Lenchantin was born in Argentina; both of her parents were professional concert pianists. Her siblings, a brother and sister, play a variety of stringed instruments. "We were raised classically," Lenchantin recalls. "We came to the States when was I six, but we weren't really allowed to listen to anything but classical, which is crazy when there's so much amazing stuff out there." She began learning to play the piano at the age of five. "I would watch my parents all the time, and was dying to play like they played. My mom put my hands over her hands, so I could see what it felt like," she says. By age eight Lenchantin was also playing violin, and by 12 she'd started experimenting with guitar.

"Hearing Jane's Addiction for the first time, I fell in love with the bass line. [Jane's Addiction bassist] Eric Avery inspired me to play bass," Lenchantin explains. She removed the top two strings from her guitar to fashion a makeshift bass, and bought her first real bass guitar when she was 15. Her new passion was something she hid from her parents for fear they might reject her musical choices. "I remember that day I decided to walk down and look [my mom] in the eyes and tell her that I really, really wanted to do this. My heart was pounding," she says. "They spent all this time and money and energy into making me this classical prodigy and I'm just going take this other road. I understood it could be difficult to hear." Fortunately, Lenchantin's parents were supportive. "They learned a lot from that experience," she says with a laugh. She practiced constantly and made the difficult decision to forego classical music while she built her rock and roll chops. "I didn't take any lessons. I learned just by watching amazing people. I'm fortunate to constantly be around the greatest musicians and just watching, watching, watching."

Lenchantin soon began to play in rock bands. In one of those, called Cherry Llama, she sang and played guitar, bass and piano; most recently, she played bass in the Martinis with Joe Santiago, formerly of the Pixies. She continued to broaden her inspirational base, drawing from Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante, Jimi Hendrix, and Nine Inch Nails guitarist Robin Finck. It was by way of another guitarist that she met Howerdel and eventually joined forces with him in A Perfect Circle. "I met [Tool guitarist] Adam Jones about four years ago, and Billy was his guitar tech at the time. I met Maynard through him as well," she says. They saw her perform with a banned called Sony Panic and asked her to join A Perfect Circle. "Ever since then we've been playing and becoming better friends every day."

"I had to say goodbye to classical for a while," Lenchantin says. "It's not until now that I am inspired to listen to it more and play it more. Classical is classical, rock is rock. When you combine them, [the music] will become another form of its own."

Lenchantin's gear includes a Fender Precision Deluxe bass, a Mesa Boogie 400 plus head, an Ampeg bass cabinet and a Lexicon pedalboard. Her violin is a Zeta Educator Modern Violin, which she plays with a Zeta Classic CodaBow.

Paz Lenchantin is becoming the master of the debut album. Not too long after touring for A Perfect Circle’s debut album, she left that band to play bass in Billy Corgan’s new project Zwan. But now after Zwan’s recent cancellation of their entire European tour apparently due to "family reasons," it seems that Lenchantin has jumped ship yet again. In a message on her fansite Lenchantin wrote: "I want to let you know that I am no longer with Zwan. My experience with Zwan has been great but it is time for me to move on to new projects. This fall I will be dedicating my time with [fellow Zwan member and former Slint guy] David Pajo as Papa M. I am currently rehearsing for our up coming shows in October. We also hope to start recording shortly after that."