Formation and beginning (2001–2002) The roots of The Mars Volta are found in the band
At the Drive-In. ATDI imploded on the verge of a commercial breakthrough, partly due to boredom, partly to musical differences. Members
Cedric Bixler-Zavala and
Omar Rodríguez-López began to further explore their experimental,
dub-influenced
side project called
De Facto, which featured Bixler-Zavala on drums, Rodríguez-López on bass,
Isaiah "Ikey" Owens on keyboards, and
Jeremy Ward on vocals, loops and sound effects. During 2001
Eva Gardner joined the members of De Facto on bass, and they recorded two songs with drummer
Blake Fleming and producer Alex Newport, which became the first demo by The Mars Volta. The lineup for their first public show at Chain Reaction in
Anaheim, California was Rodríguez-López, Bixler-Zavala, Owens, Gardner, Ward, and drummer
Jon Theodore. This lineup recorded three more tracks with Alex Newport, which became the
EP Tremulant, released in early 2002 by
Gold Standard Laboratories. After the demise of At the Drive-In, Rodríguez-López and Bixler-Zavala found themselves once again starting from the ground up, touring and performing in smaller venues. In their early years The Mars Volta were characterized by chaotic live shows and heavy drug use.
De-Loused in the Comatorium (2003–2004) Following
Tremulant, The Mars Volta continued touring with a fluid line-up while preparing to record their debut full-length album
De-Loused in the Comatorium, produced with
Rick Rubin and released on June 24, 2003. Whereas
Tremulant had no general theme (except the prophetic mentioning)
De-Loused was a unified work of
speculative fiction telling the first-person story of someone in a drug-induced coma, battling the evil side of his mind. Though lyrically obscure, The Mars Volta stated in interviews that the album's protagonist is based on their late friend Julio Venegas, or
"Cerpin Taxt", an
El Paso poet and artist who went into a coma for several years after a deliberate drug overdose, recovered and later committed suicide. The Mars Volta had no official bassist during the recording session, but
Flea (of the
Red Hot Chili Peppers) played bass on nine of the album's ten songs, with
Justin Meldal-Johnsen playing
double bass on "
Televators". Flea's bandmate
John Frusciante also contributed additional guitar, synthesizer and backing vocals to "Cicatriz ESP". After several temporary replacements, a permanent bassist for the band was found in
Juan Alderete (formerly of
Racer X). Despite limited promotion,
De-Loused earned strong reviews, and appeared on several 'year-end best-of' lists. The album remains The Mars Volta's best-seller, with over 500,000 copies sold.
Rolling Stone ranked a track from
De-Loused, "Drunkship of Lanterns", the 91st Best Guitar Song Ever. The band later released a limited-edition storybook version of the album, available by download from the
Gold Standard Laboratories website. The book speaks of Cerpin Taxt (Julio Venegas) and his suicide. While on tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers in support of the album, founding member
Jeremy Ward died of a
heroin overdose. –
Amsterdam October 16, 2005 In 2005, the band released
Frances the Mute. The story given by the band on the album's concept concerns a diary that had been found in a repossessed car by late sound technician Jeremy Ward, while working as a repo-man. The author of the diary is unknown but appeared to be someone who was adopted and was searching for their birth parents, and who may have suffered from mental illness caused by the death of a loved one. The lyrics for each track on the album are loosely based on characters and life events described in this person's diary.
Frances the Mute started as a bigger commercial hit than
De-Loused, moving 123,000 copies in its first week, and debuting at No. 4 on the
Billboard album charts. Reviews of
Frances were generally positive (with a 75 on Metacritic) if somewhat polarized;
Rolling Stone called it "a feverish and baroque search for self that conjures up the same majesty and gravity as
Led Zeppelin three decades before", and even the detractors of
Frances the Mute generally praised the band's musical abilities. "
L'Via L'Viaquez" was later released as the 12 minute B-side to "The Bible And The Breathalyzer" single, a song which did not appear on the album.
