did.

Guitar Center: You won Drum-Off when you were 9. What was that like?

Thomas Pridgen: I entered at the Oakland (California) store, before it was Cerritos, and it was my second year entering. I looked in Modern Drummer and they had the Pearl Master Series drum set and my Grandma said: “The Drum-Off is coming up and guess what the prize is?” I’m like, “What?” She’s like, “This nice-ass Pearl drum set.” I told my grandma from the gate, “I’m going to win that drum set.” You don’t understand how bad I wanted that drum set, bro… I just gave it my all, really, and I won. I was nine so it was like I was living a dream.

Do you think an opportunity like that helped elevate your career, and did it make you strive to get even better?

Oh, my God, I think so. I think every time I got a new snare drum, every time I entered a competition, every time I got some kind of scholarship to a jazz camp or Berklee, it super made me hungry. ‘Cause, you know, if you’re doing some good and you love doing it and you’re getting good results out of it, it makes you want to keep doing it. It was a positive thing because everything good was coming out of it. There weren’t any negatives. And even now there’s not really anything negative I get out of playing drums, other than like my hands hurting or missing my family for months, and stuff like that. Other than that, I got a dream job.

I was pretty much meant to play the drums, dude, so everything that happened when I was young, it was like God put it there. It was just in place in some weird way. When you tell people, it sounds like a far-fetched story, but it’s seriously something I live. I just love the drums. I was getting nurtured by my grandmother, she was always saying “You want to play? You want this snare drum? Well, if you do this, get good grades, I’ll get you the snare drum.” And I’d get the snare drum and now what am I doing? I’m playing the snare drum. You know? Kind of weird.

How does what you do on a day-to-day basis allow you to continue to get better, get more creative? How would you define that process?

I think I’ve been playing so long now, with me, I’ll be mad at somebody and play the drums, and you probably won’t know I’m mad, but I’ll play better that night ’cause I’m mad. My emotions characterize the way I play. And I copy everybody in the magazines, everybody who’s in videos, I copied something from all those guys. At the same time, I’ll change it up, you know. I’m a good mimic. I can look at Dennis Chambers and mimic his style. That’s from learning in church. I get better just by being around a lot of different environments. For a long time, when I was young, I was just emulating styles. I loved Will Kennedy, so I’d play left handed. That hella added to my style. I can play all kinds of music because I listen to all styles of music. And all the drummers that I love, they all play various styles of music.

When people hear me play different styles of music, they’re like, “Damn, he blends all kinds of styles” ‘Cause, yeah, I listen to hella Tony Williams. Then I got my own thing because I went to church. And I didn’t grow up like Tony Williams, so we’re going to be different.

I’m just a fan of musicians, period. I admire how Herbie Hancock just plays one chord – like he can sit and play one chord, and you’ll just cry, bro. I apply that to the drums. Sometimes less is more, so let me play one lick that’s going to make you feel it.

So, for you, understanding the dynamics of so many different kinds of music at a young age was important.

For sure.

How important is it for a drummer to know when to pull back, really explode or do nothing at all?

Super important. The Mars Volta is a nine-piece band, so if I’m playing all night, going crazy, nobody else is going to have a good time. We’re the support system, but at the same time, we’re like the heart of the music, too. We need to just pump. I had to learn how to control that at an early age, too. And when you’re young, you don’t understand that shit. You’re just like, “What? What are you talking about? I like what I play.” But it’s not about you all the time.

Tell me about your experience going to Berklee.

Berklee was crazy. It would be early in the day and I’m playing in jazz band, playing all these jazz standards that everybody knows, then at night time, I’m playing drum and bass at a club. I was playing so many kinds of styles of music, ’cause I was playing for everybody. I learned hella stuff from the students. But I was also learning about people.

How did you end up playing with The Mars Volta?

Juan, the bass player, found me through his bass teacher, who had seen me in Gospel Chops. He told Omar about me and we met up in Ohio at a show they were playing with Red Hot Chili Peppers. I came through backstage where everyone was just hanging out and there was a kit set up. Omar asked if I wanted to jump on, so I did, then we just started banging out a groove, for like 30 minutes. At the end he asked if I was ready. I was like “For what?” and he said, “To play tonight.” That was my first show with Mars Volta, a groove in front of 30,000 people.

No rehearsals other than that?

Nope.

And what’s it like now with the band?

Those guys are like family now, I can’t explain it. Drums are a catalyst for my happiness and now I’m in this band with dudes I love. I am living the dream. Like, if I didn’t get paid to do this, I would still do it.

Seems like your life experiences, including winning Drum-Off and Berklee, are totally paying off.

That’s super-true, man. It’s just like the other day I’m trying to beat the door down to get in the club. Now, they’re like, “Oh, come on in. You’re playing with The Mars Volta.” I’ve had people walk up to me and cry right in front of me. I’ll just be like, “Dude, I’m so normal. Bro, like, I feel you, brother.” The moment I met Tony Williams, when I was nine years old – shortly before he died, I was like, “I love your style man,” and almost broke down like kids break down in front of me. Everything is coming full circle.

For young people trying to live out their dreams by playing drums, what can you say to them?

Don’t ever stop. Don’t ever quit. If you got a dream, stick with it, ’cause it’s going to pay off. Be a dreamer.

You speak a lot about Tony Williams. What was it about him that inspired you?

