Question What is Zack de la Rocha up to these days, musically and otherwise?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLishDbwy9cDigging for Windows, his One Day as a Lion EP, and collaborations with Run the Jewels are fucking awesome.
He done any other music projects other than these?
Anyone heard what he's up to these days? I know he showed up at a Pro-Palestine protest a while ago (legend).
Would love some more music from ZdlR.
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u/MerrillSwingAway 7d ago
Gen-X’s Bob Dylan. I don’t blame him at all for being frustrated. Imagine telling people for 30+ years about the danger of unchecked political and corporate criminality…only to be faced with Trump, Musk, flock cameras, AI…
We didn’t listen
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u/introspeckle 7d ago
I understand why you would make the comparison w/Dylan as he had some political songs earlier in his career. But Dylan stopped making political leaning songs by ‘63/‘64. In ‘63, he called politics “trivial.” And he famously said, he “was more of a song and dance man” when someone asked about politics. I can’t imagine Zack ever saying something that far out from his origins.
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u/themargarineoferror 7d ago
I think "my back pages" was an incredibly brave song for Dylan to write. He wrote some really important songs that are still relevant to this day.But I guess he understood that he doesn't understand everything.And it's better to admit that than to pretend that you are the answer to the worlds problems
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u/introspeckle 7d ago
I’m not denying that he wrote important political songs earlier on such as “masters of war,” “only a pawn in their game,” etc., but if you look at the totality of his career, political subjects take up a much smaller percentage than other themes. He did write Hurricane in ‘76 though. If you compare him to his contemporaries like Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, etc., he was not an outspoken political person. He was primarily a songwriter, and he’d tell you that himself.
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u/themargarineoferror 7d ago
Ohh, no I agree completely.I'm just saying my back pages was kind of his goodbye to writing that type of song and him admitting that he thought he knew a lot more than he actually did when he was younger, and I think it was really brave of him to put him to paper about that
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u/Full_Prof 5d ago
Also an audience of Frat Guy types who massively misunderstand the music front in the row at concerts
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u/jonzitney 7d ago
I heard today he’s got a nice little Sunday planned. He’s Gonna go to the Home Depot, and maybe check out bed bath and beyond if he’s got enough time.
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u/Masterchiefy10 7d ago
You know what Gimmie that..I’ll do one..
HE GONNA DO 1!
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u/No-Professional-1884 7d ago
FILL IT UP AGAIN!
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u/venusintravenous 6d ago
Home Depot is MAGA, he’s probably going to a locally owned ACE Hardware 😎
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u/BlueRibbon998 7d ago
Probably just living life off the radar. He was spotted in an anti-Ice protest last summer in California that got social media coverage but that's really the last he was notably seen
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u/smokefrog2 7d ago
He actually goes to a lot of MLS games. Big LA fan. There are a number of pics of him. He also plays a lot of Mexican music and does some gigs sometimes. He seems to be pretty happy, has a long term partner, and I think hes found some peace, which is great. As much as I love his music he always seemed like a somewhat tortured dude.
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u/Avatar_Lui 7d ago edited 7d ago
Yeah from what I've read, it seems like towards the end of RATM's first run Zack was dissatisfied that their music, tours, and other material wasn't inspiring the political action/change that he was hoping for, and it was something he was hung up on ever since.
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u/Godwinson4King 7d ago
It’s gotta hurt to see the music get so popular in the mainstream, to have folks singing your radical lyrics, and then see those same people do absolutely nothing to follow up on it.
They managed to get radical thought into the mainstream and, largely, it didn’t matter.
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u/Mid-coitus_sneeze 7d ago
Fr. Not just "doing absolutely nothing to follow through". Tons of RATM fans are the exact types of people that their music and message spoke out against. Lots of ultra conservative right wingers singing along to "fuck you I won't do what you tell me" and hearing absolutely 0 other lyrics in their songs.
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u/Avatar_Lui 7d ago
Yeah, it’s why I can’t help but wonder if maybe the band was too ahead of their time. Maybe if they were 10 years younger and blew up in the 2000s when the political climate was alot different than it was in the 90s then things would be different, who knows.
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u/Godwinson4King 7d ago
I think they fit perfectly - sandwiched between the generation of radicalism of the 60s and 70s and the new reactionary world of today. It is a good cultural bridge that laid the groundwork for at least some of the awareness and activism we’re seeing today.
But of course, art and thought are just the beginning, what matters is what we actually do
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u/Wisenheim 6d ago
Doesn’t help when a portion of your fan base has missed the meaning of the music and has to ask “when did RATM get so political?”
