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 is recognized in the band by his signature fro.
Biography
Childhood
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 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 outside my house. I would see the ambulance come and take him away." Toro also used to have a pet dog called Boy, growing up in a Puerto Rican and Portuguese household. In the My Chemical Romance DVD Life on the Murder Scene he talks about 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.
Music
Toro attended Kearny High School. Contrary to popular belief, he did not attend high school with any of his bandmates, but he did start 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. 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 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 fan of punk rock or emo music (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 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)".
Toro's guitar usually uses the left speaker in [The Black Parade].
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. He now plays an ebony Gibson Les Paul Standard.
Guitar playing style
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. 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. He has been asked by the band Alkaline Trio to play on a song with them.
References
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