I’ve learned different things about Tony Williams in stages. When I was younger, there were only a certain amount of people that I knew who could turn the snares off and do a tom and snare solo, like a mellow solo. It would leave you silent. Even when I watch him now, its like he’s living such a deep life through the drums without having to even play hella notes. He did it all. He played jazz and rock. That’s the thing that’s got me right now. He was a pioneer in so many ways.

With The Mars Volta, you’re able to apply all your influences in so many different ways.

Yes. Were all like that. Omar, he loves reggae and he loves Latin, then he’s got a punk influence in there. Everybody I’m around listens to all kind of stuff.

What was the studio experience like with The Mars Volta, how long did it take you guys to track the record?

We kind of do it in stages. It took about two weeks to do all the drums. It went fast. We did some songs where we all tracked together, and then we did other songs where it was just me and the bass player, me and Omar and the bass player, and then everybody else came in later. So the whole time I was recording, I didn’t know what Omar was doing. Like I’m used to being in sessions with people that work in a certain way. This dude worked backwards. Like he won’t tell you anything that’s going on. That’s what was so crazy about it. That’s why I was getting so depressed and frustrated, it was really wearing down on me like crazy. He works totally different. Like he knows what he’s trying to do in his head without telling you. He won’t tell you. I honestly didn’t know most of the stuff that was going on until I heard the record, and then we re-learned the record.

Even dating back to their “At the Drive-In” days and seeing “De Facto,” their dub band, you can understand that those dudes understand music on a whole other level. It’s almost unexplainable.

I think doing it the way Omar does it is way more fun, also. ‘Cause it’s like you’re on a roller coaster. You never know what’s going to really happen. It’s like, all right, bust it. Let’s go. I’ve learned to really be like that, just whatever… let’s do it. He actually told me that that’s the reason that he even hired me since the first day when he met me, he was like, “We’re going to play this song tonight in front of all these people,” and I was like, “All right!” I was down.

Interview: Kyle Rogers
Photos: Hadas

Thomas Pridgen

In that I’m a drummer and love drumming more than anything. Well not anything, my family is more important, but right up there is drumming. One of my favorite drummers is Thomas Pridgen. For as young as he is and what he can do with a pair of sticks and a standard drum set is amazing. When you watch him he really makes it look so easy. His rhythm is clock work and he really brings in his own style to what he plays. I honestly could watch him over and over again because every time I watch him I learn something new. IT as if he was put on the earth to play drums and do it better than anyone else.

It isn’t that his style is so unique it is the fluidness he has as he transitions form one rythem to the next or how his fills are effortless. He also mixes up the beats with some amazing foot work that compares to other favorites like Carter Beauford drummer for the Dave Matthews band.  If you like great instructional videos Carter has one called (Under The Table & Drumming) it is great and really helped me with some stick technique.

Force of Nature: Thomas Pridgen Gets Hella Busy With The Mars Volta
by Andrew Lentz

Aside from the castle where Phil Spector dwells, Los Angeles’ Alhambra Neighborhood is an uneven mix of middle-and-working-class bungalows nestled in hills hemmed in by the I-10, 710, 605, and 210 freeways. It’s the kind of landscape where rehearsal spaces disappear into a scattering of warehouse and railroad tracks, liquor stores, and carnicerias. Sitting in a small cover wedged between the studio and an auto body shop, Thomas Pridgen is discussing his new job as the drummer for The Mars Volta.

The wiry 24-year-old repeatedly halts our conversation to eye the LAPD patrol car that cruises back and forth. His expression is a mix of uncertainty and concern. A young black man with dreads tends to stand out in heavily Latino East Los Angeles, but that can’t be the full story.

Then, From the open window of the mixing consul–where members of The Mars entourage discuss business–wafts the unmistakable scent of Humbolt County, and it all makes sense: Homeboy’s just a little ‘noided out courtesy of some premimum-grade sherm.

RHYTHMIC ADD. A reputation as a wunderkind — coupled with a pair of wicked YouTube videos — is all it takes to land an aspiring drummer a plum audition. Unfortunately, it has been sadi that Pridgen has auditioned himself right out of potential gigs because his super-busy style was more a distraction than an anchor. Turn’s out that’s exactly the skill set The Mars volta was looking for. “I the TMV has a gang of groove in it — it’s just not the groove everybody’s used to,” he explains. “Omar, he’s like, ‘You know man, that’s cool but we’re heard that before, let’s come up with something new.’ There’s a lot of changeups. Most of those grooves are, in their own way, solos. Some of those grooves are so hard it make you feel like the whole thing is like a lick. So it’s really that we’re experimenting more than not trying to play a groove.”

For Pridgen, the challenge of joining TMV went beyond playing the drums. Drama has dogged the outfit since the days of At The Drive In, Rodriguez-Lopez and singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala’s previous band, which the two dissolved at its peak of popularity and whose signature post-punk sound was traded for the progged-out, conceptual jams of TMV — a double whammy that threw fans for a loop. Top it off with the mercurial temperament of Lopez/Zavala, the overdose of keyboardist/programmer Jeremy Ward (whose subsequently discovered diary would form the basis of Mars’ sophomore album, Frances The Mute), and the erratic behavior and infighting among members, the band has a mystique — or baggage depending on your point of view — that can supersede music.

