Omar Rodríguez-López

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Omar Rodriguez-Lopez
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez in 2008
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez in 2008
Background information
Birth name Omar Alfredo Rodriguez-Lopez
Born September 1, 1975 (1975-09-01) (age 32)
Origin Bayamón, Puerto Rico
Genre(s) Progressive rock, post-hardcore, experimental rock, jazz fusion, acid jazz, dub, reggae, ambient, psychedelic rock, art rock, electronica,post rock
Occupation(s) Guitarist
Record Producer
Instrument(s) Guitar, Bass, Drums, Piano, Synthesizer, Sitar, Drum machine, Percussion, Organ, Wurlitzer, Sampler, Gong, Clavinet, Rhodes, Harp, Vocals
Years active 1991–present
Associated acts The Mars Volta,
De Facto,
At the Drive-In,
John Frusciante
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Notable instrument(s)
Ibanez AX120 Custom Model,
Ibanez JTK2 Jet King Custom Model

Omar Alfredo Rodríguez-Lopez (born September 1, 1975 in Bayamón, Puerto Rico) is the composer, lead guitarist and producer for the progressive rock group The Mars Volta and the former guitarist for the post-hardcore outfit At the Drive-In.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Rodriguez-Lopez grew up in El Paso, Texas, but spent some of his childhood in South Carolina. Omar started his music career at 15 years of age when he became the singer for the El Paso hardcore band, Startled Calf, from 1990 to 1992. It was during this time that Rodriguez-Lopez met Cedric Bixler-Zavala while practicing with friend Paul Hinojos. Since then Rodriguez-Lopez has spent most of his career living and working with his close friend Bixler-Zavala. During this time he frequently collaborated with his friends and future bandmates from El Paso, which included people like Paul, Cedric, Julio, and Jeremy. [1]

[edit] At the Drive-In

At 17, Rodriguez-Lopez left El Paso to hitchhike around the country for a year in the early 90's, which was where he acquired an addiction to opiates.[2] 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 return to El Paso where he could begin to reclaim his life from addiction and join 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, a combination of excessive hype, relentless touring, artistic differences, and Rodriguez-Lopez & Bixler-Zavala's drug habits eventually caused the band to implode.[3] In 2001 Rodriguez-Lopez and Bixler-Zavala left At the Drive-In and the band went on "indefinite hiatus". Hinojos, Hajjar, and Jeremy's cousin Jim Ward went on to form Sparta while the duo focused on other projects.

[edit] The Mars Volta

They refocused their efforts on the dub reggae outfit called De Facto which also included Jeremy Michael Ward and Ikey Owens which they had started years before while still in At The Drive-In. Eventually the same collective of musicians in De Facto would be expanded into Rodriguez-Lopez's new band, The Mars Volta. Once again starting from scratch he wrote and toured with the band which consumed almost all his time and money.

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 narcotics altogether. 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.

During the early years of the band he also worked on a low budget movie called A Manual Dexterity which starred Jeremy Ward. The soundtrack A Manual Dexterity: Soundtrack Volume 1 was released in 2004. The release of Soundtrack Volume Two, which was originally planned for Spring of 2005, and the film were both delayed indefinitely due to legal problems. Conflicts over ownership of certain footage and Rodriguez-Lopez's reluctance to revisit the project which featured his late friend Jeremy Michael Ward were both cited as reasons for the delay.[4]. However, Rodriguez-Lopez stated that he does intend to release both Volume 2 and the film at some point in the future.

[edit] The Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Group

In 2005 Rodriguez-Lopez relocated to Amsterdam, where he eventually wrote and recorded four separate albums. His first solo project was the "Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Quintet". Rodriguez-Lopez played several live shows in Europe with his quintet, which in 2005 also included three members of The Mars Volta Group (Juan Alderete, Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez and Adrián Terrazas-González) and Money Mark. The songs featured on this tour later appeared on the album Omar Rodriguez. It was characterized by long, improvisational songs with Dutch titles and no lyrics. The Quintet also performed live with Damo Suzuki, parts of which were recorded and incorporated into a 25-minute EP titled "Please Heat This Eventually", which was released in 2007. Rodriguez-Lopez was also working on the The Mars Volta's 2006 record "Amputechture" simultaneously to his work with the quintet.

On May 29, 2007 Se Dice Bisonte, No Bùfalo was released. It was the third full-length solo album by Rodriguez-Lopez. It featured performances by Mars Volta members Cedric Bixler-Zavala, Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez, Juan Alderete, Adrian Terrazas-Gonzales as well as cameos by Money Mark and John Frusciante. It was written and recorded between 2005-2006 in California and Amsterdam.

