 | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Zacarías Manuel de la Rocha |
| Born | January 12, 1970 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 "Zack" 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.
While attending junior high school, de la Rocha became involved in the punk scene and played guitar for a band called Juvenile Expression with Tim Commerford. His interest in bands like 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."
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.
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
- Zack de la Rocha talks to Ann Powers, 2008 LA Times interview