“When I first got into the band I didn’t know how many people was going to be all, like, trippin’ about John [Theodore],” says Pridgen of the ex-Mars drummer, who left the band over “creative differences” in late 2006. “I didn’t know all the internet buzz, I didn’t know I can’t walk down the street with my girlfriend without people taking pictures and putting it on website, so I didn’t trip off none of that until after the tour,” he says of the days just before entering the studio to record The Bedlam In Goliath, an undertaking that would test his mettle.

“At first, Omar was, ‘Do what you want.’ But then he was, ‘I like this, I like that…this I don’t know about.’” Fortunately, Pridgen wasn’t so cocky he wouldn’t take advice. He knew The Volta’s reputation for pushing its members to the limit, so resilience on his part — creatively and pyschologically — was a must if he was going to survive in the band. “I was figuring everything out because I was doing a new thing, I’m playing hella notes, I’m playing long songs — it was an adjustment, you know?

When we started recording the album I was getting stressed out. That was the main thing for me, and Omar would be like, ‘Well, we should do it like this,’ and sometimes it was hard for me to understand what he was talking about, I was so used to listening to the demos. But for this first album I just learned to trust Omar’s thought patterns. His mind doesn’t work like a lot of other people’s.”

BACK IN THE BAY. Like the churches in many African-American communities, the Mount Zion Baptist Church in Berkeley, California was more than just a gathering place on Sunday morning. It was the crucible that forged Pridgen’s musical obsession as a child. He would spend all day in the pews, along with all the other kids, waiting to get a crack at the church’s lone drum set. But Pridgen was unable to simply turn off the percussive energy whether he was at home, school, or at the mall. “Drumming’s all I was thinking about — I would break hella stuff — you know at Nordstrom’s those things they have in the shoe? I would be playing those, I was so drummed out.”

Instead of driving his family to distraction, Pridgen benefited from a grandmother who cultivated his musical sensibilities. A single snare drum led to a Toys ‘R’ Us kit that lasted three days before getting pummeled to pieces. Next came a special-order Remo Junior kit, but it wasn’t long before he outgrew that as well. “She encouraged me because she played piano and she actually quit. She played, but she didn’t go as far as she could. She got a day job and did other stuff. But she was like, ‘Well, I’ll buy him a new snare and if he quits, it’ll be on him.’ So she nursed it to the point where it made me want to do it.”

A steady diet of music magazines also fueled his ambition. In 1992, he entered a Guitar Center drum-off after reading that first prize was a Pearl Export kit. “I just saw the kit and I’m about winning it. The whole time my grandma was like, ‘You might not win,’ and the whole time I’m telling her, ‘I’m gonna win.’”

Despite being only nine years old, Pridgen was uncommonly methodical in his preparation. He credits Curtis Nutall, a respected San Francisco Bay Area R&B session player, with helping him structure his athletic playing style, teaching him how to read sheet music, and developing his vocabulary. “By the time the Guitar Center thing came up and it was time to go to the finals, he was showing me how to start a solo, basically, you know, making it be like a song, trying to make it make sense, coming up with an intro, the ideas of how you want to play it, how to end it, little stuff to make it a drum solo.”

Despite the presence of older, more seasoned competitors milling about on the day of the contest, Pridgen stayed focused on his own performance to the point that he was able to tune them out. When his time slot came up, he entered something like a fugue state shortly after sitting down on the throne. “After I played my solo and everybody was done and stuff, they called my name and I was like, ‘Yeeeah!’ Took the drum set home, I swear I set it up that night.”

Things quickly began to snowball, or as Pridgen says: “God had his hands on me.” Not a week after he won the drum off, he got a gig at famed Emeryville, California supper club Kimball’s East at just about the same time former P-Funk Allstar and drumming icon Dennis Chambers was doing a week-long residency there with Graffiti. Almost immediately, the two clicked and Chambers had the star-struck young Pridgen sitting in on drums every night for a brief pre-show solo. That Pridgen had not even heard of Graffiti much less knew the band’s drum parts made not a like of difference to Chambers. “It was crazy because Dennis was my idol –Serious Moves was out, In The Pocket was out. If you was from the church and you was a black drummer, you had those videos.”

SCHOOL DAZE. In the years that followed, Pridgen watched, read, learned, and absorbed all things drums, whether it was horsing around at Stanford Band Camp in nearby Palo Alto or honing his chops in the East Bay’s Berkeley High School Band — one of the best high school bands in the country. After an impromptu performance at the Monterrey Jazz Festival –where he was unaware that talent scouts were watching him — Pridgen emerged with a scholarship to Berklee College Of Music, a place he dreamed of attending after learning that many of his idols had gone there. At age 14, he was the youngest student to ever receive a full ride.

Everything came so easily to Pridgen at this stage in his career it’s no wonder he didn’t start to coast a little bit. But in fact, he did the opposite. Badass drummers are a dime a dozen at Berklee. As member of an elite group, there is an ostensible camaradarie, but insecurity and competitiveness are never far beneath the surface. “I’d play something and the next week they were trying to play that exact thing,” he says of the other students. “For me, it made me develop quicker because I was like, “They’re trying to steal my stuff, so I’m gonna play this lick now, and switch it up on them.”

