Zack de la Rocha
| Zack de la Rocha | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Zacarías Manuel de la Rocha |
| Born | January 12, 1970 Long Beach, California, U.S. |
| Genre(s) | Alternative metalrap metal Funk metal Alternative rock Rapcore Hardcore |
| Occupation(s) | Vocalist, Songwriter, Rapper, Musician, Activist |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, Guitar, drums, Keyboard |
| Years active | 1988 - present |
| Label(s) | Epic, Revelation Records, ANTI- |
| Associated acts | Rage Against the Machine Inside Out Hardstance One Day as a Lion |
Zacarías Manuel "Zack" de la Rocha (born January 12, 1970 in Long Beach, California) is an American rapper, singer, musician, poet, and activist of Mexican-American descent. He is best known as the vocalist and lyricist of Rage Against the Machine and is currently the frontman of the music duo, One Day as a Lion.
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Early life
In his early youth, de la Rocha's father Roberto de la Rocha (known as Beto)—a member of Los Four, the first Chicano art collective to be exhibited at a major museum (LACMA, 1973)—suffered a nervous breakdown and took his religious ideals to extremes. He destroyed his art and when Zack visited him on the weekends, he was forced to fast, sit in a room with the curtains closed and the door locked and help destroy his father's paintings. After a while, he was unable to cope with this lifestyle and stayed with his mother in Irvine.
Musical career
Early career
While attending high school, de la Rocha became involved in the hardcore punk scene and played guitar and sang for various bands, including Juvenile Expression with Commerford. His interest in bands like the The Clash and Bad Religion turned into an appreciation for other bands like Minor Threat, Bad Brains, and The Teen Idles, and he joined the straight edge band Hardstance.
De la Rocha eventually formed the Hardcore band Inside Out, which gained a large national underground following. They released a single record, No Spiritual Surrender, on Revelation Records in 1990 before breaking up. In de la Rocha's words, Inside Out was "about completely detaching ourselves from society to see ourselves as...as spirits, and not bowing down to a system that sees you as just another pebble on a beach. I channeled all my anger out through that band."
After Inside Out broke up, he embraced hip hop and began freestyling at local clubs, where he met Tom Morello and Brad Wilk. Eventually de la Rocha's Juvenile Expression bandmate Commerford joined them and Rage Against the Machine (RATM) was formed.
Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine was on the main stage at Lollapalooza in 1993 and was one of the most politically charged bands ever to receive extensive airplay from radio and MTV. De la Rocha became one of the most visible champions of left-wing political causes around the world while advocating in favor of Leonard Peltier and Mumia Abu-Jamal, and supporting the Zapatista movement in Mexico. He spoke on the floor of the UN, testifying against the United States and its treatment of Abu-Jamal. The music and the message were so intertwined for him that he did not consider any of Rage's albums a success unless they provoked tangible political change. Rage's second and third albums peaked at number one in the United States, but did not result in the political action de la Rocha had hoped for. He became increasingly restless and undertook collaborations with artists such as KRS-One, Chuck D, and Public Enemy.
On September 13, 2000, Rage Against the Machine performed their last show before breaking up, during which de la Rocha gave a notable speech before playing "Killing in the Name":
| “ | So who went out and joined us for the Democratic National Convention? I've never seen so many fucking cops in my life. It's like everybody knows that everybody went out there; the only thing we were out there to do is express how much we hate both the Democrats and Republicans because they sold this fucking country out. And by expressing our rights to resist, what do they do? They open fire on the crowd. I don't care what fucking television station said the violence was caused by the people at the concert; those motherfuckers unloaded on this crowd. And I think it's ridiculous considering, you know, none of us had rubber bullets; none of us had M16s; none of us had billy clubs; none of us had face shields. All we had was our fists, our voices, our microphones, our guitars, our drums, our timbales and whatnot. And anytime we get beaten in the streets for protesting, we take it to the court system, and the court system don't wanna hear it. Look what happened to Amadou Diallo in New York. They shot that brother 41 times and let all four officers go. It's time for a new type of action in this country. | ” |
"Creative differences"
In October 2000, de la Rocha left Rage Against the Machine, due to "creative differences." It is rumored that Commerford's stunt at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards, where he climbed atop of a fixture on stage because RATM had lost the award for Best Rock Video to Limp Bizkit, may have contributed to de la Rocha's decision to leave the band. Commerford later stated he had pulled the stunt in protest that cameras at the awards show were already hovering over Limp Bizkit before anything was even announced, which he disagreed with.
The other members of the band sought out separate management and secured the immediate release of the album Renegades. On October 18, 2000, de la Rocha released the following statement:
| “ | I feel that it is now necessary to leave Rage because our decision-making process has completely failed. It is no longer meeting the aspirations of all four of us collectively as a band, and from my perspective, has undermined our artistic and political ideal. I am extremely proud of our work, both as activists and musicians, as well as indebted and grateful to every person who has expressed solidarity and shared this incredible experience with us.[1] | ” |
After searching for a replacement for de la Rocha, the other members of Rage joined up with Chris Cornell of Soundgarden to form Audioslave.
