The Mars Volta Sibling Band Zechs Marquise Hits The Road

The El Paso quartet featuring Mars Volta multi-instrumentalist Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez and his bassist brother Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez has toured almost incessantly since the August 2009 release of its debut album Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare via the label of the pair's elder hermano Omar's Rodriguez Lopez Productions. See complete tour dates below.

In the limited time since its winter 2009 tour, Zechs Marquise has been hard at work recording its followup album in El Paso, TX. The yet-untitled disc is expected out in Fall 2010.

Zechs Marquise formed in El Paso, Texas during the spring of 2003 when brothers Marfred and Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez came together with childhood friends Matthew Wilkson and Marcos Smith. The group soon named itself after a popular Japanese anime character and hit the studio to record its first album during the late summer months of 2004. That studio effort was later scrapped and in June 2006 the band instead released 34:26, a live improvised set that showed its great range of talents and influences. By fall of 2006, Zechs was touring the west coast consistently, sharing the stage with such eclectic acts as Daedelus, Busdriver, The Album Leaf, (DJ) Nobody, Daddy Kev, The Gaslamp Killer, and Totimoshi.

July 2007 saw the band return to the recording studio. Having learned from the difficulties of their first attempt, the quintet decided to keep all of the recording in house, purchasing a mixing board, microphones, and Pro Tools in order to track all of the recordings themselves. After a few days in their studios, dubbed Castle Greyskull and El Morro, the members realized they had enough material for a full length album. The record, Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare, was completed in February 2008.

Zechs Marquise then spent time on the road, auspiciously touring with Free Moral Agents & Blank Blue. In March 2009, the band made its first venture overseas to Europe, opening for the Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Group, in which Marcel -- then performing double duty -- is also a player. During the overseas tour, Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare was released in Europe by RLP/Willie Anderson Recordings on CD as well as the first pressing of the album on vinyl. Since that time, the group toured extensively throughout North America with RX Bandits and Mars Volta's Grammy Award winning keyboardist Ikey Owens' group Free Moral Agents.

In May 2009, Zechs Marquise signed on to the prestigious management roster at Sargent House and released Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare in the U.S. on vinyl and CD on August 25th through Rodriguez Lopez Productions.

RX Bandits / The Builders And The Butchers / Zechs Marquise
03/16 New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues
03/18 Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Culture Room
03/19 Orlando, FL @ The Social
03/20 Orlando, FL @ The Social
03/21 Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade
03/23 Carrboro, NC @ Cat's Cradle
03/24 Washington D.C. @ Rock and Roll Hotel
03/25 New York, NY @ The Gramercy Theatre
03/26 New York, NY @ The Gramercy Theatre
03/27 New York, NY @ The Gramercy Theatre
03/28 Philadelphia, PA @ The TLA
03/29 New Haven, CT @ Toad's Place
03/30 Allston, MA @ Harper's Ferry *
03/31 Allston, MA @ Harper's Ferry
04/01 Montreal, QC @ Underworld
04/02 Toronto, ON @ The Mod Club
04/03 Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
04/04 Chicago, IL @ The Bottom Lounge
04/05 Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall
04/06 Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock Social Club
04/08 Denver, CO @ The Marquis Theatre
04/09 Salt Lake City, UT @ In The Venue
04/10 Boise, ID @ The Venue
04/11 Seattle, WA @ El Corazon
04/12 Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre
04/14 Orangevale, CA @ The Boardwalk
04/15 San Francisco, CA @ Slim's
04/22 Long Beach, CA @ Alex's Bar (w/ Lisa Papineau, Technology, Cast Spells) *
04/23 Pomona, CA @ The Glass House *
04/25 San Luis Obispo, CA @ Downtown Brewing Co. *