Ralph J. Herrera is a heavy metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 drummer. He is best known for being the drummer of Suicidal Tendencies

Suicidal Tendencies

Suicidal Tendencies is a U.S. crossover thrash band founded in 1981 in Venice, Los Angeles, California by Mike Muir, its leader and only permanent member. The band is sometimes credited as one of "the fathers of crossover thrash"...

 between the years of 1984 and 1991. After Suicidal Tendencies, he joined Uncle Slam

Uncle Slam

Uncle Slam was an American crossover thrash band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1984 under the name The Brood. They were influenced by punk rock bands of the '80s like Suicidal Tendencies , D.R.I., Corrosion of Conformity, Black Flag and the Circle Jerks, as well as heavy metal bands like...

, a crossover thrash

Crossover thrash

__FORCETOC__Crossover thrash, often abbreviated to crossover, is a form of thrash metal that contains more hardcore punk elements than standard thrash. The genre lies on a continuum between heavy metal and punk rock...

 band featuring ex-Suicidal members. While in Suicidal he used double bass

Double bass

The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...

 drum kits, a feature often associated with metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 music as opposed to the hardcore punk

Hardcore punk

Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...

 Suicidal was associated with when he joined. Herrera, along with Rocky George

Rocky George

Rocky George is an American heavy metal guitarist who has been a member of several notable musical acts. George's guitar playing career began in 1982 when he joined a local punk rock band called Pap Smear. He became lead guitarist of Suicidal Tendencies in 1984 and stayed with the band until their...

 and Mike Clark

Mike Clark (guitarist)

Mike Clark is an American heavy metal and punk rock guitarist. He is best known for being the rhythm guitarist with Suicidal Tendencies. He has been playing with the band since 1987, and was the only member besides Mike Muir to return to the band when they reunited. He originally played in the...

, was largely responsible for the band's transition to thrash metal. He left in 1991 due to unspecified personal differences, but was thanked in the sleeve of the band's next album The Art of Rebellion for "8 outstanding years".

He seemed to have had a very cheery and happy appearance and was frequently pictured smiling, which made him somewhat popular with Suicidal fans. He is not related to Fear Factory

Fear Factory

Fear Factory is an American industrial metal band. Formed in 1989, they have released seven full-length albums and a number of singles and remixes. Over the course of their career they have evolved from a succession of styles, as well as steadily pioneered a combination of the styles death metal,...

's drummer Raymond Herrera

Raymond Herrera

Raymond Herrera is the drummer for industrial metal band Arkaea. He is a former member of the industrial metal band Fear Factory and Mexican death metal band Brujeria.-Biography:Herrera has been an avid gamer all his life...

, despite the fact that they have the same last name and are both from southern California.

A Suicidal Tendencies fansite tracked him down for an interview in 2010, in which he revealed that he hadn't spoken to Mike Muir in 20 years.