The Mars Volta have broken up, singer Cedric Bixler Zavala announced last night in a series of tweets. "I can't sit here and pretend anymore," he wrote. "I am no longer a member of the Mars Volta."
The lyricist didn't explain what led to the split, apart from writing that he had favored launching "a full-scale American tour" for last year's album Noctourniquet, while bandmate Omar Rodríguez-Lopéz didn't. Instead, the guitarist started another group, Bosnian Rainbows.
The Mars Volta: 10 Years and Beyond
"I tried my hardest to keep it going but Bosnian Rainbows was all we got instead," Zavala tweeted. He thanked the Mars Volta's audience for "ever giving a fuck about our band" and said that pretending the breakup was a hiatus "is just an insult to the fans."
Zavala and Rodríguez-Lopéz formed the Mars Volta in 2001 after the dissolution of their previous band, the El Paso, Texas, post-hardcore group At the Drive-In. The Mars Volta released six LPs of knotty, dense progressive rock, starting with 2003's De-Loused in the Comatorium.
At the Drive-In reunited last year to play a string of shows and festivals. There's no indication that the group, which originally formed in 1993, has any further plans, though Zavala tweeted, "For the record, I'm still in love with ATDI."
The singer talked about his own plans only in vague terms. "All I can do is move forward with my music and just be happy that Mars Volta ever happened at all," he wrote. "God Damn we had a blast. Thank u again."
Rodríguez-López has yet to respond in public to Zavala.