In New England, Pridgen was like a fish out of water in other ways, too. “I went there in January and I had these kinda shoes,” he says, pointing to his beat-up skater kicks. But the sub-zero temperatures of Boston in winter turned out to be a good thing since it forced him to stay in his drumming cubicle, where it was warm, and practice nonstop. Though the school’s tense atmosphere forced him to keep his guard up, he nevertheless made a few friends — like Phil from Nashville. “He was this little white kid and if you saw him you wouldn’t even think he could play at all. But me and him, we was like shedding partners –he was killer, he just had it.”

Berkelee also exposed students to the importance of muscial context, geographical and otherwise. Pridgen already had a sense of this from his years kickiing it with Walfredo Reyes and other players, watching their moves, soaking up their road-hardened wisdom. But it was Francisco Mela, his private instructor, who opened up his ears and mind into the ways a style becomes bastardized. “He was the man, dude. He taught me all the Cuban styles. He goes, ‘Yeah, you play the Latiin stuff but it’s old-school. We play it like this.’ I’m talking about what they’re playing in Cuba right now. It’s like reggae in Jamaica,” he says, drawing a parallel. “We don’t live there, we just know what we think they’re doing. But he was playing some funky other stuff where people were like, ‘What is that?’ I don’t even know what to call it. If I’m playing Latin, I want to be able to sound like Horacio ["El Negro" Hernandez] or guys like Ignacio [Berroa]. So for me to play that, I’m’ going to be at home trying to shed salsa for a month just trying to cop that style.”

HEY, LADIES! Recently graduated and scarcely out of his teens, Pridgen was getting tapped for more than just time-keeping duties. About four years ago, when fellow Bay Area native Keyshia Cole was puttting her band together, she asked Pridgen to be her music director. By this time, he had many musician friends and acquiantances upon who he could call to join the fast-rising R&B diva’s cause. “I had to make sure all the arrangements was slappin’, I had to make sure the Pro Tools was goin’ off. I had to make sure it was poppin’. That’s difficult handling all that and playing and being young. And you’re on a gig with a girl that has nothing but girls coming to the concert. There’s no dudes like, ‘Oh, Keyshia Cole — I’m buying a ticket!’ Naw, it’s a straight girls,” he says, before bursting out into a grin. “And I’m young and I wanna see girls.”

It was also around this time he began creating hip-hop beats under the handle of Burnerbeats in styles ranging from gangsta to the Bay Area’s signature hyphy. “My friends from the hood, they all rapped and they were like, ‘Hey, where’s that beat?’ Playing in the church, a lot of people don’t realize it but there’s an Akai MPC and because I was playing there I already had one. It’s like a whole percussion setup, so having it there already, I’d just make a beat,” he says. “I’m still hella into making them; I just don’t have as much time.”

STAYING SINGLE. The most important myth to debunk about Thomas is that he uses a double pedal on his bass drum. With footwork as frenetic as his, it’s an easy mistake to make. “I was gonna use two bass drums on The Mars Volta but Omar was like, ‘Don’t do it.’ I’m like, ‘Why not?’ And he’s like, ‘Because they’re not gonna believe it’s a single pedal.’ I’m so into mimicking stuff: like mimicking drum ‘n’ bass, mimicking double pedal with a single pedal. For the longest time I was trying to play thirty-second-notes. It hella built up my ankle muscle.”

Interestingly, it was the lessons with Dave Gardibaldi that improved not only Pridgen’t sense of color and timing, but also the way he physically related to the drums. “Now I got good technique and I’m glad I learned it early because I don’t be getting hella calluses and breaking up my body.” But rather than speed or strength, what he strives for these days, prosaic as it sounds, is symmetry. “I’m still trying to make my left hand as far as my right hand. As a drummer I think that’s the one thing you’ll never do.”

Like many young drummers, Pridgen was weaned on instructional videos. Now that he finds himself increasingly on the other side of the camera, he feels compelled to make a drumming DVD of his own, but he won’t be seating technique. “I want to do a video that has all kind of subcultures in it, like skateboarding. I don’t want to see you play a paradiddle for 45 minutes and tell me every variation on it. I want to see you play, but like, show me how you are,” he says. “Vinnie [Colaiuta], I swear, I went to a clinic with him and he didn’t play drums one time. He just talked about how he got saved, and how he loves God, about albums and what he played on, and what he was thinking and, dude, like, that to me was one of the sickest clinics ever.”

THE TRAP(PINGS) OF SUCCESS. When Pridgen became a Zildjian endorser at age ten, he was the youngest in the company’s history. What’s refreshing for a young star of his ilk is that he doesn’t get all caught up in the hype. Instead, he looks at endorsement companies as friends and family, people he can go have dinner or just hang with. He even has a handshake deal with Vater, who gives him sticks all day, and he returns the favor by plugging them and his other endorsements in album credits. “I’m not hella disloyal changing companies all the time. It’s like, I don’t see the point: at the end of the day, they’re drums. I don’t really want no signature nothing like that — it’s doesn’t get to me. I just want to tour and play more than I want to be thinking about what kind of snare drum I play.”

This level-headedness has much to do with Pridgen’s upbringing, No matter how high profile his gigs become, his strongest bond remains the one he forged in church those many years ago. “I’ve noticed a lot of kids who don’t live in the hood, who don’t go to church who don’t have nothin’ to do with our style of thinking or playing, are like, emulating stuff that they see that we do. I”m like, ‘That’s something I would see two years ago in church.’ It makes us laugh, but then we think we need to take it to a whole other level. We can’t do the same stuff that everybody’s doing now. So we go home re-evaluating ourselves. That’s why a lot of people be like, ‘Does your style change?’ I’ll be like, “Hell, yeah!’ I don’t want to be that drummer where you go to a concert and know exactly what he’s going to play.”

