Omar Rodriguez-Lopez might just be one of the busiest guys in music, but with talent like his, it’s hard to consider him being anything but. Currently touring with Bosnian Rainbows, the guitarist showed his musical dexterity in an interview with Rolling Stone this week, while simultaneously inflating fan hopes for an At The Drive-In reunion.
Last year saw the full band perform together for the first time since their 2001 break-up, but those off-years were not spent idly by anyone in the group. Rodriguez-Lopez and singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala of course saw enormous success together with The Mars Volta, while members Jim Ward, Paul Hinojos and Tony Hajjar established themselves with their own rock group, Sparta. Prior to the break-up, a deep bond had developed amongst the five musicians, however, particularly from growing up together in El Paso, Texas, then spending seven years together in the band.
In the Rolling Stone interview Rodriguez-Lopez makes it sound as if ATDI’s coming back together in 2012 was much more natural than most might have expected, lending even more credibility to potential additional shows in the future. Asked if their gigst last year were meant only as part of a limited reunion, the guitarist had this to say:
We didn’t want to force anything. We had already been hanging out together over the years. We just decided to hang out more and eventually, OK, let’s hang out inside a room with musical instruments. That day, we realized this feels really good. Let’s not make plans and force anything on ourselves. We did one show, which was Coachella, taking it a step at a time. We only did about six shows: Coachella, Chicago, England, Spain, Japan and Australia. We could have booked the rest of the year playing At the Drive-In, but the main thing was, let’s finish the tour that we never got to finish [in 2001].
Rodriguez-Lopez has his hands full right now with Bosnian Rainbows, as well as with his work as a filmmaker, and as producer and bassist for Le Butcherettes. None of this holds him back from making predictions on another ATDI reunion, however. Asked if the band is still active, Rodriguez-Lopez replied:
We don’t talk about it that way. It’s there; we have possibilities. Everybody’s doing something right now. Cedric has a record coming out, Tony and Jim in Sparta are doing stuff. We’re just trying to feel again when the moment opens up where nothing is forced and nothing is an obligation.
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