Ray Toro

Ray Toro

Raymond Manuel Toro-Ortiz, most commonly known as Ray Toro (born on July 15, 1977 in Kearny, New Jersey) is the lead guitarist and one of two backup vocalists for My Chemical Romance. He plays Gibson Les Paul guitars, through Seymour Duncan pickups and Marshall amplifiers.

When he was younger he enjoyed the music of Queen and Metallica and he cites Brian May and Randy Rhoads as large influences on his playing.

Early Life

Raymond Toro Ortiz was born July 15, 1977 in Newark, New Jersey. He has brown eyes, and grew to be 6'1". Growing up, his mother was always very protective. Growing up, Toro's father worked at the post office in the shipping department, and the family lived on a "dead end" street where he grew up in a Puerto Rican and Portuguese household. "There was definitely a funny collection of people hanging around my block," the guitarist told the magazine Alternative Press. "There was this guy who was this drug addict. Every couple of weeks he would OD and pass out outside my house. I would see the ambulance come and take him away." In the My Chemical Romance DVD Life on the Murder Scene, he explains how he wasn't allowed to go and play because they were finding bodies in the local parks, and in West Hudson Park river which was right around the corner from his house. Toro says that due to incidents like this, his parents didn't want to let him out of the house onto the streets by himself. Contrary to popular belief, he did not attend high school with any of his bandmates, but instead attended Kearny High School.

My Chemical Romance

Ray and Gerard reconnected with each other at an Iron Maiden concert, and the two, along with Matt Pelissier, formed My Chemical Romance. Ray is the lead guitarist for My Chemical Romance. Toro is in large part responsible for all the My Chemical Romance instrumentals, as well as writing the majority of My Chemical Romance's music, and often helps Frank write his guitar music. He plays a Gibson SG Guitar: SG Series, which has a mahogany body with a rosewood fingerboard. Ray has been credited as a "metalhead" by My Chemical Romance bassist, Mikey Way, for his love of bands such as Iron Maiden. He plays a Gibson Les Paul guitar which has a mahogany body with maple cap and rosewood fingerboard.

Influences

Ray's older brother was the main influence in Ray's taking up the guitar. He bought Ray his first guitar and introduced Ray to Queen, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. Toro started playing guitar during his sophomore year. It wasn't until a few years after graduating high school that he met Gerard Way and Mikey Way through a mutual friend from Gerard's art school. The three remained "loose friends" until September 11th when Gerard Way saw the bodies fall from the World Trade Center, and decided he wanted "to do something with his life", to help people. He called up Matt Pelissier and together they started My Chemical Romance along with Mikey Way and Ray Toro. Gerard stated on Life On The Murder Scene that this was sort of a final "ditch effort". Toro is a major contributor to all the My Chemical Romance instrumentals, as well as writing the majority of their music, and he often helps rhythm guitarist and backup vocalist Frank Iero to write his guitar music. Toro often harmonises his guitar solos, as heard on "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)". He has also been credited by Mikey Way as a "metalhead" due to his love of Iron Maiden and Ozzy Osbourne. Unlike his bandmates, Toro is not a big fan of punk rock (although My Chemical Romance recently did a cover of the Misfits song "Astro Zombies"). Toro cites Randy Rhoads, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Slash, Jimi Hendrix, Kirk Hammett and Jimmy Page as his guitar influences and has been quoted as saying, "I'm into classic rock and metal. All of my style is patterned after these guys." He has also named Iron Maiden as his favorite band. He also had a large role in the music video for My Chemical Romance's first single from Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)".

Equipment

Previously, Ray played an Epiphone Elitist Les Paul Standard which has a mahogany body, maple top, and a rosewood fingerboard and a Gibson X-plorer. His current stage guitars include a '91 & a '93 Gibson Les Paul Standard, and a Gibson Les Paul Junior. On stage, he uses a Marshall JCM 2000s® DSL100 with two 1960A cabinets. He doesn't use many pedals in his stage work, but he has a Jim Dunlop Crybaby wah, a Boss EQ pedal, a Boss Pitch Shifter (to do harmonies), Boss Chorus Ensemble, and an Electro-Harmonix POG Polyphonic Octave Generator, which can be set up to play one octave below, an octave above, or two octaves above. On "The Black Parade", his guitar typically uses the left speaker.

Style

Many of Ray's intricate musical stylings have come from the influences of the great guitar masters, Randy Rhoads and Brian May. Toro's guitar playing style has been heavily influenced by heavy metal of the 80's such as Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth. This can be heard in many of the rhythmic parts he plays with Frank Iero. Frank mentioned in the DVD Life on the Murder Scene that Ray grew up learning Metallica albums and that he along with Bob Bryar Are Two of the hardest working people he knows. He also said that their two styles of guitar playing are two that shouldn't work together but do. A lot of his solos are based on hard rock and blues metal from the 70's, but have a very pop sound influenced by Johnny Marr, as mentioned on the Life on the Murder Scene DVD. He uses mostly power chords and makes it flow with the general ambiance of the music the band creates. On the latest album The Black Parade, distinct Brian May influences can be heard in his playing, most noticeably in his solos.

Personal Life

Toro wears corrective contact lenses and has a girlfriend named Christa. Since the formation of the band Toro has aquired many injuries. Some of which include a "Guitar Burn" (similar to rug burn, and generally affects the forearm area); some specialists attribute it to sweat, friction, and "intense rocking", a large gash in the head, caused by being hit with Frank's guitar, and one nasty hangnail.

Trivia

• Ray does not like to read.
• His trademark is his afro, and he doesn’t mind people touching it. Understandably, Ray does not like people pulling on his hair. Mikey once straightened his hair. Ray did not like it, but the rest of the band did.
• Ray does most of the guitar solos in the songs.
• He cannot cook at all, unlike his fellow band mates.
• Ray is the most physically active member of the band. He runs everyday, and keeps weights in the back of the tour bus when My Chemical Romance is touring.
• The members of Alkaline Trio once asked him to play on a song of theirs.
• In junior high to impress a girl he stuck a piece of Runts candy in his nose (like a booger), but it ended up getting stuck in his nose and he had to go to the nurse to get it taken out.

References

-Interview with Ray Toro at -Seymourduncan.com

-Ray Toro profile on NNDB

-Ray Toro profile on NNDB

-Ray's Bio on imnotokay.net -Life on the Murder Scene MCR's DVD

External links

• My Chemical Romance official website