Pridgen says he is satisfied with the work he did on Bedlam but that while he’s on the road with Mars, fans can expect the unexpected. “Let’s go smash it because that’s important, dude. It’s important for the album, it’s important for us. We all enjoy it, going out and playing together — that’s therapeutic. I take it way deeper than a lot of people think. I’ve never had a day job–I’m never gonna get one. I’ll be playing every show like it’s my last,” he says. “Because to me, this is all I got.”

For those new to The Mars Volta, they were formed after the demise of At the Drive-In by members Cedric Bixler-Zavala (vocals) and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez (guitar). The remaining members went on to form Sparta. The Bedlam in Goliath is The Mars Volta’s 4th album in 5 years (not including their debut, the EP Tremulant). While the band gets credit for being so incredibly prolific, this album, as well 2006’s Amputechture, sounds unfinished and rushed.

The loss of drummer Jon Theodore, probably one of the best living drummers, is what really kills The Bedlam in Goliath. It feels like new drummer Thomas Pridgen was too anxious to show off his talent behind the kit. He overpowers most of the songs, especially on the album’s 2nd half, by constantly and choatically hitting every drum in his kit for fast, punk like rhythms that in many cases don’t fit well with the song. There is no middle-ground for Pridgen, he’s either not drumming at all, or bombarding you with the double bass and an onslaught of random cymbal crashes. And to add insult to injury, the production on the album is again lacking, making it, at times, incredibly difficult to listen to any individual parts. Moments of many songs come across as pure chaos, and on certain tracks it almost doesn’t seem like any of the band is paying attention to one another.

The album has its moments, and The Mars Volta have always had a very unique sound and are still great songwriters. However, some of their originality is lacking, and there is no stand-out track. One redeeming quality is that, unlike past albums, Goliath features a few 3 minute, At the Drive In-esque songs, a nice contrast to the typical 8-15 minute Mars Volta opus we’re used to.

If you’re new to The Mars Volta, listen to De-Loused in the Comatorium or Frances the Mute first.

6.5/10

The Curse of The Mars Volta

By Andy Tennille

It began as it always does, with an innocuous mid-morning knock at the front door. The FedEx man handed me my package and had me sign on the line. Wandering into my office I tore open the envelope, removed a single white CD sleeve, and placed the disc in the player. The piercing, banshee screams of Cedric Bixler-Zavala burst forth—the opening to “Aberinkula,” the lead track on the Mars Volta’s new album, The Bedlam in Goliath—and I settled in for my initial listening session.

The next day, I fell violently ill—gut-wrenching, toilet-hugging, sweat-inducing sick. After three bedridden days with little to eat, doctors put me on Cipro, the antibiotic prescribed to government employees during the 2003 anthrax scare. No one could tell me exactly what was wrong.

As I recalled these eerie events to Omar Rodriguez-Lopez in Los Angeles a few weeks later, the quiet, diminutive musical mastermind behind the Mars Volta became noticeably uncomfortable. Tense even.

“Here we go again,” he says, an exasperated look creasing his face. “I thought we’d ended it but I guess we were wrong.”

“Maybe the curse is still alive.”

*****

“At the time, it just seemed like a nice gift for Cedric.”

Rodriguez-Lopez slowly shakes his head in bemused disbelief. In May 2006, as he was wrapping up the final mix of the Mars Volta’s third studio album, Amputechture, the 31-year-old guitarist got a sudden urge to travel to Israel, a country he’d never visited.

“It felt like something was calling me to Israel, and that I had to go there to discover it,” he explains in a hushed voice. “I don’t know how else to explain it. In my head, I was thinking it was something about music, something I needed to hear. So I booked a plane ticket and left the next day.”

For ten days, Rodriguez-Lopez toured Israel, traveling to the purported birthplace of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem and visiting various religious sites and historical landmarks. On an afternoon walk around Jerusalem he found the local bazaar, a flea market of sorts on the city’s edge. A self-proclaimed pack rat who collects antique typewriters, old televisions, vinyl records and random keys, Rodriguez-Lopez wandered through the maze of tents and makeshift stands before ending up in a curio shop.

“It was like something out of fucking Indiana Jones,” he recalls. “There were all sorts of strange things in there—I remember there was a candlestick with talons at the bottom. But it all seemed harmless to me, like an antique store. I bought a bunch of religious icons and ended up with two suitcases full of stuff. The board was just one of the things I found. I bought it for Cedric because I thought he would really appreciate it. But I never thought we would actually use it.”

The board: Rodriguez-Lopez’s gift for Bixler-Zavala, his band mate and long-time musical collaborator dating back to their days in At the Drive-In, was in fact a talking board, an archaic version of today’s Ouija board. Used by occultists for thousands of years to summon and communicate with spirits, talking boards are said to date back to 500 B.C. when Greek philosopher, mathematician and mystic Pythagoras allegedly used them in seances.

Still wondering if he’d fulfilled his calling in Israel, Rodriguez-Lopez returned to his Brooklyn studio to finish mastering Amputechture before hitting the road for a three-month North American tour opening for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. As the tour snaked through the United States, the band often retreated to its bus after the shows to play with the talking board.

