Cedric Bixler-Zavala

Cedric Bixler-Zavala
Cedric Bixler-Zavala in 2008
Background information
Born	November 4, 1974 (1974-11-04) Redwood City, California, U.S.
Origin	El Paso, Texas, U.S.
Genres	Progressive rock, post-hardcore, art rock, psychedelia, punk, alternative rock, dub
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, singer, drummer
Instruments	Vocals, drums, maracas, tambourine, guitar, keyboard, bass
Years active	1993–present
Associated acts	The Mars Volta, At the Drive-In, De Facto, Los Dregtones, The Fall on Deaf Ears, El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez Lopez, Big Sir, Anywhere

Cedric Bixler-Zavala (born November 4, 1974 in Redwood City, California) is a Grammy Award-winning Mexican-American musician known for his work as frontman and lyricist of the progressive rock band The Mars Volta, and as frontman and occasional guitarist of the post-hardcore punk group At the Drive-In. Cedric has a High Tenor vocal range, spanning from the G above Low C (G2) to Soprano C (C6), which contrast his vocal work for At the Drive-In which consisted mainly of a screaming style. He has also played drums for a number of acts, including the dub act De Facto and recently Big Sir.

Lyric style

Bixler-Zavala is fond of Frank Zappaesque humour and writes in English, Spanish, and Latin. “I love to take common sayings, pervert them, mutate them a little. So you think I am singing one thing, but when you read it, it is different.”

On-stage behavior

Cedric Bixler-Zavala live at the LC Pavilion in Columbus, OH

Bixler-Zavala is renowned for his on-stage behavior. He frequently does somersaults on stage, swings his microphone (once unintentionally hitting band mate Ikey Owens in the head), throws objects such as cymbals, microphone stands, and trash cans into the audience, salsa dances, adjusts Omar Rodriguez’s effects pedals and occasionally plays the maracas.

Bixler-Zavala has been very vocal on and off-stage about audience behavior, including moshing, crowd surfing, slam-dancing, and throwing items on-stage. He walked off stage 10 minutes into an At The Drive-In performance at the 2001 Big Day Out festival in Sydney after previously having asked the audience to calm down and observe the safety rules ("Let's dance, rather than beat the shit out of each other..."). After their refusal, Zavala told the crowd, "I think it's a very very sad day when the only way you can express yourself is through slamdancing!" then after pointing at an audience member crowd surfing saying, "Look at that... You learned that from the TV! You didn't learn that from your best friend!" and finally stating to the crowd, "You're a robot, you're a sheep!" before bleating at them several times, finishing with, "I have a microphone and you don't! You're a sheep, you watch TV way too much!" and leaving the stage. Later that same day, teenager Jessica Michalik was crushed to death in a mosh pit that took place at a Limp Bizkit set later on that day at the concert. Bixler-Zavala has not spoken of Big Day Out 2001 since then.^{[citation needed]}

He has displayed a dislike of fans smoking cigarettes in the front row at Mars Volta shows. However, considering the copious amount of marijuana smoke that permeates through their concerts, these reports may be dubious.^{[citation needed]}

Instrumentalist and Alavaz Relxib Cirdec recordings

Bixler-Zavala played the drums in the experimental dub reggae group De Facto and occasionally played guitar and drums with At the Drive-In.

Under the pseudonym "Alavaz Relxib Cirdec" ("Cedric Bixler-Zavala" backwards), Bixler-Zavala contributed a two-song single to the GSL Special 12" Singles Series, released in December 2005. Closer to the dub of De Facto and the ambient experimentation shown in Omar Rodríguez-López's records than the prog-rock of The Mars Volta, the two songs Bixler-Zavala has produced under this alias are entirely instrumental, with the exception of samples of speech that can be heard on "Live Private Booths." "Live Private Booths" is a funky Fela Kuti-style jam featuring fellow bandmates Omar Rodríguez-López on guitar, Juan Alderete on bass and Adrian Terrazas-Gonzalez on flute, while "Sapta-Loka" is a more ambient exploration of eastern-style drones, with subtler instrumentation.

Bixler has stated that he is working on a solo album with current Mars Volta drummer Deantoni Parks. Additionally, late 2011 saw the release of the first 7" record from Bixler's new project Anywhere, a collaboration with Christian Eric Beaulieu of Triclops! and Mike Watt of The Stooges/fIREHOSE/Minutemen.

