Omar Rodriguez Lopez | Artist
Omar Alfredo Rodríguez-López is a Puerto Rican guitarist, songwriter, record producer and filmmaker born 1975 in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. He formed or played in several bands, including The Mars Volta, At the Drive-In, Antemasque, Bosnian Rainbows, and De Facto, and later embarked on a solo career described as experimental, avant-garde, or progressive. He has also collaborated with numerous artists, such as Damo Suzuki, John Frusciante, El-P, Mon Laferte and Calle 13. Rodríguez-López grew up in El Paso, Texas, and spent some of his childhood in South Carolina. He began playing the bass at age 12, but switched to guitar at 15. It was during this time that Rodríguez-López met singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala while practicing with friend Paul Hinojos. Since then Rodríguez-López and close friend Bixler-Zavala have spent a great deal of time living and working together and frequently collaborating with friends and bandmates from El Paso, including Paul Hinojos, the late Julio Venegas and Jeremy Ward, who also attended Coronado High School in El Paso. Rodríguez-López dropped out of high school at age 17 to go on tour with Startled Calf, an El Paso hardcore punk band, as their vocalist, and was left stranded in Berkeley after the rest of the band were arrested. That band broke up in 1992 and bassist Jimmy Hernandez died of cancer soon after. Rodríguez-López then left El Paso to hitchhike around the country for a year, during which time he acquired an addiction to opiates. Eventually he got in touch with friend Cedric Bixler-Zavala who suggested he come back to El Paso. With the help of Bixler-Zavala, he was able to reclaim his life from addiction and join the band At the Drive-In as backup vocalist and bass guitarist. After receiving a record deal with Flipside Records and recording Acrobatic Tenement with the band, he became their full-time bassist before switching to guitar. After several years and two more critically acclaimed albums, Rodríguez-López and Bixler-Zavala left At the Drive-In and the band soon folded. The remaining members, Paul Hinojos, Tony Hajjar, and Jim Ward went on to form Sparta. Rodríguez-López and Bixler-Zavala refocused their efforts on the dub outfit called De Facto, which also included Jeremy Ward and Isaiah "Ikey" Owens. Eventually De Facto would be expanded into Rodríguez-López and Bixler-Zavala's new band, The Mars Volta. On May 25, 2003, less than a month before the release of their first full-length album, De-Loused in the Comatorium, bandmate and close friend Jeremy Ward was found dead of a heroin overdose. This event, coupled with the memories of the suicide of his friend Julio Venegas years earlier, finally convinced both him and Bixler-Zavala to quit using opiates. Since then he has been clean and credited his newfound musical work ethic on his new lifestyle. The Mars Volta's second album, Frances the Mute, would later be dedicated to Ward. As a soloist, Rodríguez-López has been incredibly productive, having released, to-date, 53 studio albums in 20 years. In addition to his band work with At the Drive-in and The Mars Volta, standout albums include Omar Rodrigues (2005), The Apocalypse Inside of an Orange (2007), Xenophanes (2009), and Solar Gambling (2009). The compilation album Telesterion (2010) is also recommended. Rodríguez-López, who plays guitar left-handed, has cited progressive rock bands King Crimson and early Genesis as favourites. His main guitar influences are Frank Zappa, Robert Fripp, John McLaughlin, Greg Ginn and Jimi Hendrix.
Artist Website: orlprojects.com
Featured Albums: Omar Rodriguez Lopez
Related Artists: At The Drive-In, The Mars Volta, Le Butcherettes, John Frusciante