“It’s what consumed our nights on that tour, really,” Bixler-Zavala says. “You’re out on tour in the middle of America in these big arenas opening for a big band, and sometimes there’s not a lot to do in Idaho. So you retreat back to your safety zone—the bus. The satellite wasn’t working on the bus and we were smoking a little pot after the shows, so why not? We were curious, and I think our natural inquisitiveness led us to it.”

According to Bixler-Zavala, the first sessions with the Soothsayer—the name the band gave the board—unearthed seemingly nonsensical words and phrases.

“The first ones were funny, and we just laughed,” he says. “They didn’t make any sense. Or maybe that’s how it’s supposed to work; the words aren’t as obvious to you at first. Just because it’s a strange word doesn’t mean you should overlook it, but that’s just what happened, session after session of us doing it.”

As the sessions continued, words and phrases became clearer—Tourniquet Man, Patience Worth, Appetite. Ultimately, a name emerged: Goliath.

“The more we would use it, the more you could tell it had multiple personalities,” Bixler-Zavala says. “It was usually a guy or a woman, and the woman always broke off into two personalities—a motherly voice, and what seemed to be a child’s voice. Then we found some poetry underneath the board’s label that appeared to be Aramaic or ancient Hebrew. What we got from the messages the board was sending and the poem that was attached to it was that there was some kind of love triangle between the man, the woman and her mother that ultimately ended in a murder.”

With an album on the horizon, Bixler-Zavala did what anyone with a new fascination might do—he drew inspiration from it.

“It gave us the best one-liners, the best names, better than I could ever think of. It was automatic writing in a strange way and just seemed obvious that it should be subject matter for the new album,” he explains. “I liked the idea of putting old, traditional words with modern music. That’s when I made the mistake of copying the poem down along with my favorite words and sayings from the board.”

For whatever reason, Bixler-Zavala’s decision to transcribe the board’s words and use them for lyrical ideas was the tipping point. Suddenly, equipment on tour that had never given them problems before was on the fritz. Only months after replacing former drummer Jon Theodore, Blake Fleming left the band mid-tour. Bixler-Zavala inexplicably injured his foot severely, and the band’s bassist was diagnosed with polycythemia vera, a rare blood disorder. Not only had the band hit a streak of terrible luck, but the board’s messages had become more urgent and ominous.

“It started sending messages about wanting a new body,” Bixler-Zavala remembers. “It seemed to want another chance to live. Every time we played with it, it was a little more threatening with the way it was saying it. It got more demanding each time, asking us for offerings and wanting to trade places.”

Tragedies have plagued the Mars Volta since the band’s birth in 2001. De-Loused in the Comatorium, their 2003 long-playing debut, was an elegy for Julio Venegas, an artist and close friend who committed suicide in 1996; 2005’s Frances the Mute was inspired in part by former bandmate Jeremy Ward, whose fatal overdose in May 2003 served as the impetus for Bixler-Zavala and Rodriguez-Lopez to stop using heroin. One might begin to wonder if the spirits summoned through the talking board were, in fact, the voices of their deceased friends. But Rodriguez-Lopez believes it’s even more complex and sinister than that.

“When we got deeper into it, the board started saying that it had brought me all the way across the world and had been trying to bring me there for a long time,” Rodriguez-Lopez whispers, clearly uncomfortable about talking in too much detail about the events that transpired. “My interpretation, and I think Cedric had the same interpretation, was that it was saying that it had taken people from us because it has been trying to get to us. So, Julio, Jeremy and other people around us that have died, and all these bad things that happened to our band when we had the board, this thing, Goliath or whatever you want to call it, was taking credit for.”

After the Chili Peppers tour and two brief trips to Japan and Australia, the band began work on the new record. But the problems from the road resurfaced in the studio. Tracks that had been recorded were suddenly missing. Reliable studio gear abruptly broke. Random power outages occurred, and Rodriguez-Lopez’s Brooklyn studio flooded. Matters worsened when Jon DeBaun, the band’s engineer since 2004, suffered a nervous breakdown and abandoned the project. With everything and everyone crumbling around him, Rodriguez-Lopez considered scrapping the album entirely and starting from scratch. For a musician whose boundless energy resulted in four solo albums and a film soundtrack, plus Amputechture, in a single year while living in Amsterdam, the metamorphosis was terrifying.

“There was literally a point where I was telling myself that I didn’t know if I ever wanted to make another record again,” he says. “It was complete chaos, and that’s what I had to dive into in order to pull the record out, like something on the other side not wanting it to be made. It was a very, very fucked up and dark period. It was no longer a matter of superstition or believing in the curse or not—this was our reality. I felt like, if we stopped doing the record, I’d be trapped. I was a prisoner. The only way to not be trapped or to not go crazy was to finish it. Finishing the album was the elixir.”

With renewed determination, Rodriguez-Lopez called in Amputechture engineers Robert Carranza and Rich Costey to untangle the mess left by DeBaun’s departure. But problems persisted.

“There was one night that Rich and I were in the studio playing back a mix that we’d been working on for a day and a half when a guitar solo all the sudden stopped,” Rodriguez-Lopez says, inching forward in his seat. “It’s a section of a song that we’d heard over and over, and this guitar solo comes in at the beginning of the verse and plays all the way through. All of a sudden, the guitar solo stops. The music is going, but the guitar solo goes away as if someone pressed the mute button on the board. So we rewind the tape and the solo is missing completely. Just gone.”

