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Omar Rodriguez-Lopez

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Omar A. Rodriguez Lopez (b. 1 September 1975, Bayamón, Puerto Rico) is an American guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer, band leader, and filmmaker, eldest brother of Marfred, Marcel, and Rikardo Rodriguez Lopez. He is best known as the founding member of At The Drive-In (1994–2001, 2015–18) and The Mars Volta (2001–2012; reunited in 2019) in collaboration with Cedric Bixler-Zavala, also leading a prolific solo career with Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group and several other ensembles and side projects. He co-managed Gold Standard Laboratories (2001 to 2007) and Rodriguez Lopez Productions (2007–2016) labels, signed to German-based Clouds Hill since 2021. Rodríguez-López is managed by Raw Power Management in Los Angeles. Omar dated Mexican singer and actress, Ximena Sariñana, between 2008 and 2011, and remained private about his personal life since then. Born in Puerto Rico to a musician and psychiatrist, Angel Marcelo Rodriguez-Cheverez and Frances Rodriguez Lopez (1950—2012), Omar spent most of his childhood in El Paso, Texas. The family briefly moved to South Carolina in the early 1980s, where his brother Marcel was born. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez began playing bass at twelve, switching to electric guitar a few years later. In the early 1990s, he first met vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala while practicing with Paul Hinojos; they became lifelong friends and permanent collaborators since then. Omar and Cedric often played with other local musicians in El Paso, such as Julio Venegas and Jeremy Michael Ward. In 1992, Omar Rodriguez dropped out of high school, touring with his recently established hardcore punk band Startled Calf, featuring Ralph Dominique Jasso on guitar, Jimmy Hernandez on bass, and George Fraska on drums. The short-lived project disbanded shortly after the inaugural tour.