[edit] Recent events

Omar Rodriguez (2005)
Omar Rodriguez (2005)

The Quintet later resurfaced in 2007, now known as "The Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Group" to perform on the "white" stage at The Fuji Rock Festival in Japan on July 28.[5] Performing with the group for the first time was Bixler-Zavala and drummer Thomas Pridgen.[6]

On October 8th, 2007 the EP Omar Rodriguez-Lopez & Lydia Lunch, a collaboration with spoken word poet Lydia Lunch, was released.[7]

The Apocalypse Inside of an Orange is a double LP featuring the original quintet and was released on vinyl November 20, 2007. [8] It was also released for digital download.

Omar has mentioned in interviews that he plans to release six albums in the year 2008[citation needed].

He also has plans to record a live direct-to-disc session with the Infrasonic Sound Recording Co.[9]

Rodriguez-Lopez also composed the score to the film El Búfalo de la Noche, a film by Guillermo Arriaga and Jorge Hernandez Aldana. The Mars Volta perform on the soundtrack but the release date and track info have not yet been announced.

In addition Rodriguez-Lopez recently completed a collaboration with Zach Hill of the band Hella. Rodriguez-Lopez has stated it will be "heavier" and "mostly guitars" [10].

Finally, one last record that he recorded during his stay in Amsterdam entitled Calibration was released February 5, 2008. It was described as being influenced by electronic music and acid-jazz.[11] A follow-up album featuring remixes of songs from the album will be released in the future.[12], more recent on June 10 a new LP was released, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez & Jeremy Michael Ward, it consist of sounds of field recording and ambient music by Jeremy Michael Ward along Omar.

Alongside his musical career, Omar is directing and acting in a film tentatively titled The Sentimental Engine Slayer, which also features his younger brother Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez. Rodriguez-Lopez is co-producing the film with fellow Mars Volta band mates Juan Alderte and Paul Hinojos.[13] A second project also mentioned was a film entitled El Divino Influjo de los Secretos.[citation needed]

He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

[edit] Musicianship

[edit] Style

Rodriguez-Lopez's compositional and playing style is characterized by, among other factors, unresolving dissonances (in particular a heavy use of the tritone), chromatic passages, serial composition and lengthy improvisation. He is also known for his vast array of effects pedals; in a feature appearing in Guitar World, Rodriguez-Lopez stated that he "began to see effects as allies in my war against the guitar". In that interview he also stated that he hated the instrument guitar for a very long time. He only utilized it because it was the instrument his bandmates could "relate to". He said he "wrestled" guitar by adding effects and playing oddly to attempt "making it sound like anything besides this thing I hate--the guitar!". Although on Amputechture he claimed to feel more comfortable with the guitar.

Rodriguez-Lopez plays guitar left handed. His style has been likened to that of King Crimson's Robert Fripp (who also uses tritones abundantly). It is likely that Fripp has had a considerable influence on Rodriguez-Lopez. However, Rodriguez has cited salsa pianist and bandleader Larry Harlow as his primary influence. Rodriguez cites the comedian Lenny Bruce, the film-maker Werner Herzog and the New Age anthropologist Carlos Castaneda as three other important influences. Both he and bandmate Cedric have often stated their admiration for early 1970s krautrock group Can, going so far as to record with lead singer Damo Suzuki for the Please Heat This Eventually EP. He has also stated that film is a primary influence on him. David Lynch, David Cronenberg and Takashi Miike are amongst his favourite directors.

Other notable comparisons can be drawn between Rodriguez and guitarist John McLaughlin of Mahavishnu Orchestra and Miles Davis fame. It is very likely that Rodriguez was influenced by McLaughlin as evident in his abundant use of complex time signatures and frequent meter changes in his playing. Many jazz and rock elements originally fused by pioneers such as McLaughlin are present in Rodriguez's playing as well.

Rodriguez-Lopez is also known for being a prolific songwriter, in a 2008 interview he stated that he had 17 recorded, mixed and completed albums sitting at home. [14]

[edit] As Producer

Rodriguez is also notable for his recording, producing and songwriting techniques. He has been known to refuse to let other musicians in a session hear each other's parts, or the context of their own part, thus forcing them to play each part as if it's a self-sufficient song [15]. He has claimed that he is "ignorant of music theory" and that thus he lacks knowledge in writing music in sheet music form, claiming that his songwriting "comes from emotion completely" [16]. Rodriguez writes all of the music for his projects, then dictates the performance to the musicians involved [17].

