De Facto (band) - Biography

Biography

The band began as small jam sessions after At the Drive-In shows. The original band consisted of Omar, Cedric, and Jeremy playing local shows around their home town, El Paso, Texas. Cedric says, "Yeah actually we used to be called the Sphinktators, that was early De Facto, just more rock." Omar was actually the singer of the Sphinktators and remembers, "We used psychedelic sounds, Cedric played the bass, Jeremy played guitar, and Ralph Jasso played drums." After their first recording they brainstormed the name 'De Facto Cadre Dub', which was later shortened to De Facto. That recording became How Do You Dub? You Fight for Dub. You Plug Dub In., which they released on Headquarter Records, now known as Restart Records. Omar met Ikey at a hip hop show. They exchanged numbers and then Ikey met up with them during one of their shows and joined De Facto as their keyboard player midshow.

After the first album the lineup was switched around. Cedric began to play drums as he had before in his earlier band Foss. Omar played bass, and Jeremy, At the Drive-In's sound manager and cousin of guitarist Jim Ward, ran samples, sang and did the sparse guitar work. After relocating to the west coast, Ikey Owens joined the band on keyboards.

Their next album, ¡Megaton Shotblast! was released on the Gold Standard Laboratories label, and received instant success, probably in part due to the popularity of At the Drive-In. The group's general style was instrumental dub, but they also dabbled in electronica, Latin and salsa music, and jazz. These new ideas led to what would become their next band, The Mars Volta.