De Facto was an American experimental dub/reggae/dancehall electronica band, formed in 1998 in El Paso, Texas, by longtime creative partners and At The Drive-In members, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala, with a cousin of the ATDI guitarist Jim Ward and their childhood friend, sound designer Jeremy M. Ward (1976—2003). After they relocated to California in early 2000, keyboardist Isaiah "Ikey" Owens (1975—2014) joined as the fourth permanent member. DeFacto was briefly active as Omar and Cedric's primary creative outlet, releasing two EPs and two albums in 2001, and laying the foundation for The Mars Volta's early lineup. De Facto went on indefinite hiatus in March 2003, after Jeremy Ward's sudden death. In March 2024, Rodriguez and Bixler played a one-off "reunion" show at SXSW, appearing at ACL Live at the Moody Theater with Marcel Rodríguez-López on keyboards and Teri Gender Bender on vocals. The band performed on the same night with Mogwai, in a special showcase that coincided with a joint North American premiere of two documentary biopics, "Omar and Cedric: If This Ever Gets Weird" directed by Nicolas Jack Davies, and Antony Crook's 3855391; Water Damage opened for both bands.
Known as "Sphinktators" in its early days, the project began as an informal, experimental-driven ATDI spinoff. At the aftershow jam sessions, frontman and vocalist Cedric would sit behind the drumkit, like in his early bands, Foss and The Fall On Deaf Ears, while guitarist Omar switched back to bass, his first instrument; Jeremy, who only assisted "behind the scenes" with At The Drive-In, took the spotlight on vocals and melodica, paying homage to Jamaican reggae/dub legend Augustus Pablo; Ward also handled loops and effects. The fourth member, Cedric's childhood friend and former Los Dregtones guitarist Ralph Jasso, likewise joined in the "alternative" role, on keyboards rather than strings. Soon after, the quartet renamed to "De Facto Cadre Dub," further shortened for the debut 1637549 LP, recorded in June 1999 and released via Jim Ward's short-lived label, Head¼ Records. By early 2000, Jasso quit the band while the remaining members relocated to the West Coast. At a local show, Omar met and befriended Long Beach keyboardist "Ikey" Owens, who had been playing with a handful of prominent SoCal ska/surf/punk acts, and invited him to join De Facto. Despite the increasingly busy ATDI schedule, Omar and Cedric still continued to play with the side-project.
In March 2001, as soon as At The Drive-In announced its "indefinite hiatus," De Facto released 323642 CD/12" single on Grand Royal in the UK (co-released with Source in Europe) — the same label where ATDI's final and most acclaimed album, 45482, came out the previous fall. Yet another "self-titled" record (a cryptic name read 'DEFACTO' by replacing each number with a corresponding letter in the English alphabet), it was meant as a leading single for De Facto's debut album. Grand Royal Records, however, went bankrupt merely four months later, prompting the band to once again start searching for a label. They reached out to Gold Standard Laboratories, an ultra-niche imprint founded by Sonny Kay from Boulder, Colorado, who had just recently moved to California and settled in San Diego. Besides Kay's own projects, Angel Hair and The VSS, the GSL roster featured a handful of cult underground acts, like The Locust, Bare Minimum, and The Starlite Desperation, as well as Sunshine from Czech Republic, who shared the stage with ATDI on numerous occasions and even released a 12"/CD split back in April 2000. After repeatedly hopping from one struggling indie label to another, Omar "bought-in" his latest record deal, and became Sonny Kay's mutual partner in GSL.
In July 2001, De Facto finally released their first long-playing album, ¡Megaton Shotblast! CD/2×LP, on GSL. Most of the material was recorded in 2000 by ATDI's former live sound engineer, Gabe Gonzalez, at Penny Lane Studios back in El Paso, Texas. The album also included two live tracks from the European tour in March 2001, recorded in Slovenia and at Waterfront, Rotterdam. Among a few surprising guests were the original "pre-Owens" keyboardist, Jasso, drummer Eric Salas on percussion, and Omar's father, Angel Marcelo Rodriguez-Cheverez, on vocals. Just like the Grand Royal single, the rear cover boasted a tagline, "No samples used on this recording." Shortly after, De Facto quartet invited bassist Eva Gardner and drummer Blake Fleming to record a 2-track demo with producer Alex Newport, for a new outfit that soon became known as "The Mars Volta." In October 2001, De Facto dropped the How Do You Dub? You Fight For Dub. You Plug Dub In CD/LP on Jim Ward's new label, Restart Records — a reissue of the band's long out-of-print De Facto LP, with a different artwork and one new track recorded with Owens in December 2000 at Anikulapo studio in Long Beach. Merely three days after the release, on 19th October 2001, The Mars Volta played their first live concert at Chain Reaction in Anaheim, California, with Jon Theodore replacing Fleming on drums.
In November 2001, De Facto's second and final album, 113795 CD/LP, came out on Modern City Records in France; the record featured live excerpts from the same Slovenian and Dutch shows, as well as new tracks and a few alternative versions. By December, the artists had finished recording TMV's debut 9308, produced by Newport and released on GSL in April 2002. De Facto continued occasionally performing live, joined by John Frusciante as a surprise guest in August 2002 at the Lincoln Park open-air festival in Long Beach. They mostly played at local Californian venues, including The Casbah in San Diego in January 2003. The recording sessions for TMV's first album, however, yet again forced all four members to put De Facto on a "back burner." In late May 2003, merely weeks before 9154 came out, 27-year-old Jeremy Ward died of a heroin overdose.
Line-up
Omar Rodríguez-López — bass
Cedric Bixler-Zavala — drums, vocals
Ralph Jasso (1998–99), Isaiah "Ikey" Owens (2000–2003) — keyboards
Jeremy M. Ward — vocals, melodica, electronics, synths, sound loops/effects
