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Written by Jared Leone
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Monday, 11 May 2009 |
 The Mars Volta onstage. Photo courtesy of Flickr's Nelisha.
The Mars Volta is a Grammy-award winning ensemble that was formed by guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López and singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala. The pair put the progressive rock band together in 2001 and have steadily released records that bend the scales of expectation.
From songs of short bursts fueled with punk-fused riffs to songs with experimental sounds taking many minutes to unfold, The Mars Volta blends intellectual musical prowess with ear-catching textures of sound to create really great tunes.
Rolling Stone magazine named them the “Best Prog-rock Band” in 2008. And the crew received a Grammy for “Best Hard Rock” performance for the album “Wax Simulacra” in 2008.
They use “the” to distinguish themselves from European techno group Mars Volta. The American rock group gained popularity with the hit song “The Widow” off their second album “Frances the Mute” in 2005.
The Mars Volta have played festivals before, and their blend of schooled rock should whet music aficionados' appetites at Bonnaroo.
[The Mars Volta official Web site, Wikipedia, Grammy.com, Rolling Stone, Front page image courtesy of Flickr's "Nelisha"]
Jared Leone, a TheSequitur.com senior editor, is a writer in the Tampa Bay area.
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