Mars Dub from the Drive-In

I'm always thankful for my friends for so many things.

When I'm drawing blanks for ideas here at NSS, I can usually count on someone to give me a nudge in the right direction. Mastermind of such blogs as Underneathica (deceased) & Jonderblog, frequent contributor, commenter, & illuminator around these part, Jonder did exactly that recently. He queried "No De Facto?".

I've served up plenty of At the Drive In & The Mars Volta in the past. I enjoy all things Rodriguez-Lopez & Bixler-Zavala related, but I somehow entirely neglected sharing De Facto.

De Facto first saw light of night in the form of small jam sessions after At the Drive-In shows. The original band consisted of Omar, Cedric, & Jeremy Ward playing local shows around their home town of El Paso, Texas. For their first recording they brain-stormed the name De Facto Cadre Dub, which was later shortened to De Facto. The lineup of the band was switched around from the usual ATDI (Omar on guitar & Bixler on vocals): Cedric played drums like he did before in his earlier bands Foss & Los Dregtones, Omar played bass, & Jeremy ran samples, sang, & did the sparse guitar work.

Their first self-titled recording was released as a very limited vinyl pressing in 1999; it would be re-released in 2001 as How Do You Dub? You Fight for Dub. You Plug Dub In. through Headquarter Records, now known as Restart Records.

Having relocated to California from El Paso around 2000, Ward, Bixler & Rodriguez teamed up with keyboardist Isaiah "Ikey" Owens (formerly of the Long Beach Dub All Stars) & re-launched their longtime 'side project'. De Facto mined an eclectic & constantly-evolving composite of sounds hinging squarely on tripped-out, instrumental dub. Influenced by Dub/reggae pioneers like Lee Perry & Dr. Alimantado, the band also added electronica, Latin/salsa, & jazz which gave their sound a distinct quality. They utilized the surprisingly-effective melodica popularized by the great Augustus Pablo.

Following the break-up of ATDI in 2001 Omar & Cedric switched their focus back to De Facto. That year eventually saw all the band's releases come out, starting with the 456132015 EP produced by Mario Caldato Jr.  De Facto's first full-length album, ¡Megaton Shotblast! was released on the Gold Standard Laboratories label. Légende du Scorpion à Quatre Queues, which would be the last De Facto album, followed the same year, released through Modern City Records. Both albums combined band's studio recordings made in 2000 with live recordings from the European tour in 2001.

Mid-2001 Eva Gardner joined up with De Facto to record several tracks that would later appear on the Tremulant EP by the band soon to be known as The Mars Volta. & the rest, as they say, is history.

Sadly, although there have been occasional rumors of the re-emergence of De Facto, Jeremy Ward's untimely death at his home in Los Angeles in May 2003 has left a question mark on the future of the band.

So, Jonder..."Yes! De Facto!"

DeFacto - 456132015, Grand Royal GR096CD, 2001.

all decryption codes in comments

120E7
Vesica Pices
120E7 Dub version

De Facto - ¡Megaton Shotblast!, Gold Standard Laboratories GSL 45 CD, 2001.

Manual Dexterity
Cordova
El Professor Contra De Facto
Fingertrap
Descarga De Facto
Mitchel Edward Klik Enters a Dreamlike State...& it's Fucking Scandalous
Thick Vinyl Plate
Coaxial
Simian Cobblestone
Rodche Defects

De Facto - Légende du Scorpion à Quatre Queues, Modern City Records MCR#2, 2001.

Legend of the Four-tailed Scorpion
Mattilious Creed
AMKHZ
Hoxadrine (live)
Muerte Inoxia
Vesica Pisces (live)
Cordova
120E7 (original version)
Exit Template

De Facto - How Do You Dub? You Fight for Dub. You Plug Dub In., 

Restart Records RST 003, 2001.

Coaxial
Madagascar
Aqua Mineral
Defacto
1024 1/2
Thick Vinyl Plate
Radio Rebelde
Nux Vomica / Coaxialreturn

Enjoy,
NØ