Mars City Drive

DE

[b]Cedric Bixler-Zavala[/b] (b. 4 November 1974, Redwood City, San Mateo, California) is an American vocalist, songwriter, and drummer. He is best known as [b][a=The Mars Volta][/b]'s lead singer and lyricist (2001–2012; reunited in 2019) and the sole remaining original member of [b][a=At The Drive-In][/b] (1994–2001, 2015–18), where he sang and occasionally played guitar. Bixler has been extensively collaborating with [a=Omar Rodriguez-Lopez] since the early 1990s, performing and recording together in several other projects besides ATDI and TMV, such as [b][url=https://discogs.com/artist/53557]De Facto[/url][/b] (1998–2003), [a=El Grupo Nuevo De Omar Rodriguez Lopez]'s [i][m=172029][/i] CD/LP in 2009, and a short-lived supergroup [b][a=Antemasque][/b] (2014–15) with [a=Flea] and [a=Travis Barker]. In December 2005, he released a solo 12" as [url=https://discogs.com/master/1324514]Alavaz Relxib Cirdec[/url] (his name reversed) on [l=Gold Standard Laboratories]. Cedric Bixlez-Zavala co-founded the [b][a=Anywhere][/b] band with [a=Christian Eric Beaulieu] of [a=Triclops!] and renowned bassist [a=Mike Watt] in 2011, also singing and playing guitar with his band [b]Zavalaz[/b] (since 2013). He is a technically proficient and versatile tenor vocalist, an expert at controlled falsetto and head voice singing, with the working range G♯2–D6 that extends as low as E2 and as high as C7. He was born in a family of Mexican origins, the son of Dennis Jose Bixler (b. 1945) and Rosie Maria Zavala; even though Cedric's parents were bilingual, he never learned proper Spanish. The Bixler family soon relocated to El Paso, Texas, where Cedric first met [a=Omar Rodriguez-Lopez] in the early 1990s while practicing with [a=Paul Hinojos]; they became lifelong friends and permanent collaborators since then. Circa 1993, Cedric established his first band, [b][url=https://discogs.com/artist/5402713]Foss[/url][/b], with future US politician [a=Beto O'Rourke]; they split after two years, releasing several demo tapes and touring the US and Canada twice. In October 1994, Cedric Bixler-Zavala co-founded [a=At The Drive-In] with [a=Jim Ward]. The early "canonical" lineup solidified by July 1996, after the recording sessions for the band's debut album, [i][m=45442][/i], with [a=Omar Rodriguez-Lopez] switching from bass to guitar and drummer [a=Tony Hajjar] with bassist [a=Paul Hinojos] joining as the permanent members. Other notable bands that Bixler-Zavala founded in the early 1990s include [b][a=Dregtones][/b] with [url=https://discogs.com/artist/591488]Ralph Jasso[/url] on guitar and [a=Jimmy Hernandez] on bass, which released the [i][r=9335229][/i] demo tape on [l=Western Breed Records] in 1994, and [b][a=The Fall On Deaf Ears][/b], which only recorded several songs before bassist [a=Laura Beard] and guitarist [a=Sarah Reiser], both 17, died in a car accident in 1997. In 1998, Cedric launched his first joint project with [a=Omar Rodriguez-Lopez], an experimental dub reggae outfit [url=https://discogs.com/artist/53557]De Facto[/url], which began as a trio with [a=Jim Ward]'s cousin and intermittent ATDI member, [a=Jeremy Michael Ward], performing improvised jams after the band's local shows. De Facto soon gained traction, releasing several EPs and two full-length albums. When [a=At The Drive-In] disbanded in 2001, it was De Facto that first signed with [l=Gold Standard Laboratories], releasing [i][m=113794][/i] (GSL45) before [a=The Mars Volta] presented the group's debut [i][m=9308][/i] (GSL54).