Frances the Mute has sold nearly 465,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan ratings. Rodríguez-López wrote all of the instrumental parts as well as arranging and producing the recording sessions himself. He used a method that
Miles Davis used to evoke great performances from bandmates: refusing to let the other members hear each other's parts, or the context of their own part, thereby forcing them to play each part as if it were a self-sufficient song. In order to accomplish this, the musicians recorded to the pulse of a
metronome. While in the studio, Rodríguez-López recruited
Adrián Terrazas-González to play saxophone,
flute, and additional wind instruments for the album. Terrazas-González was added as a permanent member to The Mars Volta while touring in support of
Frances the Mute. Several songs written during the original recording sessions for the album never made the final cut. Notably, the self-titled 14-minute epic "
Frances the Mute", which was originally to open the album and was ultimately supposed to decode the album's concept, was not included due to time constraints. Instead the track was featured as a b-side to the single release for "
The Widow". November 30, 2005, with drummer
Jon Theodore On May 21, 2005, instead of playing a traditional
set at
KROQ's Weenie Roast Festival, the band played a 50-minute improvisation jam that was jokingly named on-the-spot as "Abortion, The Other White Meat" by Rodríguez-López. In keeping with The Mars Volta's tradition of testing and developing new work live, parts of "Abortion" later appeared on "Population Council's Wet Dream" from Rodríguez-López's 2009 album
Old Money. Midway through their headlining U.S. tour, former
At the Drive-In member
Paul Hinojos left the band
Sparta to join The Mars Volta, claiming, "My time with Sparta has run its course, and simply wasn't fun anymore." Hinojos joined as live rhythm guitarist and became the band's sound manipulator, the position previously held by the late Ward. Hinojos had previously toured with The Mars Volta in 2003, filling in for Ward's sound manipulation duties. During mid-2005, the band toured in support of the album with
System of a Down and curated the
All Tomorrow's Parties festival at
Camber Sands in England. In addition, a full-length live album named
Scabdates was released on November 8, 2005.
Amputechture (2006–2007) Upon finishing the majority of touring for
Frances the Mute in fall 2005, Rodríguez-López traveled to
Amsterdam and wrote what became
Amputechture, which was released on September 8, 2006, in Europe, on September 9, 2006, in
Australia and on September 12, 2006, in the U.S. Rodríguez-López spent much of his time in Amsterdam working on and performing various solo projects most notably under the name "
Omar Rodriguez Quintet". During this time Rodríguez-López also composed the score to the film
El Búfalo de la Noche, which was written and directed by
Guillermo Arriaga and Jorge Hernandez Aldana respectively. The Mars Volta as a whole performed the score.
Amputechture was produced by Rodríguez-López and mixed by
Rich Costey.
Jeff Jordan provided the artwork, making it their first album not to feature the
work of
Storm Thorgerson. It was once again a concept album, but rather than telling a story, the album was a series of vignettes, with each song telling a different story. in
Toronto on September 25, 2006 John Frusciante was featured on every track on
Amputechture, except for "Asilos Magdalena". Rodríguez-López contributed the solos and riffs where the guitar work needed to be doubled. Bixler-Zavala said in an interview, "...he taught Frusciante all the new songs and Frusciante tracked guitars for us so Omar could sit back and listen to the songs objectively. It's great that he wants to help us and do that." On July 28, 2006, the drummer's spot was filled by
Blake Fleming, formerly of
Laddio Bolocko,
Dazzling Killmen, and the very first Mars Volta demos. A new song titled "Rapid Fire Tollbooth" was debuted live on September 22, 2006, in Chicago, Illinois, as reported by fans and attendees of the show who had received set lists from the stage. The song originally appears on Rodríguez-López's solo album
Se Dice Bisonte, No Búfalo. The song eventually evolved into the track "Goliath" from the band's fourth studio album. On September 25, 2006, The Mars Volta played a unique set on the opening night of a double-header in Toronto, Ontario. Cedric Bixler-Zavala fell ill and could not perform, so The Mars Volta played with John Frusciante on third guitar. The set consisted of over 47 minutes of instrumental material, including a lengthy cover of the
Pink Floyd composition "
Interstellar Overdrive". On October 17, 2006, while opening for the Red Hot Chili Peppers in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the band played with drummer
Deantoni Parks as Rodríguez-López had fired Fleming because of complications within the band. Parks remained with the band only until the conclusion of the Japanese tour because of his prior commitments with other bands. On October 31, 2006, in Cleveland, Ohio, as Parks could not perform, The Mars Volta played an approximately 40-minute improvisation set as a rehearsal for another drummer,
Thomas Pridgen. On a 2006 episode of
The Henry Rollins Show, The Mars Volta performed "Tetragrammaton" and "Day of the Baphomets" in a rare television performance. Afterwards, they did an interview with Rollins about the creation of
Amputechture.
