Marfred's pants/Photo: Alexandra Kathol
April 12, 2011, Great American Music Hall, San Francisco
The Omar Rodriguez-Lopez group played the GAMH along with opening act, Zechs Marquise, a band that is comprised primarily of Rodriguez-Lopez men. Marfred, Marcel and Rico, along with El Paso friends, Marcos and Matt took the stage to an outpouring of genial enthusiasm – save for the fanboy stage left who intermittently screamed, “Marfred makes me cream my panties!” (I swear to god, no joke.) His enthusiasm was most unctuous, but truth be told, highly warranted.
The stage presence of the gentlemen of Zechs can be best described as mild mannered. However, their musical chops are on par with the very best of experimental Prog Rock (read: they give their brother’s band a run for their money – even without a demon possessed lead singer). Marfred mumbled into a microphone here and there barely audible but equally as genial as the audience. The big surprise of the night was that his brother Marcel turned out to be quite an accomplished drummer. He held down the groove throughout leading audience members to speculate whether or not he wasn’t the band leader or a “mini-Omar” as one guy put it. Whether he is or not, it is apparent the band is one that is comfortable with musical explorations, each other and any crowd that might be interested in hearing them play.
I had the opportunity to chat with Marfred after the show where he was much more audible and quite articulate.
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