When At The Drive In's album, Relationship
Of Command came out in 2000 it changed everything for me. I went back and
studied In Casino Out and Vaya like my life depended on it. I absorbed
everything this band had to offer.
My band, Tape was a mixture of MBV,
Primal Scream, The Stooges and some 90's rap shit, but my stage demeanor,
leaping off amps and over the drummer, knocking into the guitar player and
basically having a fit was heavily influenced by Cedric Bixler (Before he went
by the hyphenated, Zavalas).
When they announced the first night of
the tour at the Glass House in Pomona I bought tickets for my whole band. Mind
you, back then money was tight and that was a big deal, but needless to say I
went with most of my band and my then girlfriend in tow.
We had played previously played to about
25 people in the small room next door, and that was just about the biggest deal
ever for me, so this was major. I got there early, claimed a good spot, and
though I missed the Murder City Devils (bummer), I was right in the middle of
the crowd, eager with anticipation when Jim gave his Ian MacKaye rap and with
that, the band launched into one of the most impressive sets of music I've ever
heard, even to this day.
I later went to De Facto (their side
band) shows at the Knitting Factory, one of the 1st Mars Volta shows at the
Troubadour, and continued being a mega fan all the way until they broke up. I
never met the band, never needed to; the music was enough for me.
Fast forward to many years later and my
band, She Wants Revenge managed to play at the same venue where I had first
seen them rock out at, The Glass House, selling it out each time we played. I
couldn't believe that. Seeing a packed house for ATDI blew my mind, and here we
were doing it ourselves. Crazy. Like truly never thought that was
possible.
Around this time my friend Juan, a
brilliant bass player mentioned in passing that he may audition for the Mars
Volta. He knew how big of an ATDI fan I was, and though he was totally into it,
I like to think that me freaking out about the opportunity and talking his ear
off about it saying how he HAD to do it helped push him towards it. Soon my
friend who I had played with was in this massive, immensely musical, beautiful
prog rock band, wowing audiences worldwide. So cool.
Tim Ward, a dear friend who was working
with SWR at the time told me that I would totally get along with the singer
from the other hand he worked with, The Mars Volta. He told me that like
myself, he skated around on days off on tour, loved old skate videos like I
did, and that if we ever met we would totally get along.
He introduced us through text message
(if memory serves me), and we began a long and very cool text and social media
relationship. We spoke of getting together to skate, but busy lives always got
in the way. One day he met and later married a local girl I knew, and soon they
were off having beautiful children and joining that club of touring dad, a gig
I knew all too well. We stayed in touch, texted, made plans to make plans,
invited each other to some cool life things, but then one day he moved back
home to El Paso, and we never even got to skate Bronson Canyon as we said we'd
like to.
Then one day ATDI announced they were
playing Coachella, and I was over the moon. I tweeted a congratulations to
Cedric telling him how excited I was and then texted him and told him the story
of how I'd taken my band to see them at the Glass House and how moved I was by
their song, "Napoleon Solo". (Look up the story if you don't know
it). I told him that they'd better play it, to which he replied, "Of
course, just for you".
So when I was front and center watching
them tear up weekend 1 with my wife it was the coolest thing ever when they
started that familiar guitar riff and played one of my favorite songs. It was
really a full circle moment. Here was this dude who influenced me so much as a
performer, doing this song at a festival I had the pleasure and honor off
playing TWICE, something I never would have believed had you told me that back
when I played with Tape.
The next weekend I was in bed with my
wife when my phone blew up with texts; "did you hear that?!"
"What the fuck?!" I didn't get it. What was I missing?
Oh, right...Coachella weekend 2. My friend Tyler told me that Cedric had
shouted me out from the main stage of Coachella. I was gobsmacked. I couldn't
believe it. Here he has told me he was going to play it for me, but a shout
out?
No. Not possible.
It wasn't available on YouTube for a
while, and when I finally found a recording of the show and the song I watched
eagerly waiting to hear what he said, and as the song's familiar stains began,
he spun around, and on the mic for everyone to hear, said, "This song is
dedicated to Justin Warfield".
I just got goose bumps when I typed
this.
I still can't believe that moment or
what it meant for the fan that bought his band tickets to see At The Drive In
to inspire them and him to reach for greater heights.
That was one of the most magical rock
and roll moments of my life, and believe me, I've had more than I'm worthy
of.
I thanked him over text and said we must
hang, and when I caught wind of his new band, Zavalas I said we should play
together, as my new outfit Dream Club would be a perfect fit. We continued to
talk on social media, and the more things we found in common the more we
couldn't believe we'd never met.
The capper was one day when I posted
pics of me with my Afro, jumping off amps with Tape. He liked the pics, and
said, "how did we never hang out back then?" That was so
fucking cool.
This past Coachella, Drive Like Jehu
played, a band I could write a similar post about, but will spare you. What I
can tell you is I dragged my girl away from Jack White late into the evening to
see this band that blew me away in a bowling alley back in 1994 as a young
lad.
When we finally arrived after the long
walk to the Gobi, there was nobody there. Literally about a hundred or so
people gathered in the tent as they tuned up and line checked. Near the stage
in the guest viewing area there were about five people lurking around.
But there, standing alone and waiting
patiently like the fan he was, was Cedric Bixler-Zavalas.
I walked right up to him, grabbed him,
and upon seeing me we just laughed and hugged.
It was totally amazing. Years in the
making, and of course, there we were, just two fans of music, waiting to see a
band who changed our lives.
I said, "of course we're the only
two guys here".
And it was so fucking special.
When I met Barack Obama as he was
campaigning for the presidency the 1st term I didn't ask for a pic, when I hung
out with Lou Reed I didn't dare ask for a pic, but after we talked about our
wives, our lives, our music, our kids, and how crazy that it had taken us this
long to meet, I looked to my girl and said, "you have to take a
pic".
Music is magic.
#tbt
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