At the Drive-In has been on hiatus for a few years now, and the five-piece band decided to… At the Drive-In has been on hiatus for a few years now, and the five-piece band decided to go in two separate directions: Sparta, with its straightforward rock style, and The Mars Volta, with enough experimentation to fill a lab with projects for years to come. The latter group has toured the country many times, but Club Laga will get its first attempt to host these amazing fellows, along with spoken-word sensation Saul Williams, for one night.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ The Mars Volta transcends many genres, touching on hardcore, rock ‘n’ roll, jazz and even Latin-based fusion in their sound. The band never has been one to allow itself to be limited by anything, including marketability.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ The Mars Volta consists of two of the five members of the former ATDI lineup, vocalist Cedric Zavala and guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. They also had Jeremy Ward around for live knob tweaking, but he passed away two months ago from drug overdose.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ De-loused in the Comatorium was originally written from the inspiration of Julio Venegas, a close friend of the band members, who committed suicide.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ On their debut full-length album, De-loused in the Comatorium, Rodriguez-Lopez, Zavala and Ward enlisted Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to play bass on the record, and RHCP guitarist John Frusciante to guest on a track — ‘Cicatriz ESP’ The album was anything but mainstream, with only one song clocking in at less than five minutes, and received many rave reviews around the nation.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Performing with The Mars Volta will be the slam poet Saul Williams. Williams, who has spent some of the late summer and early fall touring with The Mars Volta, won the 1996 Grand Slam Championship for his unmatched improvised slam poetry. It’s like a rap battle, but with more poetry and less insults. Thestranger.com describes Williams as a ‘hip-hop poet-preacher-actor-rapper-singer-musician’ and says his poetry is ‘full of love language.’ Williams will be performing a spoken-word reading of some of his work from his latest book, ‘Said the Shotgun to the Head,’ which is currently available from MTV/Pocketbooks.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ The Mars Volta spent a good part of the year touring with Queens of the Stone Age and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This has caused them to grow a steady fan-base while still appealing to indie kids. Their first single, ‘Inertiatic ESP,’ gets quite a bit of airplay on MTV, as well as Much Music, in Canada.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Vocalist Cedric Zavala has been hailed as the Robert Plant of our generation, with his off-the-wall lyrics and plays on words in order to get you thinking. The Mars Volta tends to have spastic structures that aren’t exactly structures, to say the least. Songs go from a main riff, into spaced-out noodles and dabbles, then finally back for a climax. While this has seemed pretentious to many, the boys still managed to be successful and get picked up by a major label.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ This show is probably the show of the month for many, and we advise that no one miss this for any reason. This is especially important if you never got to see At the Drive-In live, because it’s living proof that good music still does exist, and, finally, is in the mainstream.

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The Mars Volta and Saul Williams will be playing Club Laga on Thurs., Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. Tickets for the all-ages show are $16-$18. For more information call (412) 323-1919.