“It got to a point after his studio flooded and Jon left that Omar didn’t want anybody to speak of the board, its name or anything having to do with it,” Bixler-Zavala says. “Things were going so wrong with everything that it didn’t seem like finishing the record was going to be possible. We realized that the only thing we could do aside from bringing in a priest was to bury it.”

Without revealing his destination, Rodriguez-Lopez booked a plane ticket, took the board and left.

“It was sort of like sleepwalking,” he says. “It was like something bigger than me was telling me to do it. I just felt drawn there somehow, just like when I went to Israel. I’d never heard of this place, but that’s where I was going. I got there, went out and buried it and didn’t make any conscious effort of figuring out how to get back there ever again. When it was done, I felt like there was nothing inside of me. I cried for days and days and didn’t understand why. For days afterwards, I wasn’t sure I wanted to play music. I wasn’t sure I wanted to do anything or have anyone around me. It was complete emptiness.”

*****

“I imagine it’s like it was on Ghostbusters. They threw out that box on the floor and it opened up and sucked the ghost in. For us, the box is every copy of the album that will be reproduced and anyone who buys it will get to be Egon. Hopefully, we can all trap this thing.”

Bixler-Zavala and Rodriguez-Lopez share a laugh about seeing the 1984 sci-fi-comedy classic in their native El Paso. If we are all ghost-busting parapsychologists for The Bedlam in Goliath, Bixler-Zavala is the charming Peter Venkman to the introverted genius of Rodriguez-Lopez’s Egon Spengler. With piercing blueish-grey eyes shrouded by a thick mane of jet-black hair, Bixler-Zavala is the quintessential frontman, captivating audiences with his melismatic, androgynous voice while seducing them with his reckless machismo.

Rodriguez-Lopez is almost his polar opposite. A self-confessed control freak with an obsessive streak, the guitarist eats the same things every day and wears the exact same clothes—black suit, black shirt and black shoes. A crack and heroin addict since he was a teenager, Rodriguez-Lopez quit using drugs in 2003 following Ward’s fatal overdose. Music has been his addiction ever since.

“I don’t have a life,” he says matter-of-factly. “People that I’ve been in relationships with have either seen it as a sickness or as something healthy for me because I’m not smoking rocks all day. I have to channel that energy somewhere and music seems like the safest place to me.”

Rodriguez-Lopez’s energy and creativity are the fuels that power the Mars Volta’s music. While both he and Bixler-Zavala are quick to establish that the band has always been an equal partnership, the genesis of the music is clear.

“Generally, I have a cataloge of somewhere around 200 songs—demos I’ve recorded in my studio over the years,” Rodriguez-Lopez explains. “When we’re ready to start work on a new album, I pick a few out and Cedric listens to them and says which ones are of particular interest to him. We take those songs, and then I just work on them for a month or so and put them into a shape where Cedric can start writing to them.”

“A lot of the time—and we started to do this with Frances—I’ll come in, listen to the songs and then do some gibberish takes, which gives Omar an idea of what he likes,” Bixler-Zavala adds. “Maybe he likes some of the gibberish stuff that comes off the top of my head or maybe he likes the mistakes in what I was doing. From there, he’ll ask me to keep certain parts or ask me to just keep it sounding a certain way. Then I’ll start writing lyrics.”

Once Rodriguez-Lopez feels comfortable with a song’s framework, he brings in the rest of the band to record. In most traditional recording scenarios, musicians are given their parts ahead of time and know the basic song structure, but Rodriguez-Lopez gives his band mates absolutely nothing.

“What I really like doing is not letting them learn anything until they’re in the studio, because it gives this spontaneity and nervous energy to the music,” he says. “We have all these masterful musicians in this band. Masterful musicians are usually very confident – you give them anything and they can do it. But when their mikes are up and you give them something they’ve never played before and tell them to play it, there’s this crazy energy that comes out of it that I am just totally fascinated with. It causes this chaos that goes into the music that is very much to me a part of the sound.”

The approach is similar to filmmakers like Woody Allen’s process, filming out of sequence and asking actors to shoot a scene without prior knowledge of its premise. A filmmaker himself, Rodriguez-Lopez’s love of cinema—particularly the work of Werner Herzog, Alejandro Jodorowsky and David Lynch—is a huge influence on the way in which he creates music, but the real impetus behind his approach dates back five years to the recording of De-Loused in the Comatorium, produced by Rick Rubin.

“After spending three months in a house recording De-Loused, I knew we needed a change,” he says. “We made records for 10 years where you’d rehearse, everybody knew what they were doing and you go in and do it. With Rick, he was great, I learned a lot from him, but everything was under control. We had all the equipment we could ever want. If something even remotely started to seem like it was breaking, a new one came in. Everything was laid out there and everything was safe. Rick’s philosophy was very much, ‘The studio was not a place to experiment.’ You get what you do in the rehearsal room, you experiment there, and then you articulate it in the studio.

“But after doing that, I wanted to throw a wrench in the system. We were comfortable making records like that, so I wanted to create chaos. I wanted to record completely backward and out of order, do anything differently than the way we did it before.”

The result was Frances the Mute, the first album in which Rodriguez-Lopez directed all aspects of production.

