Omar Rodriguez-Lopez

Rodríguez-López was born in Puerto Rico and grew up in El Paso, Texas, and spent some of his childhood in South Carolina. He began playing the bass at age 12, but then switched to guitar at 15 because he "needed more strings". It was during this time that Rodríguez-López met Cedric Bixler-Zavala while practicing with friend Paul Hinojos. Since then Rodríguez-López 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 such as Paul Hinojos, Cedric Bixler-Zavala, Julio Venegas and the late Jeremy Michael Ward. He attended Coronado High School in El Paso. He says he enjoys the company of his close friends and family when not fulfilling obligations to his many bands and projects. Rodríguez-López has been a vegetarian for most of his life.