Zack de la Rocha-Vocals
Zack was born in Long Beach, CA in January 12th, 1970. 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 seperated 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
permanantly 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 exeption 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 center in L.A.
Zack's Influences
"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." As far as how Zack feels about the impact his band might have, he has this to say: "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."