In Omar and Cedric: If This Ever Gets Weird, Cedric Bixler and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez recall their meeting and music career in The Mars Volta and beyond.
Director Nicolas Jack Davies’s documentary Omar and Cedric: If This Ever Gets Weird (2023) is an all-archival portrait of musicians Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and their intimate friendship, and meeting of creative minds over the course of several decades. Pulled from thousands of hours of camcorder footage filmed predominantly by Rodriguez-Lopez during the duo’s time in At the Drive-In and The Mars Volta, the film documents the highs, lows, and pains of being a rock band.
I can recall having one of those Sliding Doors moments when I was browsing the rock music section of a Virgin Megastore in my early twenties. It was an instant in which an offhand decision marks a significant turning point for a person’s future. In my left hand was a CD titled “Wiretap Scars” by the American post-hardcore band Sparta. In my right was the oddly titled “Deloused in the Comatorium” by the progressive rock band The Mars Volta. Both these acts had emerged in the wake of the disintegration of American post-hardcore band At the Drive-In, whom I had discovered the previous year with the release of their momentous record “Relationship of Command” which had dominated my CD player.
In the age of nu-metal and the boisterous masculinity that went with it, At the Drive-In, with their wiry body frames, skinny jeans, wild afro hairdos, tight t-shirts and (from what I could decipher) intelligent lyrics, felt like a breath of fresh air in what seemed a fast-becoming stale music environment.
Knowing I could only afford one of the CDs (I was still a student, after all), I weighed up my options. Sparta were truer to the sound and fury created by At the Drive-In. A continuation of sorts, but without the majestic presence of vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala, nor the guitar dynamics, and manic on-stage spasms of Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, who had ventured to form The Mars Volta. According to some journalists in the music press, The Mars Volta were a weird mutation of At the Drive-In’s sound that now added latin rhythms, jazz interludes, progressive metal, and spacey lyrics.
Was my head prepared for that? A voice appeared over my shoulder, a rock dude in a band t-shirt and a denim waistcoat who also happened to be browsing the racks and had noticed my dilemma. He motioned to the right hand, “You should buy that one.” “Oh yeah.” I responded, somewhat taken back, “Is it good?” “Amazing”, the dude responded as he shuffled off down the aisle.
I shrugged, returned the Sparta CD to the racks and made my purchase. I exited through the rock section hoping to thank my compatriot. He was gone. Maybe he was never really there.
The listening experience of “Deloused in the Comatorium” set me on the road to my love of the Mars Volta and all that followed. Not just their own records, of which there are now eight, but all the various creative endeavors, such as the bands Bosnian Rainbows, and Antemasque, collaborations, and solo recordings. As of writing, Rodriguez-Lopez has issued 50+ solo albums all wildly different and eccentric, and almost impossible to fully immerse oneself into unless fortunate to have a year off from everyday life. He’s also produced countless records by other bands and made a number of feature films, including The Sentimental Engine Slayer (2010).
Sparta was a good band, but not a life changing one. Mars Volta, on the other hand, were beyond definitions of simply bad or good. On paper, a jazz and latin infused prog rock/metal band shouldn’t work. In practice, it was life giving nourishment to those willing to invest.
Omar and Cedric: If This Ever Gets Weird
There are not too many music documentaries that get this up close and personal to the dynamics of a band’s internal workings without becoming boring muso noodling, but in Omar and Cedric: If This Ever Gets Weird we are given almost voyeuristic coverage from within the band itself. Thankfully, Bixler-Zavala and Rodriguez-Lopez are interesting and weird enough to hold the attention and the footage of backstage exploits, strange sci-fi interludes, and onstage performances create a kind of montage road movie of the two’s musical creativity and friendship. As the film plays out, the voices of both men narrate the visuals giving a sense of narrative to the disconnected home-movie footage.
If This Ever Gets Weird starts with a young Rodriguez-Lopez moving with his family from Puerto Rico to the United States. The experiences of racism that the family are subjected to leave a bitter taste of the so-called American Dream and when they finally settle in El Paso, Texas, the emerging punk rock scene, predominantly led by the immigrant Latino community, envelopes the teenage Rodriguez-Lopez into the culture of creativity and expression. He meets Bixler-Zavala at a punk rock show, and they form what seems to be an unbreakable friendship. The rest is history, as they say.
At the Drive-in become overnight sensations. They played on nationwide television, making a chaotic appearance on Late Night With Conan O’Brien. Internal rifts within the band persisted and the band fell apart. Mars Volta became a Grammy Award winning rock act. They too fell apart. Death and drugs surrounded the band and the two very publicly have a falling out. Bixler-Zavala’s entry into the Church of Scientology, which is explored to some length within Omar and Cedric: If This Ever Gets Weird, is a factor in the disintegration of the friendship.
Bixler-Zavala and his wife Chrissie Carnell Bixler’s eventual escape from the Church is seen as a revitalizing moment that reconnects him with Rodriguez-Lopez a few years later. It is never easy. All the pain, the heartache, and the trauma is recorded and placed on screen unfiltered, and it all feeds into the acts of creativity. Art and music is the by-product of their friendship. Eventually, the pain that the two have experienced begins to heal. At the Drive-in reform for a triumphant tour and a new record. Soon enough The Mars Volta, after a ten-year hiatus, continues with the 2022 album “The Mars Volta”. The healing process found in music and friendship is apparent. The ‘weird’ in Omar and Cedric: If This Ever Gets Weird is scattered throughout the two friends’ history. It’s amazing they are still together.
The Layers of The Mars Volta
One aspect that is missing from Omar and Cedric: If This Ever Gets Weird is the recorded music of the At the Drive-in, The Mars Volta, and the various offshoots, are not exhibited enough. Mostly we hear snippets of shaky live renditions or rough takes recorded in-studio. You get the impression that the music is not the core purpose here. And this would be correct. The core theme of the documentary is friendship and triumph over a series of travesties. The search for connection and art is seen as a kind of therapy for both men. A way to make sense of the world they inhabit.
While the recorded music of The Mars Volta and At the Drive-In might be absent, Omar and Cedric: If This Ever Gets Weird does provide an audio gateway into the expansive solo material of Rodriguez-Lopez. Snippets of his solo recordings act as a connective score for the film’s overall narrative. The abstract, experimental compositions of Rodriguez-Lopez meet perfectly over the home-movie visuals of the American landscape and the pair traveling from one venue to another. The music layers over each significant moment. If anyone was looking for a primer on the solo material of Rodriguez-Lopez, then the soundtrack to this film might be a good place to start.
There are plenty of ‘Behind the Music’ style documentaries and podcasts that cover At the Drive-in and Mars Volta’s musical output. This is not one of them. Omar and Cedric: If This Ever Gets Weird is a far more personal testament from the vantage point of those involved and not a ‘critical’ assessment from music journalists or other musicians observing from the outside.
Upon watching Omar and Cedric: If This Ever Gets Weird, I thought back to that choice I made all those years ago and the realization that the two individuals that form the core of The Mars Volta and At the Drive-In, but especially Rodriguez-Lopez, have made a vast world of creativity for anyone willing to open themselves up to it. I’m glad I stepped into that world and remained. Omar and Cedric: If This Ever Gets Weird is an awesome way to enter into that world. A trip that, while covering some excellent music, also ensures the importance of human connection, friendship, and creativity in life.
Omar and Cedric: If This Ever Gets Weird is now available to watch on digital and on demand, and on DVD and Blu-Ray.
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