Post-Rage work
After RATM's breakup, de la Rocha worked on a solo album he had been recording since before the band's dissolution, working with DJ Shadow, El-P, Muggs, Dan The Automator, Roni Size, DJ Premier, and The Roots' ?uestlove with production partner James Poyser.[1] The album never saw fruition, and de la Rocha started a new collaboration with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, in which around 20 tracks were produced.[2] Reznor thought the work was "excellent,"[2] but said the songs will likely never be released as de la Rocha was not "ready to make a record" at that time.[3]
In 2000, de la Rocha appeared on the song "Centre of the Storm", from the Roni Size/Reprazent album In The Mode,[4] while in 2002, he appeared in a minor role in the first part of the Blackalicious song "Release" on the album Blazing Arrow.[5] A new collaboration between de la Rocha and DJ Shadow, the song "March of Death" was released for free online in 2003 in protest against the imminent invasion of Iraq. De la Rocha released a statement along with his song:
| “ | Without just cause or reason, without legal or moral justification, and without a thread of proof that Iraq directly threatens the security of the United States, the Bush administration has headed to war. As I am writing this, bombs are raining upon the defenseless civilians of Baghdad in a continuation of a policy that has already claimed the lives of over 1 million innocent Iraqi people. People just like us who want democracy but find themselves cornered by a dictator on one side, naked U.S. aggression on another, and the oil beneath their country; for which it appears they are to be massacred.
Lies, sanctions, and cruise missiles have never created a free and just society. Only everyday people can do that, which is why I'm joining the millions world wide who have stood up to oppose the Bush administration's attempt to expand the U.S. empire at the expense of human rights at home and abroad. In this spirit I'm releasing this song for anyone who is willing to listen. I hope it not only makes us think, but also inspires us to act and raise our voices.[6] |
” |
The 2004 soundtrack Songs and Artists that Inspired Fahrenheit 9/11 included one of the collaborations with Reznor, "We Want It All".[2] This album also contained the debut recording by former Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello as The Nightwatchman, "No One Left".
On October 7, 2005, de la Rocha returned to the stage with new material, performing with Son Jarocho band Son de Madera. He later spoke as MC and again performed with Son de Madera at the November 22 Concert at the Farm, a benefit concert for the South Central Farmers. He sang and played the jarana with the band, and performed his own new original material, including the song "Sea of Dead Hands".[7]
Rage Against the Machine Reunion
Rumors that Rage Against the Machine could reunite at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival were circulating in mid-January 2007, and were confirmed on January 22. [8] The band was confirmed to be headlining the final day of Coachella 2007.
On April 14, 2007, Morello and de la Rocha reunited onstage early to perform a brief acoustic set at House of Blues in Chicago at the rally for fair food with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW). Morello described the event as "very exciting for everybody in the room, myself included." Rage Against the Machine, as a full band, headlined the final day of the 2007 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April 29. The band played in front of an EZLN backdrop to the largest crowds of the festival. The performance was initially thought to be a one-off, this turned out not to be the case. The band played 7 more shows in the United States in 2007, and in January 2008, they played their first shows outside the US as part of the Big Day Out Festival in Australia and New Zealand. The band has since continued to tour around the world, headlining many large festivals in Europe and the United States, including Lollapalooza in Chicago.
At Rage's first reunion show, de la Rocha made a speech during "Wake Up" in which de la Rocha called numerous American presidents war criminals, citing a statement by Noam Chomsky regarding the Nuremberg Principles:[9]
| “ | A good friend of ours said that if the same laws were applied to U.S. presidents as were applied to the Nazis after World War II that every single one of them, every last rich white one of them from Truman on would have been hung to death and shot - and this current administration is no exception. They should be hung, and tried, and shot. As any war criminal should be. But the challenges that we face, they go way beyond administrations, way beyond elections, way beyond every four years of pulling levers, way beyond that. Because this whole rotten system has become so vicious and cruel that in order to sustain itself, it needs to destroy entire countries and profit from their reconstruction in order to survive - and that's not a system that changes every four years, it's a system that we have to break down, generation after generation after generation after generation after generation... Wake up. | ” |
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— Zack de la Rocha
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During Rage Against The Machine's performance at Lollapalooza in Chicago, de la Rocha made another speech during the instrumental break in "Wake Up" saying:
| “ | For the last eight years, all we've heard about is some mysterious outside force that threatens our security and our livelihood everyday... we've been told the last eight years...that some outside force is threatening our way of life and our jobs and our livelihoods...and after eight long years of that bullshit...it must dawn on all of us that its that same government that is the terrorist force sitting across from us. And I'm not just talking about the Bush administration, but the whole sick, conformist apparatus - Democrats too! They're supposed to step up and be our voice in congress and they turned their backs on us. They turned their backs on the workers. They turned their backs on the soldiers. They got right behind Bush lock step and got this country into another sick war. Now we know brother Obama. We know brother Obama. But I tell you what, if he comes to power come November and he doesn't start pulling troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq, I know a lot of people who are gonna stand up and burn down every office of every Senator that doesn't do his job. All this hell we've been seeing is just the beginning, it's just the beginning. And no matter what happens in the elections, I'll say this. That there is a generation of young black and latino brothers and sisters that are gonna force everyone in this country to make a decision very soon about what side they're going to stand on. And they're a generation of kids who don't give a fuck about national politics. They care about bread. They care about water. They care about housing and they care about justice. And they ain't gonna fucking stand for any of that shit. They're just not gonna take it.