Personal life

In 2009 Bixler-Zavala married actress and model Chrissie Carnell. He lives with his wife in Los Angeles.^{[citation needed]}

Bixler-Zavala frequently used drugs until the death of Jeremy Michael Ward in 2003, which convinced him (along with The Mars Volta bandmate Omar Rodriguez-Lopez) to quit using opioids. He has shown disapproval of recreational drugs as a whole, adding that they are not beneficial to the creative process, though he has been seen smoking marijuana in music videos such as Aberinkula, as well as in Amsterdam with System of a Down.

Deaths of associates

Cedric's life has been heavily impacted by the deaths of people who have been in close association with him, several of which have become themes for his lyrics.

In 1996, two of his fellow bandmates of the group The Fall on Deaf Ears, Laura Beard and Sarah Reiser, died in a car accident.

Also in 1996, a close friend and band-mate of Cedric's named Julio Venegas committed suicide. It is said that De-Loused in the Comatorium is about Venegas.

Shortly before the release of De-Loused, in May 2003, their sound engineer, Jeremy Michael Ward, was found dead of apparent heroin overdose. Ward coined the term Amputechture which is TMV's third full-length album, and Frances the Mute was based on a journal Ward had discovered.

Discography

With Foss

• The El Paso Pussycats (1993) - 7"
• Foss (1993)
• Fewel St. (1994)

With Los Dregtones

• 5 Song Alibi (1994)

With The Fall on Deaf Ears

• The Fall on Deaf Ears EP (1996)

With At the Drive-In

• Hell Paso (1994) - re-release EP
• Alfaro Vive, Carajo! (1995) - EP
• Acrobatic Tenement (1996, re-release 2004) - LP
• El Gran Orgo - (1997) - EP
• In/Casino/Out (1998, re-release 2004) - LP
• Vaya (1999, re-release 2004) - EP
• Sunshine / At the Drive-In (2000) - EP
• Relationship of Command (2000, re-release 2004) - LP
• This Station Is Non-Operational (2005) - Compilation

With De Facto

• How Do You Dub? You Fight For Dub, You Plug Dub In LP (1999/2001)
• 456132015 EP (2001)
• Megaton Shotblast LP (2001)
• Légende du Scorpion à Quatre Queues LP (2001)

With The Mars Volta

• Tremulant - EP (2002)
• De-Loused in the Comatorium - LP (2003)
• Live - EP (2003)
• Frances the Mute - LP (2005)
• Scabdates - LP (2005)
• Amputechture - LP (2006)
• The Bedlam in Goliath - LP (2008)
• Octahedron - LP (2009)
• Noctourniquet - LP (2012)

As Alavaz Relxib Cirdec

• The Special 12 Singles Series - Single (2005)

With Omar Rodríguez-López

• A Manual Dexterity: Soundtrack Volume 1 - Omar Rodríguez-López (2004)
• Omar Rodriguez - Omar Rodríguez-López (2005)
• Se Dice Bisonte, No Bùfalo - Omar Rodríguez-López Group (2007)
• Calibration (Is Pushing Luck and Key Too Far) - Omar Rodríguez-López (2007)
• Old Money - Omar Rodríguez-López (2008)
• Cryptomnesia - El Grupo Nuevo De Omar Rodriguez-Lopez (2009)
• Sympathy for Delicious OST - Burnt the Diphthongs Feat. Cedric Bixler, Orlando Bloom, DJ Disk, Juliette Lewis, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez & Deantoni Parks (2011, selected tracks)

With Big Sir

• Before Gardens After Gardens (2012)

With Anywhere

• Pyramid Mirrors - EP (2011)
• Infrared Moses - EP (2012)

Guest appearances

• Rise Above: 24 Black Flag Songs to Benefit the West Memphis Three - Various Artists backed by the Rollins Band (2002)
• Decomposition - Thavius Beck
• Plasticity Index - Sand Which Is
• White People - Handsome Boy Modeling School (2004)
• Blood Mountain - Mastodon (2006)
• I'll Sleep When You're Dead - El-P (2007)

As producer

• Hell Paso by At the Drive-In (1994) co-produced with other members of At the Drive-In
• ¡Alfaro Vive, Carajo! by At the Drive-In (1995) co-produced with other members of At the Drive-In
• El Gran Orgo by At the Drive-In (1997) co-produced with Bryan Jones and other members of At the Drive-In
• Sunshine / At the Drive-In by At the Drive-In (2000) co-produced with other members of At the Drive-In
• Live by The Mars Volta (2003) co-produced with Omar Rodriguez Lopez

External links

• Cedric Bixler-Zavala at the Internet Movie Database