Martín Méndez

Martín Méndez
Méndez at Copenhell in Copenhagen, Denmark. June 17, 2011.
Background information
Birth name	Carlos Martin Mendez Esposito
Born	(1978-04-06) April 6, 1978 Montevideo, Uruguay
Genres	Progressive death metal, death metal, progressive rock, jazz fusion, black metal
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter
Instrument(s)	Bass guitar, upright bass
Years active	1997–present
Labels	Roadrunner
Website	opeth.com

Martín Méndez (born April 6, 1978 in Montevideo, Uruguay) is the bass guitar player of progressive death metal band Opeth and second most constant member of the band, behind lead vocalist, songwriter and guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt.

Méndez has been a member of several other bands, including Fifth to Infinity, Proxima and Vinterkrig. Méndez joined Opeth right before the recording of their third album My Arms, Your Hearse began. However, time conflicts such as joining too late kept him from playing on the album, so the bass lines were recorded by Opeth frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt. Martín then learned the bass parts and played bass for the few subsequent live dates done for the album. His first real recording with Opeth was their fourth studio album, Still Life. He has been with the band ever since.

Méndez is popular among Opeth fans for his silent stage presence (with the slight exception of some South American gigs where he has spoken in his native language). During Opeth performances Méndez rarely speaks or demonstrates specific emotion, although he has a 'no-no' or 'windmill' style of headbanging– shaking his head back and forth or (counter-)clockwise– a sort of mutual affinity among fans and band alike, something Åkerfeldt often joked about on stage before Méndez had his hair cut. He has since grown out his hair as of 2011, and sometimes headbangs in this style again, to great applause from the crowd.

Méndez uses 4 string fretted & fretless Fender Jazz Basses as well as Sandberg basses for live and studio work. When playing songs from Ghost Reveries he uses Drop D tuning.

Discography

With Opeth

• Still Life (1999)
• Blackwater Park (2001)
• Deliverance (2002)
• Damnation (2003)
• Ghost Reveries (2005)
• Watershed (2008)
• Heritage (2011)
• Pale Communion (2014)

External links

• Opeth.com – Official Opeth hompepage