Amputechture was the last album with drummer Jon Theodore, whom Rodríguez-López and Bixler-Zavala fired before touring in support of the album. Rodríguez-López said in an interview with an Italian fan site that Theodore was the only member in the band who was not happy playing live and brought down the moods of the rest. In a 2014 interview with comedian Dean Delray, Theodore explained his departure from The Mars Volta, confirming his conflicted feelings and emphasizing his fondness and respect for the band in retrospect. Shortly before the tour to promote
Amputechture was set to begin, Theodore told his girlfriend at the time,“I’m going to go back and tell them, after this album you need to start looking for someone else, because I can’t do this anymore.” And I think psychically, they must have picked that up because I got home, they were like, “we’re having a band meeting.” And I was like, “what do you mean? We’ve never had a band meeting before.” And they came to my house and they were like, “It’s not working.” […] I gave them no choice. I had basically, like, energetically, quit the band. But I was afraid to leave it, because after five years, it was all I had. […] When they did it, I remember it was, like, really emotional. We were crying…but I was like, “thank you, for stepping up and doing this, because I didn’t have the balls to do it right now.” […] The main thing that I learned is that it’s never too late to talk. Because I missed a lot of opportunities. I could have been like, “I’m really unhappy, and this is why.” One of these performances was captured in a live concert DVD (which remains unreleased) shot by director Jorge Hernandez Aldana. Despite finding a permanent drummer and getting the band back on track, the recording and production of the album was reportedly plagued by difficulties related to a bad experience with a
Ouija board purchased in a curio shop in Jerusalem. According to Rodríguez-López, their original engineer experienced a nervous breakdown, his studio flooded twice, and both he and mixer Rich Costey claimed that various tracks would disappear at random. On November 5, 2007, The Mars Volta released a document by Jeremy Robert Johnson titled, "The Mars Volta's Descent into Bedlam: A Rhapsody in Three Parts". The document includes a history of the band and describes the obstacles and inspirations they encountered in the creation of
The Bedlam in Goliath. On November 20, 2007 "
Wax Simulacra", the first single from the forthcoming album, was released with a cover of "
Pulled to Bits" by
Siouxsie and the Banshees as the b-side. The band kicked off their supporting tour with a December 29, 2007 "secret show" at the
Echoplex in Los Angeles, California, followed by a special New Year's Eve performance at San Francisco's
Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. That night they played their first ever acoustic set, which included six songs and a live performance of "Miranda, That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore". The band then departed on a club tour of the U.S. east coast throughout January, with an album release show at San Diego's
Soma, followed by another month's worth of European dates from mid-February to mid-March. On January 2, 2008, The Mars Volta released an
online game called "Goliath: The Soothsayer", based on a true story that inspired their forthcoming album
The Bedlam In Goliath. The album chronicles the band's purported experience with the "Soothsayer", a
Ouija board owned by vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala and its transition from a source of fun on tour to a psycho-spiritual force that almost tore the band apart. The game was available for a limited time exclusively via
Amazon.com. On January 17, 2008, the band made their U.S. network television debut, performing "Wax Simulacra" on the
Late Show with David Letterman (Rodríguez-López, Bixler-Zavala and Hinojos had appeared on the show with
At the Drive-In in 2000). On January 22, they made a surprise appearance at
Toronto,
Ontario, Canada's
MTV Live studios, where they performed "Wax Simulacra" and an extended version of "Goliath". In late January, the new album debuted at a career-best No. 3 on the
Billboard 200. in
Saint Paul, Minnesota on April 21, 2008 The song "Wax Simulacra" won the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance. It was the band's first nomination and win. The band members thanked their families and Bixler urged people not to forget the memories of the recently departed
Lux Interior and
Ron Asheton.
Octahedron (2009–2010) Omar Rodríguez-López had discussed the band's next album as early as January 2008, the month that
The Bedlam in Goliath was released, claiming "I consider it to be our acoustic album." Cedric Bixler-Zavala had expressed an urge for the album to not be released on a major label. In February 2009, Rodríguez-López claimed "the next two Mars Volta records are already recorded and waiting for a release date." On April 14, 2009, The Mars Volta announced their fifth studio album, entitled
Octahedron. It was released June 23 in the United States and June 22 in the rest of the world. A vinyl version was released on July 21 in a limited edition of 500 LPs. In the spirit of distillation of the band's sound, Rodríguez-López asked woodwind player/percussionist Adrián Terrazas-González and live rhythm guitarist/sound manipulator Paul Hinojos to leave. Regarding their departure, percussionist
Marcel Rodríguez-López noted that: "it's like we got a whole new band. It's two less members – we got to play differently." The first single released in North America was "
Since We've Been Wrong". The first European single was "
Cotopaxi". An excerpt from The Mars Volta's performance at the All Tomorrow's Parties, UK 2005 A Nightmare Before Christmas festival was featured in the
All Tomorrow's Parties film, which was released in cinemas during October 2009. During the Octahedron tour, the show on October 23 in
Raleigh, NC was unexpectedly cancelled. It was supposed to be the final show of the North American leg of the tour, but was cancelled due to an argument between Bixler-Zavala and Thomas Pridgen, the drummer at the time, which ended with Pridgen abruptly leaving the venue. A month later, Pridgen confirmed his departure from The Mars Volta via Facebook stating he was "not in TMV anymore". In a February 2011 interview, Pridgen said he left the group "because the singer had a jealous ego trip. There's nothing more to elaborate on"; however, Juan Alderete stated in 2013 that "Thomas got really drunk, did some bad things and did some real damage to the trust we all had with him." The band later completed the tour with drummer
Dave Elitch. Long-time keyboardist, Ikey Owens, was absent during these dates due to touring commitments with his own project,
Free Moral Agents.
