Omar Rodriguez Lopez at Dingwalls
Zechs Marquise
Camden Dingwalls, 11 March 2009
Before this show I had seen Omar Rodriguez-Lopez live in three other bands - At The Drive-In, De Facto and The Mars Volta (three times) - but I've never seen him as the star of the show and without right hand man Cedric Bixler-Zavala stealing a lot of the attention. Could he pull it off?
Well, aside from the fact that Omar, it turns out, is a pretty entertaining watch in his own right, he certainly wasn't lacking in help from his friends or family. The support band, Zechs Marquise, actually features two of his brothers - Marfred on bass and Marcel on keyboards (both of whom are more than easy on the eye) and, like The Mars Volta (who Marcel also plays with), they owe a prog-rocking, jam-friendly debt to King Crimson, with long, intricate guitar-laden instrumental numbers. How it translates onto record it's hard to say (since I haven't heard any of their recorded work yet), but live they are sure to appeal to any fan of the Volta and certainly they were a hugely entertaining and apt support act.
Not long after Marcel arrived back on stage, this time to play in big brother Omar's band. Omar himself is tiny, skinny and much younger looking than his 33 years, his hair has grown out to almost the infamous afro of the At The Drive-In years and he's wearing a smart, Bob Dylan-esque shirt and waistcoat combo and skin-tight drainpipe jeans (that barely cover his ass, fortunately he's wearing blue underwear which the crowd gets to see for most of the night and he spends a good deal of the gig back turned to the audience, facing the drummer). But no doubt about it, he looks cool.
I was expecting a largely instrumental set (since that's what makes up the majority of his solo albums) and true to expectations the band launch off by playing Boiling Death Request A Body To Rest Its Head On from last year's Se Dice Bisonte, No Búfalo (certainly weird titles aren't a problem for Omar, with or without Cedric) and Dyna Sark Arches, from his first solo release A Manuel Dexterity. But then, a fragile-looking, fresh-faced, brown-haired girl wearing a cute black and white embroidered dress and flat Mar
y Jane shoes, wanders on stage smiling. At first I think she's about 14 years old, but then I realise it's Omar's 23-year-old girlfriend Ximena Sariñana, a Mexican pop singer who put out a pretty good Fiona Apple-style record last year called Mediocre. Turns out the girl can sing, throwing her head back and closing her eyes while outstretching her arms, she's clearly no faker and the mixture of her sweet, jazzy voice with the crazed stylings of Omar's guitar proves a enticing brew. She joins him on stage for quite a few numbers, all sung in Spanish, which sounds like an album may be in the works. Hopefully anyway, the songs sound so good live (helping to effectively break up the instrumental set) that it would be a shame if they weren't recorded.
When Ximena retires from the stage it's back to Omar's own recorded work with only a couple from his newest release Old Money (Population Council's Wet Dream and How To Bill The Bilderberg Group), as well as Jacob Van Lennepkade (the song that eventually became the Volta's Viscera Eyes) and a new song, sans-Ximena, New York City (posted above), all of which are expertly executed in explosive jamming style.
None of Omar's groups ever have encores (like The Clash and the Manic Street Preachers, he and Cedric have always viewed encores as insincere and pretentious, which it is) but the crowd screams for more (haven't they ever been to a Mars Volta gig at least?). But then a lot of people in the crowd look like they were probably babies during the height of At The Drive-In's fame, so maybe they don't know. I'm glad there isn't an encore though, because the night ends perfectly with the crowd happy but wanting more, which is always the best way to end things.
Well, aside from the fact that Omar, it turns out, is a pretty entertaining watch in his own right, he certainly wasn't lacking in help from his friends or family. The support band, Zechs Marquise, actually features two of his brothers - Marfred on bass and Marcel on keyboards (both of whom are more than easy on the eye) and, like The Mars Volta (who Marcel also plays with), they owe a prog-rocking, jam-friendly debt to King Crimson, with long, intricate guitar-laden instrumental numbers. How it translates onto record it's hard to say (since I haven't heard any of their recorded work yet), but live they are sure to appeal to any fan of the Volta and certainly they were a hugely entertaining and apt support act.
Not long after Marcel arrived back on stage, this time to play in big brother Omar's band. Omar himself is tiny, skinny and much younger looking than his 33 years, his hair has grown out to almost the infamous afro of the At The Drive-In years and he's wearing a smart, Bob Dylan-esque shirt and waistcoat combo and skin-tight drainpipe jeans (that barely cover his ass, fortunately he's wearing blue underwear which the crowd gets to see for most of the night and he spends a good deal of the gig back turned to the audience, facing the drummer). But no doubt about it, he looks cool.
I was expecting a largely instrumental set (since that's what makes up the majority of his solo albums) and true to expectations the band launch off by playing Boiling Death Request A Body To Rest Its Head On from last year's Se Dice Bisonte, No Búfalo (certainly weird titles aren't a problem for Omar, with or without Cedric) and Dyna Sark Arches, from his first solo release A Manuel Dexterity. But then, a fragile-looking, fresh-faced, brown-haired girl wearing a cute black and white embroidered dress and flat Mar
y Jane shoes, wanders on stage smiling. At first I think she's about 14 years old, but then I realise it's Omar's 23-year-old girlfriend Ximena Sariñana, a Mexican pop singer who put out a pretty good Fiona Apple-style record last year called Mediocre. Turns out the girl can sing, throwing her head back and closing her eyes while outstretching her arms, she's clearly no faker and the mixture of her sweet, jazzy voice with the crazed stylings of Omar's guitar proves a enticing brew. She joins him on stage for quite a few numbers, all sung in Spanish, which sounds like an album may be in the works. Hopefully anyway, the songs sound so good live (helping to effectively break up the instrumental set) that it would be a shame if they weren't recorded.When Ximena retires from the stage it's back to Omar's own recorded work with only a couple from his newest release Old Money (Population Council's Wet Dream and How To Bill The Bilderberg Group), as well as Jacob Van Lennepkade (the song that eventually became the Volta's Viscera Eyes) and a new song, sans-Ximena, New York City (posted above), all of which are expertly executed in explosive jamming style.
None of Omar's groups ever have encores (like The Clash and the Manic Street Preachers, he and Cedric have always viewed encores as insincere and pretentious, which it is) but the crowd screams for more (haven't they ever been to a Mars Volta gig at least?). But then a lot of people in the crowd look like they were probably babies during the height of At The Drive-In's fame, so maybe they don't know. I'm glad there isn't an encore though, because the night ends perfectly with the crowd happy but wanting more, which is always the best way to end things.
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