Zavala

Cedric Bixler-Zavala

Cedric Bixler Zavala (born November 4, 1974 in Redwood City, California) is the lead singer and lyricist of The Mars Volta, and was previously the lead singer, lyricist and occasional guitarist of At the Drive-In, and also, the drummer of De Facto. He is a dietary vegan.

Lyrical and vocal style

Bixler-Zavala's lyrics are often abstract to the point of nonsensical. These lyrics often blend contrasting metaphors, usually dealing with grotesque, speculative fiction imagery. In addition Bixler-Zavala has explained that his lyrics are written and developed to match the tone and atmosphere of the instrumental music. He has been noted for his extensive vocabulary yet once commented that despite such praise, he is a high school dropout

He has cited a variety of influences, such as Werner Herzog, Luis Buñuel, Neu!, Doctor Who, Syd Barrett, Damo Suzuki, and Mexican folk tales. He has also experimented with bilingual lyrics, switching from English to Spanish several times within the course of a song. The Mars Volta's album De-Loused in the Comatorium was accompanied by a short novel of the same name, written in the same metaphorical style. The lyrics were arranged by Cedric and Jeremy Ward. Much of his vocal work operates in the higher register (displayed in songs such as Inertiatic ESP), and he often uses falsetto.

On-stage behavior

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, sarcastically mocked an audience once due to not complying with safety rules, adjusts Omar Rodriguez's effects pedals and plays the maracas. Previously Bixler Zavala was a heavy drug user and his antics were credited to this, however, he quit using opioids (along with bandmate Omar Rodriguez-Lopez) following the overdose and death of Jeremy Michael Ward and the antics have continued.

Bixler Zavala demonstrated very strong views on moshing and crowd surfing. He infamously walked off stage 10 minutes into an At The Drive-In performance at the 2001 Big Day Out festival in Sydney. He had previously asked the audience to calm down and observe the safety rules ("Let's dance, rather than beat the shit out of each other..."). After the refusal of the crowd, Zavala told the crowd, "I think it's a very very sad day when the only way you can express yourself is through slamdancing! Are you all typically white people? Y'all look like it to me!" 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've got a microphone and you don't! You're a sheep, you watch TV way too much!" and leaving the stage.

Despite these views, Bixler Zavala has been known to venture out into crowds, sexually disturb security guards, and grab and throw various objects found in the venue.

He has also displayed a dislike of fans smoking cigarettes at Mars Volta shows

Instrumentalist and Alavaz Relxib Cirdec Recordings

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

Under the pseudonym "Alavaz Relxib Cirdec" ("Cedric Bixler Zavala" with the order of the letters reversed), Bixler Zavala contributed a 2-song single to the GSL Special 12 Singles Series, released in December 2005. The inversion of his name is very appropriate, seeing as the musical styles shown on his GSL single would be unexpected to an uninformed fan of his more mainstream contributions. Closer to the Dub of De Facto and the ambient experimentation shown in Omar Rodriguez-Lopez 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 flute, drums, bass, guitars and samples, while "Sapta-Loka" is a more ambient exploration of eastern-style drones, with subtle, haunting instrumentation.