Al Toribio
Al Toribio | Dave Coey | Bevan | Bart Ferguson | Jordan Korach

Kerosene Dream's lead guitarist, Alan Toribio, an Oregon native, was born and raised in the soggy coastal backwaters of North Bend. After brief episodes with piano and trombone, he decided, at age 15, to become Ace Frehley and took up the guitar. He spent his formative years listening to the soundtrack of the movie "Dazed and Confused", and putting together bands with names like "Instathrash", and "Head On".

His post high school years found him on the "Ten Year Plan" majoring in music at the University of Oregon in Eugene. His musical tastes began to drift to the bluesier side of the street and he began listening to copious amounts of Clapton, the Allman Brothers, B.B. King, Santana, Stevie Ray, etc... After spending some time in a couple of short-lived cover bands, he was introduced to some like minded musicians: John Schwartzman (a.k.a. John Shipe) on guitar; Mike Walker, from the band Nine Days Wonder, on the Hammond organ; Jeff Powell on bass; and the indefatigable Matt Reynolds on drums; and together they formed a band called Mission District in 1987. This was a band that definitely let its hair down (and there was plenty of hair to let down). They worked on their chops and improvisatory skills by jamming on (guess what) copious amounts of Clapton, Allmans, and Santana songs etc., as well as some of their own creations, performing mostly around Eugene and Portland.

After Mission District had run it's course through several incarnations and roster changes, it disbanded in1991. However, four of the original members, along with Dave Coey, lead singer and bass player of the recently defunct Nine Days Wonder, decided to put a new band together with the idea of focusing on playing original material and getting out on the road. They named the new band The Renegade Saints and put together a song list consisting of original tunes retained from the previous bands, new material written by one or more of the four songwriters in the band, plus some juicy covers.

During the next five years the band worked hard, touring across the country, playing 150+ shows a year, talking with record companies, and finally coming out with a CD named "Fear of the Sky" for upstart independent label River Road Records, in 1995.

The Saints came to the end of the road about a year later as the band members found their increasingly divergent musical tastes incompatible within the framework of the band. The Saints disbanded in 1996.

After taking a couple of years off to travel and relocate to Portland, Al got a call from the Dream team offering him the newly open lead guitar spot in the band. And the rest is, as they say...the last couple of years.

Over the last three years, Al has also been involved in a project band that plays the music of Pink Floyd. Comprised of an eclectic group of talented Eugene musicians, the band put together a show featuring the entire "Dark Side of the Moon" album as well as favorites from "Wish You Were Here", "The Wall", "Animals", and "Meddle". They performed the show about every six months since 1998, at the Wild Duck in Eugene, the Roseland Theater in Portland, as well as at the Oregon Country Fair. The group has recently debuted a new show featuring "The Wall" in its entirety and is planning encore performances sometime in Feb. '01. Floydheads watch for details!