On a warm autumn day in Southern California over cold beer and YouTube videos, the members of Zechs Marquise talk of their recent boating experience.
"It was a day off [during the RX Bandits farewell tour] and we all went to [Shasta Lake]," bassist Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez explains. Drummer Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez (who also handles percussion duties in The Mars Volta) chimes in, "[RX Bandits] rented a boat for us!"
An El Paso instrumental group comprised of three brothers and two childhood friends, Zechs Marquise has been doing much more than plain sailing at sea. This year alone, the band has completed
stints alongside Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Group, as well as the aforementioned RX Bandits
farewell trek. In September, the band released its sophomore studio album
Getting Paid -- a record, the group says, that encompasses the beauty of songwriting.
"We've definitely worked a lot more on arranging our music as of recently," guitarist Matt Wilkson comments, adding that the band would play shows in the early days with 20-minute songs. "Not everyone wants to sit through that."
Zechs Marquise stopped in at Bonnerhaus to give candid insight into Getting Paid, discuss the seeming rise of instrumental bands, and to talk about that one time Mastodon showed up at a gig in Atlanta.
A few footnotes: This interview is a follow-up to our 2010 Zechs Marquise conversation, which, interestingly enough, was conducted in former RX Bandits frontman Matt Embree's backyard. As previously mentioned, Getting Paid was released in September via Rodriguez-Lopez Productions, and can be streamed in its entirety on Bandcamp. Additionally, the band will batten down the hatches in late November to embark on a run with Thursday and Maylene and the Sons of Disaster; a 2009 Ryan's Rock Show interview with Thursday can be seen here, while our 2009 interview with Maylene can be viewed here. And to conclude, here's a pic we took of Zechs Marquise performing at a strip club in LA:
L-R: Matt Wilkson, Riko Rodriguez-Lopez, Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez, Marcos Smith, and Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez
Let’s talk about Riko, the younger Rodriguez-Lopez brother who recently joined Zechs Marquise. How did he end up in the band?
Front page & article photos by Doc