Noctourniquet (2011–2012) Shortly after
Octahedrons release, Rodríguez-López claimed to have put the supposed follow-up "on hold" and was starting work on a completely new album. In an April 2010 interview with Rolling Stone, Rodríguez-López talked about trying to loosen his grip in the studio. He claimed to have finished writing the album, and was awaiting lyrics and vocals from Bixler-Zavala. Rodríguez-López spent most of 2010 focusing on his solo career, and little information regarding the sixth Mars Volta album was released. During this year drummer
Deantoni Parks began touring with Rodríguez-López as well as appearing on several solo records, and Cathy Pellow of
Sargent House Records confirmed that Parks was in talks to become the next drummer for The Mars Volta. In 2011, Rodríguez-López spoke about the band's new album in several interviews, saying that it would feature thirteen songs which, "[are] a simplified version of what we've done before", and would be released "Whenever the record label decides to put it out". Bixler-Zavala took the opportunity to make a few remarks on the sound of the album, indicating a drastic change in sound for the band, referring to the new sound as "future punk". On March 19, 2011, the
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Group performed at
SXSW. Bixler-Zavala joined the group as a vocalist, performing entirely new material with the band, which led to speculations of the show being a secret Mars Volta show under the Omar Rodríguez-López Group moniker. The Group continued to tour throughout April with the same lineup of Bixler-Zavala, Omar and Marcel Rodríguez-López, Juan Alderete, Deantoni Parks and (previously offstage) keyboardist/sound manipulator
Lars Stalfors. During these shows the band (featuring the same six members) continued to play the new material premiered during the Omar Rodríguez-López Group tour earlier in the year, with Bixler-Zavala telling the crowd at one show that he was "inviting them to a private rehearsal for their new album," confirming the material was off the band's upcoming album. Keyboardist Ikey Owens, who had played with the band since its inception, was noticeably absent from all 2011 dates. When asked in an interview, Owens stated that he knew "Absolutely nothing [of the upcoming album]. I haven't heard one note of it; I haven't played on it. I don't know if I am going to play on it; I have no idea". Bassist Juan Alderete later revealed via his Twitter page that Owens was no longer playing with The Mars Volta as he was busy "producing bands". Marcel Rodríguez-López and Lars Stalfors took over keyboard and synth duties with the band in lieu of Owens. On January 5, 2012, a new song titled "Zed and Two Naughts", a song revealed to be from the band's upcoming album, was confirmed to be included on the
MLB 12: The Show Soundtrack. On January 12, it was revealed that the upcoming album would be called
Noctourniquet. Later that week, an official page went up confirming
Noctourniquet as the album title along with unveiling the album art and a full track listing and announcing March 27, 2012, as the release date. The album's first single, "The Malkin Jewel," was first broadcast on February 13 and subsequently released on February 14.