In addition to his producing credits with The Mars Volta and his solo albums, he also produced the first and only LP from the defunct LA-based band Radio Vago.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Solo

[edit] Collaborations

[edit] With Startled Calf

[edit] With At the Drive-In

[edit] With De Facto

[edit] With The Mars Volta

[edit] Guest Appearances

[edit] As Producer

[edit] Equipment

[edit] With The Mars Volta

Live:

This model was Omar's main guitar for live on-stage with TMV. They had an Ibanez Artcore series bolt-on neck, a single volume control knob, and a single Seymour Duncan JB Jr. pickup in the bridge position. He has many of these guitars, and at one point had one with a Floyd Rose installed, which has since broken.He no longer use those models since Ibanez has made him custom Jetking guitars [18][19]
    • Ibanez JTK2 Jet King Custom Model

Omar began playing this guitar towards the end of 2006. He has both a black and a white version of this guitar, with a red tortoise shell pickguard and one Seymour Duncan JB Jr. pickup. (As seen played on October 23rd.show[20])

    • Ibanez ORM1 Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Signature Model
A new production model by Ibanez based on his black version of the custom Ibanez Jetking that he uses since october 2006 . [21]


  • Amplifiers:
    • 4 x Orange AD140HTC into 2 or 4 x 4x12 Orange Cabinets (lately the orange fleck covering has been stripped off the heads and cabs)

(Omar has a huge range of effects pedals which he uses both live and in the studio. The above is a list of identified pedals, however the list is not complete.)

Studio:

De-Loused in the Comatorium

Frances The Mute

[edit] With At the Drive-In

[edit] With Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Quintet

This model is a low-cost model, similar to Omar's AX120 custom, but is available to the general public. [22]

[edit] With DeFacto

Omar used a black model with a white scratchplate, and a white model with a red tortoise-shell scratchplate

[edit] References

  1. ^ HARP Magazine
  2. ^ HARP Magazine
  3. ^ HARP Magazine
  4. ^ www.themarsvoltaitalia.com - SITO ITALIANO NON UFFICIALE DEDICATO AI THE MARS VOLTA
  5. ^ www.themarsvoltaitalia.com - SITO ITALIANO NON UFFICIALE DEDICATO AI THE MARS VOLTA
  6. ^ YouTube - Broadcast Yourself
  7. ^ News for July 12, 2007 http://www.goldstandardlabs.com/news.html
  8. ^ Infrasonic Sound
  9. ^ INFRASONIC SOUND RECORDING CO. Completes Direct-to-Disc
  10. ^ http://www.goldstandardlabs.com/images/bandpages/omar_rodriguez/press/GSL129_AP228_July07.jpg
  11. ^ www.themarsvoltaitalia.com - SITO ITALIANO NON UFFICIALE DEDICATO AI THE MARS VOLTA
  12. ^ MySpace.com - N2O Records - Los Angeles, California - Metal / Hip Hop / Pop japonais - www.myspace.com/n2orecords
  13. ^ Da oportunidad a talento de EP - Diario.com.mx: Edición Cd. Juárez
  14. ^ http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=qqnBTeKK4zc
  15. ^ The Mars Volta - Artistopia Music
  16. ^ Speakers of the house | The San Diego Union-Tribune
  17. ^ SPIN.com: Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Chats Projects, Mars Volta
  18. ^ Ibanez :: Electric Guitars : Artists
  19. ^ http://adamrobertsmusic.com/Graphics/MVGear/Pedalboard.jpg
  20. ^ http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r217/ChompOnThat/DSC00208.jpg
  21. ^ Ibanez Electric Guitars :: orm
  22. ^ http://babass.canalblog.com/albums/omar_a__rodriguez_lopez_quintet/m-Omar_025.jpg

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez
Studio Albums
Collaborations
Related articles
v • d • e
The Mars Volta
Omar Rodríguez-López · Cedric Bixler-Zavala · Isaiah Ikey Owens · Juan Alderete · Thomas Pridgen · Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez · Adrián Terrazas-González · Paul Hinojos
Eva Gardner · Jeremy Michael Ward · Jon Theodore
Studio albums
EPs
Live albums
Singles
Related articles
v • d • e
At the Drive-In
Cedric Bixler-Zavala · Jim Ward · Omar Rodríguez-López · Paul Hinojos · Tony Hajjar
Studio albums
EPs
Splits
ATDI / Aasee Lake · ATDI / Sunshine · ATDI / Burning Airlines · ATDI / The Murder City Devils
Compilations
Singles
"Metronome Arthritis" · "One Armed Scissor" · "Rolodex Propaganda" · "Invalid Litter Dept."
Labels
Related Articles