33 Facts About Paul Masvidal

Paul Albert Masvidal was born on January 20,1971 and is an American musician, best known as the guitarist, singer and a founding member of the progressive metal band Cynic.

Paul Masvidal was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico to Cuban-American civic and business leader Raul Masvidal.

Paul Masvidal developed an interest in mysticism and esoteric topics from a young age, becoming an initiate to Kriya Yoga in his late teens and eventually a practitioner of Buddhist meditation by his late 20s.

Paul Masvidal met drummer Sean Reinert in 1984 at Gulliver Academy in Miami, where the duo began making music the day they met, eventually forming the pre-Cynic groups, Crypha and Seaweed.

Sean and Paul Masvidal had bigger ideas by then and went off to music school.

Paul Masvidal co-founded Cynic with drummer Sean Reinert in the late 80s, having released four demos from 1988 to 1991 that circulated in the underground tape trading community.

Paul Masvidal developed a reputation in the South Florida music scene for his musicianship and attention began to grow quickly around the band.

In 1989, while still in high school, Paul Masvidal toured Mexico as a replacement guitarist for the band Death, but declined an invitation to permanently join the band to remain committed to Cynic.

However, Paul Masvidal returned to the Death fold replacing guitarist James Murphy for tour dates on the international Spiritual Healing tour in 1990.

Paul Masvidal toured extensively for Human, in addition to appearing in the music video for "Lack of Comprehension", which debuted on MTV's Headbangers Ball.

In 2013, Paul Masvidal joined forces with other original members of the Death Human line up and toured worldwide in honor of Chuck Schuldiner's legacy with the group DTA.

Paul Masvidal moved to Los Angeles in the fall of 1996, upon being offered a full scholarship at Musicians Institute, where he began work as a session musician and composer for network TV and film.

In 2015, Paul Masvidal ventured into the performing-arts world with masked duo Onward with Love, a musical collaboration with acclaimed singer-songwriter Amy Correia.

Paul Masvidal writes and performs music for television and motion pictures.

Paul Masvidal's credits include main title 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 in the 1990s.

In 2013 Paul Masvidal founded composing collective Still Motion Music which scored music for numerous TV series on H2, National Geographic, Bravo, ABC and PBS.

Paul Masvidal has a library of songs regularly performed on network and cable television.

In 2017, Correia and Paul Masvidal scored the main title to CW Networks, game show "Save To Win".

In 2019 and 2020 Paul Masvidal ventured into releasing work as a solo artist under the name 'Paul Masvidal' releasing three conceptual albums titled Mythical Human Vessel.

Ben Ratliff of the New York Times referred to Paul Masvidal's "philosophic lyrics", stating that he is "a musician who can expand his own sense of calm into an aggressive, extravagant art".

Paul Masvidal's influences are quite diverse, as described in an interview with Metal-Fi.

In May 2014, the Los Angeles Times did a front cover story on Paul Masvidal's coming out as a homosexual along with fellow Cynic member Sean Reinert.

For gay pride month June 2017, Paul Masvidal talked to Billboard about his experiences as a gay man in the rock and metal community:.

Paul Masvidal began work with his brother, Maheshananda, an established and influential teacher of Yoga and Ayurveda in 2018, offering Ayurvedic and CBD-based products with company More Life Market.

Paul Masvidal has most recently entered into the creation of physical objects, developing Orgonite related devices and sacred geometric amulets.

Paul Masvidal has owned and used many different types of guitars, amplifiers, amp modellers and effects over his career.

Paul Masvidal has frequently modified his guitars, usually changing the pickups and adding additional electronics.

Paul Masvidal used a black GM4T and a ZT3 while touring in support of Cynic's 2008 album Traced in Air.

Paul Masvidal lent his name to a line of signature Masvidalien instruments.

Paul Masvidal switched to playing and endorsing Kiesel Guitars in 2024.

Paul Masvidal exclusively plays models from Kiesel's line of headless guitars, including the Lightspeed electric guitar and the Zeus acoustic guitar.

Paul Masvidal has used the Composite Acoustics Cargo, typically for his solo work.

Paul Masvidal talked in detail about his gear in an interview with online publication Gear Gods.