The Mars Volta

What do you do when your band is called "the next Nirvana"? If you're Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodríguez-López, you quit and start a new one.

In 2001, the Mexican-American Bixler-Zavala (vocalist) and Puerto Rican-American Rodríguez-López (guitarist) ditched At The Drive-In, a punk-influenced hard rock outfit beloved for its intense live shows, leaving the remaining members to form Sparta. Bixler-Zavala and Rodríguez-López left El Paso, Texas and took their matching 'fros to sunny Long Beach, California where they formed The Mars Volta, a prog-rock band heavy on "experimentation" – something the pair claims was frowned upon in ATDI.

In 2003, The Mars Volta debuted with De-Loused in the Comatorium. Featuring lyrics in Spanish and English, vocals reminiscent of Robert Plant and jagged guitars, the album made psychedelic rock cool again by injecting it with a post-punk sensibility. But just weeks before their first release, one of their members, "sound manipulator" Jeremy Ward, died of a heroin overdose. The duo cite this tragedy as the turning point in their long struggle with some serious drug addictions and have since cleaned up their act. Guitarist Rodríguez-López even gave up alcohol, sugar and caffeine. A sobered Mars Volta returned in 2005 with Frances The Mute and then Amputechture in 2006. Both albums are filled with moody, explosive and dense songs in the vein of '70s rockers Toncho Pilatos, Can and Rush. The lead single from Frances was 12 minutes long.

In the last year, The Mars Volta have toured in anticipation of their forthcoming The Bedlam in Goliath which will be preceded by an online video game (can be played here) and an original poem by Bizarro fiction writer Jeremy Robert Johnson. Either one – or the record – should delight their open-minded fans.