Hiatus, breakup, and reunion rumors (2013–2021) After the conclusion of the
Noctourniquet tour, Omar Rodríguez-López decided to put The Mars Volta on hold to fully concentrate on his new project,
Bosnian Rainbows, which also features Deantoni Parks. When asked in an interview if the band will reunite, he stated: I don't know, and I'm not insecure enough to have to ask myself that. It's like, we've done that for ten years, eleven years. Now we're all doing different things, and everything that we're doing informs how we express ourselves, and so if that happens then it happens and if it doesn't it doesn't. It's not something to be worried about. It shouldn't occupy a space in the mind. There's way too many things that are much too important to occupy space in the mind. Bixler-Zavala subsequently focused on his solo music and eventually formed a new band,
Zavalaz, which also includes Juan Alderete. He stated shortly after that he was "currently not on speaking terms" with Rodríguez-López and that "the falling out had been four years in the making, so the final announcement on my part was really just to let the children know that Mom and Dad were splitting up". Rodríguez-López, meanwhile, did not rule out the possibility of The Mars Volta reuniting in the future: "Because of all my anger and how I dealt with people, I spent so much of my life just closing doors left and right. At this point, I refuse to close any, only to open new ones. Whatever comes my way - as long as it's filled with joy and positivity - I want to give my talents to it. [...] I'm not interested in throwing tantrums any more." He elaborated further on an article with Billboard, acknowledging Bixler-Zavala's decision to depart TMV, effectively ending the over 20 year musical partnership between Rodríguez-López and Bixler-Zavala for the foreseeable future. Rodríguez-López stated, "I was making a film and heard about it hours later; people were like, 'Are you OK?' I understand where he's coming from; I've known the guy for 22 years. I'll always respect and support any decision he makes. If that's how he wants it, I totally get it and I support it." In August 2013, a collection of unreleased songs, demos, alternate versions, and in-studio jams roughly spanning from 2005 until the
Noctourniquet sessions, dubbed
The Ramrod Tapes, was leaked online. The source of these recordings still remains unknown. In February 2014, several posts on the Comatorium message board by sources close to the band revealed that Bixler-Zavala and Rodríguez-López had been meeting and speaking again, hinting at a possible Mars Volta reunion. The rumors were further fueled when Bixler-Zavala's wife Chrissie posted a picture on
Instagram of her husband and Rodríguez-López holding Bixler's twin boys at a California beach. On April 9, a new project featuring Rodríguez-López and Bixler-Zavala,
Antemasque was announced; Antemasque also featured Flea on bass and Dave Elitch on drums. On October 14, 2014, founding member
Isaiah "Ikey" Owens was found dead in his hotel room while on tour in Mexico with
Jack White. According to a representative, Owens died of a heart attack. In an interview with
Rolling Stone on July 11, 2016, when asked about a potential return of The Mars Volta, Rodriguez-Lopez stated, "At some point, we'd love to do [Mars Volta] again too, you know what I mean? There's so much to do there as well." In February 2018, Bixler-Zavala confirmed on
Twitter that The Mars Volta will "be back soon", but later clarified that
At the Drive-In activity will take precedence for the immediate future. In May 2019, further tweeting from Bixler-Zavala suggested he and Rodríguez-López had been experimenting with new material. On February 23, 2021, Hamburg based label Clouds Hill Group announced they had acquired rights to handle the band's discography, as well as Omar Rodriguez-Lopez' entire back catalogue, with official reissues of both discographies expected. On March 4, 2021, Clouds Hill posted a video on Twitter titled 'Coming Soon', featuring audio from
De-Loused in the Comatorium, as well as alternate artwork of the album cover. This was later confirmed as the 18-LP box set of the band's entire discography titled
La Realidad De Los Sueños (
The Reality of Dreams), including unreleased material from the
De-Loused in the Comatorium sessions titled
Landscape Tantrums. The set was released on April 23, 2021.
Reunion and subsequent albums (2022–present) On June 18, 2022, the band revealed the coordinates to a location in Los Angeles, California, where fans were allowed to preview new music from the band via an art installation called "L'ytome Hodorxí Telesterion". This was followed up by the release of the single "Blacklight Shine" and a tour announcement, marking both their first new music and first live shows in ten years. The band released a follow-up single "Graveyard Love" on July 8. The band subsequently announced their first album in 10 years,
The Mars Volta, which was released on September 16. On March 10, 2023, the band announced an acoustic version of their self-titled album titled
Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazón, which released on April 21. A
documentary film,
Omar and Cedric: If This Ever Gets Weird, which chronicles Omar and Cedric's friendship across several decades, premiered at select
film festivals in 2023 and 2024. Directed by Nicolas Jack Davies, the film received a one-day cinematic release on November 20, 2024, across the US. Beginning on February 25, 2025, the band played an entire unreleased new album during their sets opening for
Deftones' arena tour. The Mars Volta's ninth studio album,
Lucro Sucio; Los Ojos del Vacío, was officially announced by the Clouds Hill label on April 7, and released on April 11. On November 25, 2025, producer
Sylvia Massy shared a picture with her, Rodriguez-Lopez, and Bixler-Zavala, stating that the duo, along with Jon DeBaun, stopped by her studio to work on their "new record." Bixler-Zavala confirmed he was tracking new material the following day on his Instagram story. The band embarked on a brief, career-spanning, US tour in 2026, after exclusively performing
Lucro Sucio material the previous year. ==Musical style and influences==