The long awaited release of Omar Rodriguez Lopez’s film The Sentimental Engine Slayer on DVD is finally here! We also have a special bundle deal that includes a choice of shirt and the limited edition poster. PRE- ORDER yours now HERE
The long awaited release of Omar Rodriguez Lopez’s film The Sentimental Engine Slayer on DVD is finally here! We also have a special bundle deal that includes a choice of shirt and the limited edition poster. PRE- ORDER yours now HERE
Bosnian Rainbows live in Tokyo, Japan on December 7, 2012 all photos by Kazumichi Kokei.
Vive Latino 2013 has announced its lineup with Morrissey, Underworld and Yeah Yeah Yeahs headlining, with Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Japandroids, Tame Impala, and Silversun Pickups and Bosnian Rainbows - the new band of Le Butcherettes frontwoman Teri Gender Bender and The Mars Volta’s Omar Rodriguez Lopez and Deantoni Parks amongst the acts surrounding the three day lineup, happening March 14-17, 2013 at Foro Sol in Mexico City, Mexico.
The lineup is as follows:
“When you’re writing music, you’re really just translating it. You’re tapping into something greater than yourself, much greater than yourself,” opens Omar Rodríguez-López, in what would become an enrapturing discussion of music, its intrinsic relationship to his approach to living, and his ever-evolving persona. “That means it exists with or without you. That’s why I always make the point that writing a movie or a song or record, there’s absolutely nothing special about it. Any asshole can do it. What’s special is the fact that [the metaphysical source] is out there. It’s out there for us to tap in to, for us to see it, and for us to define our skills at seeing it and translating it into something tangible so we can all share it. Whatever music is, whether it’s a god, energy, whatever – it’s fucking humbling.”
The last time I spoke with him, Rodríguez-López had just reversed his attitude to recording music, and realised that complete dictatorial control was ill-suited and misdirected.
“I’ve gotten much further into what we were talking about last time we spoke, about collaborating with people. My whole life is a collaboration now. For the past 11 years I’ve just been doing whatever I’ve wanted all the time – my music, me, me, me – and making everyone bend to that will. I’m just a completely different person now. I’m working in a collaborative group, that’s what you really have to understand – music is just the result of the process, which means it’s just the result of how you’re living as a person. As controlling as I was with my music, people should realise that was an extension of my life, and that means I was just such a bummer to be around.
“Now, my whole life is a collaboration. I’m in a completely different place. There’s no greater feeling. That was no way to live. If you’re not sharing it, you’re not really experiencing something…Now, I can share experiences with my friends and the act of giving: that’s such a big thing. I’ve given away about 60 percent of my belongings over a year ago. Just paring everything down to the essentials: ‘Do I really need this? Do I really need all these books? You haven’t read that, here you take it’. They’re all small details but those things do add up.
Rodríguez-López is infamous his unreleased collection of records despite his prolific output; some of his solo records were released almost ten years after their date of recording. With this newfound exploration of collaboration, I propose to him the idea that maybe he should share his albums with his fans as they’re made, in an extension of his philosophy.
This month’s feature on Omar Rodriguez-Lopez is a primer for uninitiated listeners as well as a pertinent check-in for long-time fans. Space constraints and limited attention spans require a streamlined approach in conveying Rodriguez-Lopez’s musings to the masses, but as fans of his music know, he is not a man of brevity. In our 30-minute phone conversation we covered an array of topics spanning his entire career, so much so that there was simply no way to touch on most of it in the article. Rodriguez-Lopez, who plays the Triple Door tonight as part of City Arts Fest, was frank, honest and had a lot to say. Here’s all of it. -Jeff Kirby
You’re in Stockholm right now. How’s the European tour going so far?
It’s going really well. And thanks to global warming there’s some nice weather.
Any particular surprises, other than the nice weather?
That’s the main thing. I think this is the first time in 19 years of touring that I’ve experienced such a…well, I guess it’s not winter over here, but usually by this time of the year, and especially when you’re this far north, it’s already really cold, so it really is something different for me. It’s pretty nice.
This month’s feature on Omar Rodriguez-Lopez is a primer for uninitiated listeners as well as a pertinent check-in for long-time fans. Space constraints and limited attention spans require a streamlined approach in conveying Rodriguez-Lopez’s musings to the masses, but as fans of his music know, he is not a man of brevity. In our 30-minute phone conversation we covered an array of topics spanning his entire career, so much so that there was simply no way to touch on most of it in the article. Rodriguez-Lopez, who plays the Triple Door tonight as part of City Arts Fest, was frank, honest and had a lot to say. Here’s all of it. -Jeff Kirby
You’re in Stockholm right now. How’s the European tour going so far?
It’s going really well. And thanks to global warming there’s some nice weather.
Any particular surprises, other than the nice weather?
That’s the main thing. I think this is the first time in 19 years of touring that I’ve experienced such a…well, I guess it’s not winter over here, but usually by this time of the year, and especially when you’re this far north, it’s already really cold, so it really is something different for me. It’s pretty nice.
This month’s feature on Omar Rodriguez-Lopez is a primer for uninitiated listeners as well as a pertinent check-in for long-time fans. Space constraints and limited attention spans require a streamlined approach in conveying Rodriguez-Lopez’s musings to the masses, but as fans of his music know, he is not a man of brevity. In our 30-minute phone conversation we covered an array of topics spanning his entire career, so much so that there was simply no way to touch on most of it in the article. Rodriguez-Lopez, who plays the Triple Door tonight as part of City Arts Fest, was frank, honest and had a lot to say. Here’s all of it. -Jeff Kirby
You’re in Stockholm right now. How’s the European tour going so far?
It’s going really well. And thanks to global warming there’s some nice weather.
Any particular surprises, other than the nice weather?
That’s the main thing. I think this is the first time in 19 years of touring that I’ve experienced such a…well, I guess it’s not winter over here, but usually by this time of the year, and especially when you’re this far north, it’s already really cold, so it really is something different for me. It’s pretty nice.
Omar Rodriguez Lopez is one prolific musician—even his band is billed under multiple titles“It’s a band—that’s something I haven’t been in for over 11 years.”
Fans of Omar Rodríguez López might be surprised to hear the super-prolific guitarist/songwriter describe his latest project, Bosnian Rainbows, this way. After all, having made his name at the turn of the Millennium with Texan post-hardcore heroes At the Drive-In, he has spent much of the past decade recording and criss-crossing the globe with prog rock flag bearers The Mars Volta which, while fluid of line-up, looked every bit like a band—from a distance at least.
“It was my baby: I started the group; I named it; booked all our tours—it became known as my family, not my band,” Rodríguez López explains, talking a mile a minute from a tour-stop in Copenhagen, Denmark. “I had to be in control of everything and I was really fucking domineering with everybody, not just musicians.”
A New Phase
About Tokyo
