Cedric Bixler-Zavala has quite a lot of time on his hands following the end of a reunion with At The Drive-In and a breakup of The Mars Volta. Bixler-Zavala is now working on a solo record of sorts with a new band, and recently spoke with Spin about all that revolves it. Check out the full interview here and part of what Bixler-Zavala had to say on new music below.

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What are you working on now that the Mars Volta are also finished?

I’ve been working on my own record for a while now. What started out as a solo project has sort of formed into this band. We don’t really have a name, but it essentially started off as songs that I wrote, because being in the Mars Volta wasn’t exactly the most nurturing moment to discover that I could write songs, so I had to figure that out. They’re mostly songs that I was writing for my wife, lots of acoustic-driven stuff, lots of lap steel, a lot of Sunday morning stuff.

Sounds like you were eager to stretch some new muscles.

I didn’t write music in the Mars Volta at all. No one was allowed to [laughs]. You’re going to get to hear my version of what a song should be. It’s really, really mellow. It’s really ballad-y stuff. I’ve just always had this thing for ‘70s power pop. I don’t know if I should even say that, but that’s what it sounds like to me.