Dirty dozen out from the Volta
FORMER Mars Volta frontman Omar Rodriguez-Lopez has taken on a mammoth task. He’s releasing 12 albums on a biweekly basis. The first, Sworn Virgins, came out on July 15.
‘‘ Sworn Virgins was one of the very last ones I did,’’ he told Rolling Stone. ‘‘That would have been at the very end of 2012. That album is just me and him, and it’s tracked live.
‘‘It sounds like a band but I was able to sample myself with my sample pedal.
‘‘Those are live, one-take cuts. We never did anything a second time. We just talked about it, went through the changes once. The only one who got to do anything twice was me.’’
The previously unreleased albums were recorded between 2008 and 2013.
‘‘The best part about having a record label is that you get to choose to work with people that you really admire,’’ says Ipecac co-owner, Greg Werckman.
‘‘We had all admired Omar’s work from afar and then recently got to know him up close. It was so great to find out that as talented as he is he is an even better human being and we love having him as part of the Ipecac family.
‘‘But, it seems that he has blatantly taken advantage of our friendship. Sure, we were excited to release his solo catalogue but this many titles? What have we gotten ourselves into?’’
BLINK AGAIN
Since their humble beginnings 24 years ago, when they started playing in a San Diego garage, Blink-182 has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide and rocked audiences from Auckland to Zurich having become one of the defining rock bands of their generation.
Now with Matt Skiba (of Alkaline Trio) joining Blink-182 as singer-guitarist, the group started a new chapter with the release of California earlier this month.
‘‘We hit the ground running so hard that we just kept writing and writing,’’ bassist Mark Hoppus says,
‘‘Suddenly we realised that we had written more than 20 new songs, and they were all really great. This is the next step for us – it’s not a stopgap and we’re not punching a clock.’’ – Compiled by Mike Alexander
WHYdid you call the album Allegra? It’s a very classical term and yet you are such a modernist?
The meaning of Allegra is happiness. It has quite a positive meaning and that was one of the premises of this album – to find the light within the dark. Now, I don’t mean to find the positive within evil, bad or negative – it’s more to remind us there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel during the things or times that makes us sad or moody.
I’m reminded of many artists in the way you play, most notably Michael Brooks but you are also a pioneer. Who inspires you and for what reason?
That’s amazing that you said that, as Michael Brooks is one of my favourite artists/composers/ guitarists. A track I love in particular is the collaboration with Nusrat Fateh Night Song, which combines superb ambient guitar work together with mindblowing, cross-over world music. That set the tone to how I approach music – so I was dictated heavily by Michael Brooks.
Does music have the power to heal and if so why do you believe that?
Yes I do believe music can heal. Sometimes I feel like music