RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE!
Zack de la Rocha (Vocals)
Tim Commerford (Bass)
Brad Wilk (Drums)
Tom Morello (Guitar)
Zack de la Rocha is the vocalist for the band Rage against the machine, as well as the member who came up with the name. His life story is mysterious, but here's some of it pieced together:
Zack was born in Long Beach, CA in 1970.
First we'll look at his roots. His mother got her Ph.D. in Anthropology, and she lived in Irvine, an Orange County Suburb. His father Beto de la Rocha, was an artist, a member of the political group the "Los Four" which depicted pictures of the Mexican farmers, and brought up Chicano history. His parents separated when he was about 1 year old. In 1983, his father suffered a nervous breakdown due to excessive religious ideals. He took the bible as EVERY part of his life. When he read the passage,
"thou shalt not make engraven image", (or something like that...) he and the forced Zack tour up all the paintings of his, that Zack loved so much. When Zack went to visit him on weekends in Lincoln Heights, in LA, he would be forced to fast for days, to sit in a room with the curtains closed and the door locked. He would eat on Friday, and not eat until he returned to his mother on Monday. After awhile, he couldn't cope with that any longer and permanently lived with his mother in Irvine,
perhaps the whitest city in Southern California. This brought on a culture shock for the young Zack. Due to not visiting his father any more, he lost grip of the Chicano community, and fell where he was pretty much the exemption of the rule, where Chicanos where only there to work, or sell strawberries...
Zack went on to play guitar for a band called "Hardstance" and also did vocals, then he formed Inside Out with current members of State of the Nation. They released on record, and then broke up. That's when Rage against the Machine was formed. Since then, Zack has organized college groups, and activists to visit Chiapas, Mexico, with which is heavily involved, and the National Commission for Democracy in Mexico. He has given presentations to high school students, and is currently working on/at a community service in LA
Here's another shorter biography of Zack:
Zack de la Rocha was born in Long Beach, California in 1970 and raised by his mother in Irvine, California. "In junior high I got into the Sex Pistols, Bad Religion, Social Distortion. Then I got into hardcore at sixteen, seventeen. Hardcore was the whole expression of my being: Minor Threat, Bad Brains, Teen Idles, State Of Alert with Henry Rollins." "I lived [in Irvine], but I never felt totally accepted as one of these rich white suburban kids. I wasn't economically deprived like so many of my Chicano brothers and sisters, but I felt the tension and the rejection--and that's when I started getting into hip-hop, started break-dancing. `The Message,' `Rapper's Delight,' Run-DMC...that was what was happening around that time." "Inside Out was the first band I ever fronted. I channeled all my pain through that band. It 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. But Inside Out went through were a ton of lineup changes." "You can't ignore what some bands have done. I know that from my own experience, from the way my life was changed by Fuck Armageddon, This Is Hell by Bad Religion. I know our record will be in a bin next to Lionel Richie--but so are John Coltrane, KRS-1 and Boogie Down Productions, and Public Enemy."
Timothy Commerford is the bassist for Rage against the machine, here's his biography:
Tim was born sometime in the world, although I'm not exactly sure when or where. If you know, please tell me.
Tim's father is aeronautics/space engineer, who works on the space shuttle. His mother was a mathematician, but died for brain cancer when Tim was 20 years old. His father divorced, and re-married after she got cancer, and the family kind of disintegrated after that. Tim listens to Inside Out, (Zack's first band), and really likes jazz. He's currently playing the upright bass more than
his electric bass. He vents his feelings through poetry, writing, and drawings. He has a certain hatred for police, due to the way they treat people, and he's drawn pictures of what he'd like to do to them. But he says they are too horrible, and it scares him because it's a side of him that doesn't usually come out. So, maybe someday, he'll release some of his work. Oh yes, he plans on changing his last name on every album from now on. (1st Timmy C., 2nd Tim Bob). He says that he's happy to be alive.
Brad Wilk plays drums for Rage, and is probably the least political of the group.
Brad was born in Portland Oregon, in 1968.
Brad is probably the most, well-rounded member of the band. He's in it more for the music than the politics. His father died during the Lollapalooza season in 1994, and that was troubling for Brad. Brad says he'll never put a lot of value on money, because his father was obsessed with it, and never really looked at what really mattered. Wilk moved around a lot as a child with his father's changing jobs. He is most likely, the one of the band who cares a lot about others feelings, not just his own. He says, "I just wish sometimes I could be a fu*king as*hole."
Tom Morello is the guitarist for Rage against the machine, here's his biography:
Tom was born sometime recently...I really don't know. If anyone does, please tell me!
Tom's heritage: His mother's name is Mary Morello, who is the founder of Parents for Rock and Rap, an anti-censorship organization. His father was a guerilla in the Mau-Mau uprising that freed Kenya from British rule. His political education, as he says, "began the first minute you have brown skin and walk onto an inter-racial playground". He grew up in Libertyville, Illinois, a small suburb north of Chicago. He went to pre-school there when a little white girl kept on calling him "nibbler" and other racist remarks, and although he didn't know what it meant, when he told his mother about it, she showed him information on Malcolm X, and talked with him. The next day, the girl said the same things again, and he replied, "shut up! White!" and then punched her in the face. He lived in Libertyville most of his life while he was in the high school drama club, played Dungeons and Dragons, and was into Marxist politics. His first experience with guitar, was when he heard a KISS song that he wanted to play. He paid some guy $5 to teach him how to play, but instead, the first thing the man taught him was to tune the guitar.
Tom's heritage: His mother's name is Mary Morello, who is the founder of Parents for Rock and Rap, an anti-censorship organization. His father was a guerilla in the Mau-Mau uprising that freed Kenya from British rule. His political education, as he says, "began the first minute you have brown skin and walk onto an inter-racial playground". He grew up in Libertyville, Illinois, a small suburb north of Chicago. He went to pre-school there when a little white girl kept on calling him "ni*er" and other racist remarks, and although he didn't know what it meant, when he told his mother about it, she showed him information on Malcolm X, and talked with him. The next day, the girl said the same things again, and he replied, "shut up! White!" and then punched her in the face. He lived in Libertyville most of his life while he was in the high school drama club, played Dungeons and Dragons, and was into Marxist politics. His first experience with guitar, was when he heard a KISS song that he wanted to play. He paid some guy $5 to teach him how to play, but instead, the first thing the man taught him was to tune the guitar.
Back To The Menu!