Jeremy Michael Ward

Jeremy M. Ward (5 May 1976, Fort Worth, Texas — 25 May 2003, Los Angeles, California) was an American musician, sound designer, vocal operator, guitarist, and illustrator, cousin of Jim Ward; his younger brother, Jered Michael Ward (b. 1988), is a punk rock bassist. Ward was best known as one of the founding members of De Facto and The Mars Volta bands. He performed live and recorded in the studio, working with a tabletop rig of various guitar pedals, effects, and small electronic instruments and using his live processed vocals, harmonica, and other audio sources to produce abstract soundscapes. Among devices that Jeremy Michael Ward frequently used were a Yamaha QY100 sequencer, Electro-Harmonix frequency analyzer, Ibanez DE-7 delay/echo, BOSS DD-6 Delay and HR-2 Harmonist pedals, and Korg KP2 Kaoss Pad. Ward grew up in El Paso, involved in his cousin Jim's band At The Drive-In since its formation in 1994. Most notably, he contributed to the second album, In/Casino/Out, released by Fearless Records in 1998. The same year, Jeremy Michael Ward joined an experimental dub reggae outfit, De Facto (2), which began as a trio with Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez performing improvised jams after local ATDI shows. In 2001, after At The Drive-In disbanded, Jeremy Michael Ward joined Omar and Cedric in their newly-formed group, The Mars Volta, while his cousin Jim continued as Sparta with other ATDI members. Ward participated in early TMV live gigs and worked on the band's debut release, Tremulant EP. He also co-wrote a Cerpin Taxt short story with Bixler-Zavala, inspired by the life and death of local Texan artist and their close friend, Julio Venegas (1972—1996), who committed suicide at only 24. The Mars Volta's debut full-length album, De-Loused In The Comatorium, was based on "Cerpin Taxt," with Gold Standard Laboratories later publishing the illustrated text. Jeremy created and produced most of the album interludes and electronic background effects, solidifying The Mars Volta's distinct sound in subsequent years. In late May 2003, weeks before De-Loused In The Comatorium came out, Ward died of a heroin overdose; Jeremy was only 27, joining the proverbial "Club." According to several interviews with Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Ward's untimely death became the final straw that urged them to quit opioids and other drugs. Jeremy Michael Ward had a lasting posthumous impact on The Mars Volta — a mysterious journal that he once found in a repo-ed car in Los Angeles formed the lyrical narrative basis for the band's second album in 2004, Frances The Mute; Ward also came up with "Amputechture," the name of TMV's third album. Jeremy M. Ward left many unfinished recordings, which Omar Rodriguez-Lopez continued to use for several years. In 2008, he released an experimental electronic album, Omar Rodriguez Lopez & Jeremy Michael Ward, comprised of their archival collaborations.