Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Biography & Awards

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Artist Info

Born

1975 Bayam�n, Puerto Rico

Member of

At the Drive-In, Startled Calf, The Mars Volta, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Quintet

Biography

Composer, guitarist, and producer Omar Rodriguez-Lopez was born in Bayam�n, Puerto Rico, in 1975. He spent his formative years in South Carolina and El Paso, TX, setting up camp in the latter and forming the hardcore band Startled Calf at the age of 15. He joined post-hardcore outfit At the Drive-In in 1993, a gig that lasted until the band broke up at the peak of its popularity in 2001. Rodriguez-Lopez formed the Mars Volta the following year, as well as an instrumental side project called the Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Quintet. He composed the soundtrack to Jorge Hernandez Aldana's El B�falo de la Noche in 2005 and has released four solo albums - 2004's Manual Dexterity: Soundtrack, Vol. 1, the eponymous Omar Rodriguez in 2006, and Se Dice Bisonte, No Bufalo and The Apocalypse Inside of an Orange, both in 2007. Rodriguez-Lopez would continue his double releases in 2008 with Calibration and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Jeremy Michael Ward, a collaborative effort that was recorded prior to the formation of Mars Volta. Old Money followed in 2009. ~ James Christopher Monger, All Music Guide