![Presidential Candidate Beto O’Rourke Gives Hope for Mars Volta Reunion](https://townsquare.media/site/366/files/2019/03/Beto-ORourke-Cedric-Bixler-Zavala.jpg?w=980&q=75)
Presidential Candidate Beto O’Rourke Gives Hope for Mars Volta Reunion
It's amazing the connections you make in life along the way. Though recently declaring himself as a candidate for the U.S. presidency in 2020, Texas politician Beto O'Rourke also once served as a musician playing in a punk band with the Mars Volta's Cedric Bixler-Zavala. During a recent campaign stop, O'Rourke was asked if he'd be interested in having Bixler-Zavala's band the Mars Volta play his inauguration.
"We would be honored to have the Mars Volta play anything along the campaign or in the presidency," stated O'Rourke in video posted by Joe Phillips. "Cedric [Bixler-Zavala], Omar [Rodriguez-Lopez] ... that group is one of the most talented collections of individuals and I'm really proud that they're from El Paso." See the response below.
O'Rourke's musical past found him playing alongside Bixler-Zavala, who was a drummer in the band Foss. The group released a couple of albums before splitting up in the mid-'90s. Afterward, Bixler-Zavala found musical fame first in At the Drive In and then the spinoff the Mars Volta. The latter group went on to win a Grammy before deactivating around the time that At the Drive-In got back together.
In February 2018, Bixler-Zavala gave some hope that the band could reunite, responding to a fan on Twitter stating, "I appreciate the rabid infection that spreads when anything Volta is discussed, but it’ll be a while b4 that ship takes off. Still got a lot of ground to cover w my current family @AtTheDriveIn all I did was praise a fans enthusiasm & casually mention volta being a thing."
Back in 2017, O'Rourke told the Washington Post of his music career past, “I wasn’t very good at it. [My father] won’t say it, but the expectation is: We didn’t take out loans for you to go to Columbia and then [play] in a punk band your whole life.”
O'Rourke started to make his name on the national level when he entered the senate race in Texas, narrowly losing out to another recent presidential candidate Ted Cruz. With the groundswell of momentum after that election and almost winning a traditionally Republican-leaning state, O'Rourke is now seeking an even higher office.
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