cygnus311

Juan, first I want to say thanks for doing this. You're a lot of the reason I play bass the way I do and I'm pumped to get to ask some questions.

-What is your favorite Mars Volta song to play live?

-Favorite TMV album?

-How has the writing process changed with TMV since Omar "gave up his power"? How were albums written before and how was Noctourniquet written?

-You're currently the longest running member of TMV other than Oman and Cedric, is it safe to say that you guys get along pretty well then? I remember you saying in an interview somewhere that you and Omar got along great because Omar is a bass player, do you get along well with Cedric, too? I've heard that he can be, well, not the easiest to get along with.

-What can you tell us about an upcoming Vato Negro album?

-I always describe Vato Negro to my friends as "drums, bass, and a shitload of pedals". When I listen to Bumpers I usually just picture you playing a riff, looping it, and then just sitting on the floor twisting knobs while it's being recorded over a drum track. Is that accurate? How does Vato Negro record?

-Admittedly, I haven't listened to much Big Sir. I downloaded Und Die Scheiße Ändert Sich Immer on Bandcamp for a few bucks a while back but I haven't listened to all of it yet. Which album would you recommend I listen to to get in to Big Sir?

-You love fuzz. If you could only have one distortion pedal on every pedalboard from now on, what would it be?

-How the crap did you make this sound?

-Is there a Juan Alderete Signature Series in the works for us? I would love one of these.

-Not a question, but thanks for doing pedalsandeffects.com. It's a great site and I love to kill time on it. I'm sure it takes a lot to make those videos, but they're worth it.

Again, thanks for doing this. I'm excited to read questions today. Keep doing what you're doing.

Edit: Formatting

But if you run in to that guy every day for years and one day you decided to bring a knife with you so you can stab him... Well that sounds like premeditated murder.

How do you react when a person you've pulled over tells you that they are carrying a weapon (legally)?

I don't have a question, I just wanted to say that my girlfriend's first concert was TMV at First Ave and she caught one of your picks. So thanks for making her night and making me really jealous of her.