NYC Show Feature/ Interview with Zechs Marquise
Ever been to outer space? Likely not - but if you did, Zechs Marquise would probably be blaring across intergalactic airwaves. Coined “music from outer space” by their close friends, Zechs Marquise has carved out a niche for themselves in the indie music scene, showing no signs of slowing down. Joined by another Rodriguez Lopez – brother Omar of The Mars Volta and The Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group – Zechs Marquise returns to NYC this week to a sold out show at the Highline Ballroom.
Marfred Rodriguez Lopez took the time to speak to me about a Delicate Stranded Nightmare that has shifted into a dream come true.
Times Square: You and your brother Marcel are among the founding members of Zechs Marquise, which also features your brother Rikardo on the trumpet; and, of course, your brother Omar is also a celebrated musician. How important was music in your family, while you were growing up? Were your parents musicians as well?
Marfred Rodriguez Lopez: Yeah, our Dad was a musician. He used to have his own salsa groups.
TS: Oh cool!
MRL: Different ones, yeah. He’s also a composer, as well – so it was very much encouraged.
TS: We’ll move on to Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare. I really want to talk about that album; I’m especially interested, though, in the significance of a “stranded nightmare”…
MRL: We just kind of liked the way that it sounded, and it’s also the way that we would describe terrible nightmares. You know…that you can’t seem to wake up from…where you kinda feel trapped inside the moment…
TS: Yeah, that does sound a little bit scary (laughs)…
MRL: (Laughs)
TS: What was the mood that set the tone for the album?
MRL: There were just different moods, different days. It’s real moody because it’s kind of how we felt at the time. It’s kinda like – not a down point, but you know, all of us were kind of in doubt during that recording, each one had their personal reasons, and it came out in our music. And in some of the songs, it’s kinda light-hearted, because that’s just how everyone was feeling.
TS: You have a track on the album called Attack of the 40 ft. Wave. Has the meaning of the song changed for you since the Japanese tsunami?
MRL: I guess in a way, it has.
I saw some of that footage and it’s definitely devastating…and I guess a part of that song feels very overpowering, but in a ‘droney’ kind of way.
It’s a very spacey song, so it feels heavy in a kind of way.
TS: It’s interesting that you say that, because I think it was on your Facebook group where you define your music as ‘music from outer space’. I thought that was really cool.
MRL: It was a few friends of ours that we had showed our new record to, and they used that [term]: ‘music from outer space.’
We thought it was funny that that was how our friends perceived it as, ‘cause we already thought our new record is completely different from the last one we did. It kinda has that feeling…it’s ‘out there’ for us.
TS: Are you working on a new album, or on any new tracks?
MRL: Well, we just finished recording [a new record] at the end of last year. That should be out sometime in the summer, or probably the early Fall.
We have material that we already worked on; when we get back from our tour, we’re gonna start working on that, get it recorded.
TS: So we have something to look forward to in the near future, then.
MRL: Uh, huh – yup!
TS: Cool!
You’ll be playing at the Highline Ballroom next week in New York City, and of course, NYC is a musical mecca for artists. From an artist’s point of view, what do you love most about the city?
MRL: The energy of the city… like how alive it feels. Just playing shows there is great…‘cause you know, where I’m from, in El Paso, it’s not overwhelming, the buildings are not so large… and everything about New York is big! So when we do go to town, we spend time just walking around… no specific mission.
TS: What advice would you give to young artists who are in the shoes you were standing in when you were starting out with your band in 2004?
MRL: The truth is that you’ll get as much out of it as you put in to it; so when you put everything into it, you do see returns.
For something you really care about…put all your heart, all your energy, all your effort into what you’re doing.
Your album Getting Paid is titled as if it were a hip hop record, and so are some of the songs, like “Crushing It” and “Mega Slap,” yet the music doesn’t sound hip-hop. So, where does that swag in the titles come from?