If there’s anyone that doesn’t stop, it’s Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. The At The Drive-In/Mars Volta guitarist is set to release 12 solo albums every other week for the rest of the year. And on top of that, his other projects are in full swing.
Omar did a lengthy interview with Rolling Stone where he talked about everything he’s been working on. Apparently At The Drive-In have been hashing out new ideas while on the road.
We’ve been writing since we let that information out. We wouldn’t let that information out without having – we’re not that type of band. When we announced new music, it was because we were already in that process, and we’ve definitely continued it. I’ve been able to bring my portable rig, and these days it’s easier because everything’s much smaller. If you’ll notice, the tour has a lot of double nights, so those are days we don’t have to set up the next day, so we can just spent time writing and recording and jamming. It’s been great.
Speaking on the sound of the band’s new music, he said “It’s picking up where we left off, and of course we have fresh eyes.”
In addition to new ATDI material, Omar’s project Antemasque with bandmate Cedric Bixler Zavala and drummer Travis Barker are putting out their debut album soon.
Obviously I’m biased, but I think it’s a great record, as well. The most important thing is the fact that it got made and we did it and went through the process.
One final thing to note is that Omar mentioned the possibility of doing a new Mars Volta record in the future.
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. Obviously now we’re focused on At the Drive-In and making this record great and touring. Jon Theodore is doing Queens of the Stone Age right now. There are only four surviving members of the real Mars Volta, which is Eva Gardner, the original bass player who gave us all our soul but unfortunately had to leave the band because her father died on the second tour; Ikey Owens, who, of course, isn’t with us anymore; Jeremy Ward, who isn’t with us anymore; and Jon Theodore. Jon and Eva are still alive, and we’re so grateful for that. And any true fan of the band knows that’s the real chemistry right there. Whenever we get to that time, we hope that it all lines up with whatever Jon’s doing and whatever Eva’s doing, because she’s been touring with Gwen Stefani. I just have a feeling it will. Life has a funny way of working out that way.
The first of Omar’s 12 solo album, Sworn Virgins, will be released on July 15th through Ipecac.