Paul Masvidal
Name
Paul Masvidal
Birth date
1971
Land
Puerto-Rico 
Stadt
unbekannt
Paul Alberto Masvidal (born January 20, 1971) is the guitarist, singer and a founding member of the recently reunited progressive metal band Cynic and currently also leads the band Æon Spoke. Born in Puerto Rico, Masvidal grew up in Miami, Florida. Masvidal is the son of Cuban-American civic and business leader Raul Masvidal.
Early life
Masvidal's early days were spent in the Miami area where he studied classical guitar from an early age with Carlos Molina. Guitar teacher Dave Weissbrot was a major influence and spurred Masvidal's love of jazz, Steinberger guitars, and Eastern philosophy; he became an initiate to Kriya Yoga. Masvidal met drummer Sean Reinert in 1984 at Gulliver Academy and immediately started jamming with him, forming the pre-Cynic Crypha and Seaweed.
Career
Cynic released four demos from 1988, with Masvidal developing a reputation in Florida metal scene for his technical prowess. In 1989, when Masvidal was in high school, he toured Mexico as a replacement guitarist for the band Death but declined an invitation to permanently join the band in order to remain committed to Cynic. This had many journalists curious at the time, since Death were emerging as an influential and popular underground act, but Masvidal stuck to his guns and claimed to firmly believe in Cynic. However, in 1991 Masvidal and fellow Cynic member, drummer Reinert, were recruited by Death to record Human. In addition, in 1991, Masvidal, at the request of Scott Burns, helped Chicago death metal band Master to record their album On the Seventh Day God Created... Master. Masvidal handled all lead guitar duties on this album. After finishing their world tour with Death, both Masvidal and Reinert returned to Cynic in 1992.
1993 saw the release of Focus on the Roadrunner label, the only album Cynic recorded until 2008. Roadrunner re-released it in 2005 as a special collector's edition due to high demand. After Cynic's disbandment Masvidal was a member of the Cynic spin-off Portal, but it was announced in 2006 that Cynic would reform for a tour, featuring Masvidal and Reinert, and this took place in early summer 2007.
Based in Los Angeles, Masvidal studied at Musicians Institute and also formed the ethereal alternative band Æon Spoke with Reinert, described as 'progressive ethereal rock' and had a full-length release in 2007 on SPV Records. In 2004, the band received airplay in the UK for the single Silence, including BBC Radio 2 and XFM, leading to a week of London gigs and radio appearances. The following year, the track Emmanuel appeared in the film What the Bleep Do We Know!? and the band returned to the UK. Their tracks have also appeared on the Warner Brothers television series Smallville, One Tree Hill and the motion picture Cry Wolf.
Masvidal also writes and performs music for television and motion pictures, credits include main title (composer credit) on an Emmy nominated NBC teen series show Operation Junkyard, short films The Yellow Umbrella, A Bride In Black, assistant to Ben Vaughn and session musician for Carsey Warner network sitcoms That '70s Show and 3rd Rock From The Sun. Masvidal has library songs regularly performed on network and cable television and has also collaborated with 80s pop singer Terri Nunn.
Masvidal finished recording a new Cynic album titled Traced in Air, which was released on November 17, 2008 in Europe and November 25, 2008 in the USA. Since the release of Traced in Air, Masvidal has toured with Cynic as part of several large tour packages, playing with such popular metal acts as Meshuggah, Between the Buried and Me, The Faceless, Dream Theater and Mastodon. At the Hove Festival, Masvidal and Cynic shared the stage with more mainstream acts such as The Killers, Arcade Fire and Queens of the Stone Age.
Ben Ratliff of the New York Times referred to Masvidal's "philosophic lyrics", stating that he is "a musician who can expand his own sense of calm into an aggressive, extravagant art"
Early life
Masvidal's early days were spent in the Miami area where he studied classical guitar from an early age with Carlos Molina. Guitar teacher Dave Weissbrot was a major influence and spurred Masvidal's love of jazz, Steinberger guitars, and Eastern philosophy; he became an initiate to Kriya Yoga. Masvidal met drummer Sean Reinert in 1984 at Gulliver Academy and immediately started jamming with him, forming the pre-Cynic Crypha and Seaweed.
Career
Cynic released four demos from 1988, with Masvidal developing a reputation in Florida metal scene for his technical prowess. In 1989, when Masvidal was in high school, he toured Mexico as a replacement guitarist for the band Death but declined an invitation to permanently join the band in order to remain committed to Cynic. This had many journalists curious at the time, since Death were emerging as an influential and popular underground act, but Masvidal stuck to his guns and claimed to firmly believe in Cynic. However, in 1991 Masvidal and fellow Cynic member, drummer Reinert, were recruited by Death to record Human. In addition, in 1991, Masvidal, at the request of Scott Burns, helped Chicago death metal band Master to record their album On the Seventh Day God Created... Master. Masvidal handled all lead guitar duties on this album. After finishing their world tour with Death, both Masvidal and Reinert returned to Cynic in 1992.
1993 saw the release of Focus on the Roadrunner label, the only album Cynic recorded until 2008. Roadrunner re-released it in 2005 as a special collector's edition due to high demand. After Cynic's disbandment Masvidal was a member of the Cynic spin-off Portal, but it was announced in 2006 that Cynic would reform for a tour, featuring Masvidal and Reinert, and this took place in early summer 2007.
Based in Los Angeles, Masvidal studied at Musicians Institute and also formed the ethereal alternative band Æon Spoke with Reinert, described as 'progressive ethereal rock' and had a full-length release in 2007 on SPV Records. In 2004, the band received airplay in the UK for the single Silence, including BBC Radio 2 and XFM, leading to a week of London gigs and radio appearances. The following year, the track Emmanuel appeared in the film What the Bleep Do We Know!? and the band returned to the UK. Their tracks have also appeared on the Warner Brothers television series Smallville, One Tree Hill and the motion picture Cry Wolf.
Masvidal also writes and performs music for television and motion pictures, credits include main title (composer credit) on an Emmy nominated NBC teen series show Operation Junkyard, short films The Yellow Umbrella, A Bride In Black, assistant to Ben Vaughn and session musician for Carsey Warner network sitcoms That '70s Show and 3rd Rock From The Sun. Masvidal has library songs regularly performed on network and cable television and has also collaborated with 80s pop singer Terri Nunn.
Masvidal finished recording a new Cynic album titled Traced in Air, which was released on November 17, 2008 in Europe and November 25, 2008 in the USA. Since the release of Traced in Air, Masvidal has toured with Cynic as part of several large tour packages, playing with such popular metal acts as Meshuggah, Between the Buried and Me, The Faceless, Dream Theater and Mastodon. At the Hove Festival, Masvidal and Cynic shared the stage with more mainstream acts such as The Killers, Arcade Fire and Queens of the Stone Age.
Ben Ratliff of the New York Times referred to Masvidal's "philosophic lyrics", stating that he is "a musician who can expand his own sense of calm into an aggressive, extravagant art"