Cedric Bixler-Zavala

“I think that's what propelled our band, the fact that we put on something that was visibly attractive to people and then maybe the music comes later. I don't know what it is that people really like about us but that's part of the equation.”

“'Goliath' is about nine, 10 minutes long, and the end of it is so interesting, we didn't really want it to be used as a single.”

“But although I appreciate our audience, we don't do things for them. It's all for us - we play really self-indulgent music.”

“I had 8-tracks when I was a kid.”

“I think a lot of people could do with buying a Flying Burrito Brothers record - it does wonders for you.”

“To be involved in the subculture of punk rock puts you in a minority.”

“Mars Volta was always about embracing what 'too much' was and the excess of it. I never thought there would be an audience for it.”

“We all turn into something different, I'm just glad that I'm aware that I've had this alter ego since I was five years old and thankfully it hasn't got me into too much trouble.”

“You know Bad News, 'The Young Ones?' I learned not to spend a buttload of money on a sixth member.”

“That romantic notion of a band being a total democracy is just like lying to yourself in the mirror.”

“As corny as it sounds, and not to sound like a hippie, I think there are these spirit forces in nature, and we have to be careful not to offend them.”

“I like to think I take care of my body a little bit more, I'm not screaming as much.”

“I've still got a lot of tantrums to throw.”

“Rock 'n' roll says, 'Hey, man, this is where you can be normal,' and then after a while you grow up and you go, 'Wait a minute. Oh, by the way, I learned how to do these cool things, but I never learned how to speak my mind. I never learned how to express myself emotionally. I should have been paying attention more.'”

“I have cancelled shows before for knowing full well that my heart was not in it at that moment. Why? Because its an insult to the audience.”

“Amputechture' is my personal way of describing enlightenment, or just the celebration of this person who is a shaman and not a crazy person.”

“It all started in a local park in El Paso called Madeleine Park. At a ditch, a very small ditch, that everybody used to go skateboarding in. It was me and Jim Ward and an acoustic guitar. He and I constructed the very first phases of At The Drive In.”

“You come to a point in your life where you don't want to just keep repeating yourself.”

“But if you work in the rock industry, you should realize that the most important bands are the troublemakers.”

“I think other people's interpretations of what I've written are a lot better than what I have, because I don't understand a lot of what I write.”