“When we did Frances, it was a complete rebellion against De-Loused,” he says. “The idea was to go into a place where nobody would want to make a record: ‘Let’s go into a complete fucking shithole and let’s limit the gear.’ We went from having four engineers, runners with SUVs to get anything you need, Starbucks, whatever, to being in fucking East LA, it’s hot as shit, the air conditioner is broken and there are gangsters right outside our door. It was back to the basics, but it was great. There was nothing to distract us from the album and absolutely no glamour whatsoever.”

It’s that vitality, coupled with the thrill of putting himself and the band in uncomfortable situations, that’s compelling to Rodriguez-Lopez as an artist. In his mind, every studio experience should be different to insure that nothing becomes formulaic.

“We just never want to lose that freshness and that energy that a lot of people lose once they have bigger budgets to make a record,” he offers. “Once you have more money, you need to have more time; once you have more time, then you think about things more; and the more you think about things, the more you take energy away from your subconscious and block it from doing the talking. We want to achieve a balance of both what our subconscious is thinking, which is usually smarter than us, and what our conscious mind wants to express.”

With the talking board serving as its dark muse, The Bedlam in Goliath sounds like the music of a band in the crux of the crucible with its back against the wall, playing with a dire urgency to save the remaining shreds of its collective sanity. Lyrically, Bixler-Zavala may be at his best on Goliath, interlacing the dark imagery of the Soothsayer with positive elements including Santeria prayers, Biblical allusions and fables. There are also cinematic references, including the 1973 prison movie Papillon starring Dustin Hoffman and Steve McQueen.

“There’s a point in the movie where Steve McQueen does solitary confinement for a very long time and I started thinking about what it might be like in solitary confinement, what things you might see,” the singer says. “That played a big part in some of the themes I used for the lyrics because it wasn’t that far off from what the album ended up being about.”

Sonically, the record is an aural maelstrom, building on the explosiveness of the band’s past work while incorporating processed vocals, swirling loops, cacophonous horns, street recordings from Jerusalem and the guitar work of John Frusciante. As he has on every record since the Tremulant EP in 2002, the Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist lent his talents to Goliath, enabling Rodriguez-Lopez to remain behind the board and concentrate more closely as a producer.

“John’s our secret weapon,” Rodriguez-Lopez says. “He’s always willing to allow me to utilize him in whatever way we want. On this record, he learned and memorized, down to the nuances and the odd way of picking, certain solos that I did, and turned them into parts. He would learn an entire solo in like 40 minutes and then double it, perfectly. That’s a sound you can’t get by just stereo-imaging a solo; it’s a different hand playing the guitar. So on the record, generally when you hear a guitar solo on the left, it’s me. On the right, the same exact solo is being played, but it’s John.”

If there is one noticeable difference between past albums and Goliath, it’s the primal ferocity brought by new drummer Thomas Pridgen. As a child prodigy, Pridgen won the Guitar Center Drum Off at nine before receiving a four-year scholarship to the Berklee College of Music at the age of 15. In October 2006, shortly after drummer Blake Fleming left the group, Rodriguez-Lopez called Pridgen on the recommendation of Volta bassist Juan Alderete.

“I called Thomas and told him to come down to our show on Halloween and just hang out and watch us,” Rodriguez-Lopez says, a mischievous grin creeping across his face. “He showed up, we had an hour until we played and I said, ‘Come over here.’ We had a drum set in the room and I beatboxed a beat to him and said, ‘Remember that. That’s the main rhythm we’re going to play onstage in a few minutes.’ He was totally up for it and learned it right away. Thomas is the youngest person in the band, but musically, he’s definitely the most talented. He has a young, vital energy like every day could be the last day of his life. ‘Play in front of 10,000 people opening for the Chili Peppers in 20 minutes? Sure, let’s do it.’”

“He’s our new fountain of youth,” Bixler-Zavala chimes in. “The great thing about his fountain of youth is there’s no hint of hipsterism at all. He’s a black drummer, and he doesn’t even know one single album by Bad Brains. He doesn’t know who [Dead Kennedy] D.H. Peligro is and we consider him our D.H. Peligro. But what he does know is that he’s on this planet to do one thing, and that’s to play drums. And he wants to be the best drummer he can be. Thomas brought a real change in spirit that’s energized us all.”

The new energy that Pridgen has inspired in the Mars Volta is palpable in Rodriguez-Lopez and Bixler-Zavala. Less than a year ago, the duo was questioning their desire to create music ever again, apparently entangled in a demented curse that threatened to destroy their sanity.

“Looking back on it, we were prime candidates to be channeled by this thing,” Rodriguez-Lopez says. “We believe in other dimensions, in things beyond what we are seeing in front of us. I’ve said this before, but I feel like we are the human embodiment of this music. It already existed before us and would have already been made, but it took us to recognize it. We pulled it out of the ether and became a transistor radio for it. We feel like we’re just a channel for this music. And this time we tapped into something much darker than we ever have before.”

Cynics and critics will no doubt lob accusations of hucksterism and claim the entire tale is nothing more than a marketing ploy, but Rodriguez-Lopez dismisses that.

“During the making of this album, we went through the darkest depths of hell and made it back out. This album was a rebirth for us,” he says. “It doesn’t matter if people believe the story or not. They’re still giving us what we need—that energy to trap Goliath and put a lid on this thing. Good or bad, the reviews are a collective energy being generated from the Earth about the Mars Volta.

“Every time someone says the name of the band, the Mars Volta grows.”