Zack de la Rocha

Zack de la Rocha
Zack de la Rocha on stage in 2007
Background information
Birth name	Zacarías Manuel de la Rocha
Born	January 12, 1970 (1970-01-12) (age 39) Long Beach, California, U.S.
Genres	Alternative metal, rap metal, funk metal, rapcore, hardcore
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, activist
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, drums, keyboard, jarana
Years active	1988 - present
Labels	Epic, Revelation Records, ANTI-
Associated acts	Rage Against the Machine, Inside Out, Hardstance, One Day as a Lion

Zacarías Manuel de la Rocha (born January 12, 1970, in Long Beach, California) is an American rapper, musician, poet, and activist of Mexican, German, and Irish 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.

Early life and childhood

De la Rocha attributes his influences to his personal experiences, his roots, and his family. In his early youth, de la Rocha's father Roberto de la Rocha (known as Beto)—a muralist and member of Los Four, the first Chicano art collective to be exhibited at a museum (LACMA, 1973), played an integral part in his son's cultural upbringing. Zack also saw the hardships of his Sinaloan grandfather—a revolutionary fighter who fought in the Mexican Revolution and an exploited agricultural laborer in the US, reflected in the struggles of the Zapatistas (also known as EZLN).^[1]

When de la Rocha was one year old, his parents separated. He and his German-Irish mother, Olivia de la Rocha, moved from East Los Angeles to Irvine where Olivia attended the University of California and earned a PhD in Anthropology. Zack described Irvine as "one of the most racist cities imaginable. If you were a Mexican in Irvine, you were there because you had a broom or a hammer in your hand."^[2]

Zack's father, Beto, suffered a nervous breakdown and took his religious ideals to extremes. Beto destroyed his art and when Zack visited him on the weekends, he was forced to fast, sit in a room with the curtains closed, the door locked and helped destroy his father's paintings. Not long after, Olivia stopped the visits.^[3]

At the age of 14, Zack became a vegetarian, saying in 1989 of the diet: "I think Vegetarianism is really great, and I stand really strongly behind it." When asked why, he explains "Inside me, I think that an animal goes through a lot of pain in the whole cycle of death in the slaughterhouse; just living to be killed. That whole situation is really messed up for animals, growing up in those little cooped-up pens. I just don't think its worth eating that animal. I think animals should be free. There's so much other food out there that doesn't have to involve you in that cycle of pain and death."

Musical career

Early career

While attending junior high school, De La Rocha became involved in the punk scene and played guitar for a band called Juvenile Expression with future RATM bandmate, Tim Commerford. His interest in bands like the The Clash, The Sex Pistols and Bad Religion turned into an appreciation for other bands like Minor Threat, Bad Brains, and The Teen Idles. Soon after entering high school, Zack joined the straight edge band [[Hardstance].

De La Rocha and Hardstance bassist Mark Hayworth 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."^[4][5]

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 was formed.

Rage Against the Machine

De la Rocha performing live

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. 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.

Creative differences

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":

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, with which he disagreed.^{[citation needed]}

The other members of the band sought out separate management and secured the immediate release of the album Renegades. 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' Questlove with production partner James Poyser.^[6] 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.^[7] Reznor thought the work was "excellent,"^[7] but said the songs will likely never be released as de la Rocha was not "ready to make a record" at that time.^[8]

In 2000, de la Rocha appeared on the song "Centre of the Storm", from the Roni Size/Reprazent album In The Mode,^[9] while in 2002, he appeared in a minor role in the first part of the Blackalicious song "Release" on the album Blazing Arrow.^[10] 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. As part of the collaboration de la Rocha released a statement which included the following:

"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."^[11]

The 2004 soundtrack Songs and Artists that Inspired Fahrenheit 9/11 included one of the collaborations with Reznor, "We Want It All".^[7] 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".^[12]

Rage Against the Machine reunion

de la Rocha performing with Rage at Coachella 2007.

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. ^[13] 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:^[14]

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. ^[15] 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 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 (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
• "Zack de la Rocha On The Case Of Sherman Austin", from "Silence Is Defeat II"
• "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", with DJ Shadow; released free online in 2003
• "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)
• "Can't Kill the Revolution" Rage Against the Machine with Tool (1993) ^[16]
• "B.O.B (Bombs Over Baghdad) Zack de la Rocha Rock Remix (2001)

Footnotes and citations

References

• Devenish, Colin (2001). Rage Against the Machine. St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 0-312-27316-6. 
• Stenning, Paul (2008). Rage Against the Machine: Stage Fighters. Independent Music Press. ISBN 978-1906191078. 

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Zack de la Rocha

• 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
• Zack de la Rocha talks to Ann Powers, 2008 LA Times interview