RUSH IS A BAND

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

New Rush Book

[Chemistry]

A new biographical Rush book by Jon Collins tentatively entitled Chemistry will be released this fall. Author Jon Collins writes:

The writing stage of the book is now finished and the text has been passed to a number of people for review. It covers the complete history of the band from origins to the present day, including side projects and other activities. Over 60 people have been interviewed, in person, by phone or by email, and several hundred interviews with band members have been referenced - in all there are at least 1500 separate citations in the text. I don't know what the final number of pages will be, but the current count is 148,077 words. There's still plenty more to do, but we're on track for September.
- Jon Collins, author of Chemistry, Mar. 22, 2005

Tuesday, March 8, 2005

Mars Volta

[The Mars Volta: Frances the Mute]

The hour or so before my family wakes up is my TV-flipping time; I sit there sipping my coffee with a dazed look on my face and flip between News and Video channels. One morning last week I was watching MTV2 and came across a video that sparked my interest. I had to double check that I wasn't on VH1 Classic by mistake, because I at first swore I heard some 70s prog-rock band that I couldn't recognize. The imagery was ghostly and washed-out with red tinges. The music was Pink-Floyd-esque and dreamy with the singer sounding like he was channeling Robert Plant circa 1975. When they flashed to footage of the band themselves, what stood out was the big 70s-era fros; they even looked like a 70s prog-rock band. I loved it. I watched it all the way through - not wanting it to end but at the same time anxiously awaiting the ending credits so I could find out who my new-found favorite new band was. It was the Mars Volta. I had been listening to The Widow off of their 2nd album Frances the Mute. Here's what Rolling Stone critic David Fricke had to say about their sophomore release:

... concussive, nonlinear rhythms; mad-dog guitar algebra; bloody-nightmare suites sung in bilingual free verse. In short, the beastly spawn of Radiohead's OK Computer and Rush's 2112. The only word singer-lyricist Cedric Bixler-Zavala and guitarist-producer Omar Rodriguez-Lopez don't care to understand, in any tongue, is compromise. ...

Radiohead meets Rush? Sound like a good combo to me. They also employ my favorite extraterrestial planet Mars in their name. I must buy this album.