This new generation of blacks and latinos and Muslim brothers and sisters are gonna stand up and make this country an offer it can't refuse. An offer it can't refuse. So wake up! Wake up! Wake up! |
” |
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— Zack de la Rocha
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Solo album
In an article published in Billboard, it was announced that work had been completed on de la Rocha's first solo album, which he had been working on at least since his departure from RATM in 2000 and, by some accounts, as early as 1995. [10] Trent Reznor and DJ Shadow were said to have produced the album or portions of it, however at this point it seems to have been shelved indefinitely.
One Day as a Lion
One Day as a Lion is a band consisting of Zack de la Rocha and former The Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore. The group combines rock drumming, electro keyboards, and hip-hop vocals. De La Rocha will be playing keyboards as well as providing vocals with Theodore on the drums for their self-titled EP. The band's name derives from an infamous black and white graffiti photograph taken by Chicano photographer George Rodriguez in 1970 with a caption reading "It's better to live one day as a lion, than a thousand years as a lamb". They released their debut EP, One Day as a Lion on on July 22, 2008.
Discography
Hardstance
- Face Reality (1988 - 7" vinyl and re-issued in 1999 on Conversion Records)
Inside Out
- No Spiritual Surrender (1990)
- Benefit 7" (1991 - Bootleg live recording with Youth Of Today)
Rage Against the Machine
- Rage Against the Machine (1992)
- Evil Empire (1996)
- Live & Rare (1998)
- The Battle of Los Angeles (1999)
- Renegades (2000)
- Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium (2003)
One Day as a Lion
- One Day as a Lion (EP) (2008)
Solo and collaborations
- "Mumia 911" from Mumia 911 LP a benefit album (1999) with dead prez, Afu-Ra, P.E.A.C.E. and Aceyalone of the Freestyle Fellowship, Slimkid3 of the Pharcyde, Black Thought, and the Last Emperor under the name The Unbound Allstars
- "C.I.A. (Criminals In Action)" from Lyricist Lounge, Volume One (2000) with KRS-One and the Last Emperor
- "Burned Hollywood Burned" from Bamboozled soundtrack (2000) with Chuck D and The Roots
- "Om Nia Merican" from "Amethyst Rock Star" Saul Williams (uncredited)"
- "Centre of the Storm" from In the Mode, Roni Size/Reprazent (2000)
- "Release" from Blazing Arrow, Blackalicious (2002)
- "March of Death" released free over the web (2003) with DJ Shadow
- "We Want It All" from Songs and Artists That Inspired Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)
- "Act III Scene 2 (Shakespeare)" from Saul Williams, Saul Williams (2004)
Footnotes and citations
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Armstrong, Mark (October 18, 2000). "Zack de la Rocha Leaves Rage Against the Machine". MTV News. Retrieved on 2007-02-17.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Moss, Corey (May 10, 2005). "Reznor Says Collabos With De La Rocha, Keenan May Never Surface". MTV News. Retrieved on 2007-02-17.
- ↑ Gargano, Paul (October 2005). "Nine Inch Nails (interview)". Maximum Ink Music Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-02-17.
- ↑ Phillips, Liam (October 17, 2001). "In The Mode review". The Manitoban. Retrieved on 2007-02-17.
- ↑ Moss, Corey (March 1, 2002). "Zack De La Rocha Joining Blackalicious On Blazing Arrow". MTV News. Retrieved on 2007-02-17.
- ↑ Zack de la Rocha.com, official website promoting "March of Death". Retrieved February 17, 2007.
- ↑ Spin Magazine, February 2006
- ↑ Boucher, Geoff (January 22, 2007). "Rage Against the Machine will reunite for Coachella". Los Angeles Times. LATimes.com. Retrieved on 2007-01-22.
- ↑ Interview of Noam Chomsky by Tom Morello in 1996
- ↑ Post from former band manager
References
Devenish, Colin (2001), Rage Against the Machine: St. Martin's Griffin ISBN 0-312-27316-6
External links
- Zack de la Rocha Network
- Vietnow.org, a Rage Against the Machine news resource and forum
- www.marchofdeath.com
- Zack de la Rocha Interviews Noam Chomsky (part 1) (video)
- Official Rage against the Machine-Website
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Rocha, Zack de la |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | rapper, singer, musician, poet, and activist of Chicano descent |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 12, 1970 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Long Beach, California |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |