Michael Romeo

Early life

Michael Romeo's introduction to formal music training began with piano lessons when he was 10 years old. He also played clarinet. However, it wasn't until after hearing his first Kiss album that he seriously considered switching to the guitar. He ended up purchasing a cheap acoustic guitar at a garage sale.

Influenced by Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Rush, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, he became serious about the guitar after listening to the albums Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman from Ozzy Osbourne. He was also heavily influenced by the neoclassical technique and style of Randy Rhoads, Ritchie Blackmore, Yngwie Malmsteen, and Uli Jon Roth and guitar virtuosos like Shawn Lane; along with well-known composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig Van Beethoven and Igor Stravinsky. Romeo's own influence has rubbed off on younger players, including Dragonforce's Herman Li, who listed Romeo among his Top 10 favorite guitarists in 2011. Michael also loves Star Wars, as shown in his performance of Star Wars Suite on the album released by the band's fan club, Rarities and Demos. He also says his favorite character is Darth Vader.

Equipment

Since 2005, Romeo has taken advantage of a new custom model, Caparison Dellinger II – Michael Romeo Custom, which he used to record the Symphony X album Paradise Lost. Throughout his career, Romeo has also used ESP M-II Deluxe guitars with EMG Active pickups and Fender Stratocasters to perform and record other albums from the band.

In terms of amplification in the studio, he uses an ENGL Fireball as well as a recently acquired Engl SE E670 that is used strictly for recording purposes. Live, Romeo makes use of both the Engl Fireball and Powerball models. Recent photographs that have been made available at Symphony X Official Website show him also using other amplifiers from brands such as Marshall and Madison. He has also been known to use a Mesa Boogie Triaxis and Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier for recording.

In terms of effects, Romeo pairs his various amplifiers with a TC Electronic G System and a Boss NS2 Noisegate.

Side projects

In 1994, he released a solo album entitled The Dark Chapter.

In 1995, Long Island Records of Germany released the self-titled debut Phantom's Opera album featuring Michael on lead guitar. The album was reissued with bonus tracks by Song Haus Music in the USA in 1999.

As a guest musician for Ayreon, Romeo has played guitar solos on the song "Dawn of a Million Souls" (featuring lead vocals by Russell Allen), from Ayreon's 2000 album Universal Migrator Part 2: Flight of the Migrator, and on the song "E=MC²", from Ayreon's 2008 release, 01011001. Romeo also did the guitar work for Vitalij Kuprij on his "Piano Overture' song in his album Forward and Beyond. Romeo also played a guest solo on the Eidolon album The Parallel Otherworld on the song Arcturus #9. Romeo also did some orchestration work on 3 songs of Steve Walsh's solo album Shadowman. In 2012, Romeo recorded some solos and guitar work for the newly released debut album of progressive rock project Flaud Logic. He also made a guest appearance on the new Pat Gesualdo Iceland album.