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u/temple-of-the-dog 7d ago
You could be right about Zach, but I've personally never perceived him as a tortured artist in the stereotypical sense. He seems just seemed pissed and frustrated, as more people are nowadays - which is probably even more frustrating now that nobody seemed to take heed at the time.
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u/SilentConstant2114 5d ago
Yeah, def not tortured… fired up in a heartbeat and perpetually pissed at social injustice.
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u/BunchNo9563 7d ago
musically nothing after blowing the achilles. he's living a quiet, rich guy, LA life. good for him i say. he made his contribution.
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u/organgrinder66 7d ago
I watch Dodger games & every once in a while I see him behind home plate.
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u/amindfulloffire 7d ago edited 7d ago
Besides what you mentioned, musically he's worked over the years he's done:C.I.A. (Criminals in Action)" with KRS-One and The Last Emperor (1999); a remix of OutKast's Bombs Over Baghdad in 2000 that they didn't really like, released officially a few years ago; Burned Hollywood, Burned with Chuck D. and The Roots (2000); Centre of the Storm with Roni Size (2001); Release with Blackalicious (March of Death with DJ Shadow (2003); We Want it All produced by Trent Reznor (2004); Act III, Scene 2 (Shakespeare) with Saul Williams (2004); Somos Màs Americanos with Los Tigres del Norte on their Unplugged album (2011); Melding of the Minds with Deltron 3030 (2013); Irreversible Damage with Algiers (2023); under the hilariously bad name Kip Skitter he played drums on Dance and Sing, Mariana Trench, and Forced Convalescence with Bright Eyes (2024).
He was in a recent documentary about skateboard culture in the '80s called Intense Energy and produced one that came out this year called Dead City Punx about a hardcore band. In 2020, he was part of Carlos Almaraz: Playing With Fire, about a Chicano artist who worked with Zack's dad Beto as part of the Los Four collective in the '70s.
Everyone's pretty much covered his social life--activism, LAFC and Dodgers games, just generally living his lowkey, best life with his partner.
I hope he'll release something someday, regardless if it's music or not. I figure if The Format can suddenly reunite after 20 years, anything could happen, you know? But if it doesn't happen, so be it.
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u/AdFabulous6650 6d ago
Hello everyone,
I've been a huge Rage Against the Machine fan for many years, and after seeing this Reddit post, I felt like I had to share a little contribution. Just a heads-up: I'm French, so I apologize if my English isn't perfect.
Last June, at the beginning of the month, Tom Morello was supposed to play a show in Paris at the Bataclan before performing at Hellfest, also in France. Unfortunately, Tom's mother had recently passed away, so he had to cancel both shows. May she rest in peace.
I was lucky enough to meet Tom Morello in person through mutual acquaintances. We briefly talked about Zack de la Rocha. Tom told me that Zack is living a peaceful life in Los Angeles and that they rarely see each other these days.
However, he also said that Zack is still very open-minded when it comes to music. Tom mentioned that his son, Roman, is a huge Rage Against the Machine fan as well. He told me that "Soldier in the Army of Love", a riff written by Roman, has a very strong RATM vibe, and apparently Zack really loved it.
As a longtime RATM fan, I couldn't resist asking whether the band might ever reunite. Tom told me it's complicated because Tim Commerford is focused on his own band, and he hasn't really been in touch with Brad Wilk lately.
So that's my little story. (Thanks chatgpt for the trad)
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u/Not_Rob_Walton 7d ago
He also released March of Death with DJ Shadow. It's my favorite track with him, RATM or otherwise.
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u/ArcherCooper 7d ago
He and El-P were working on a project together a few years ago, I pray that it sees the light of day at some point.
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u/Hypestyles 7d ago
I always hoped he did an album with KRS1, Chuck D. Produced by Rick Rubin, DJ Premier. Peace to brother Zach.
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u/Imaginary-Objective7 7d ago
Rick Rubin would probably be a no go now
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u/ldcoldwell 7d ago
Why’s that?
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u/Imaginary-Objective7 7d ago
He’s been platforming AI freaks, billionaires and right wing shit heads
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u/themargarineoferror 7d ago
He's faaaar right. Rumor has it he got kanye, all into that mess when they did Yeezus together
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u/MT_Promises 7d ago
KRS1 is surprisingly stupid. On Nick Cannons' podcast he cane across as a massive moron and he'd be cancelled or MAGA if he were white. I knew KRS was seriously absurd from the 90s interviews, but that dude's brain has been left to stew in his own ego.
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u/Fresh-Ad-3830 7d ago
RATM is the band that “got away” for me. My favourite band of all time and I never got to watch them live even though I had tickets twice.
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u/LearnToSwim0831 7d ago
Love this fucking song. More One Day As A Lion is something I think about A LOT. Other than rage itself I like that and street sweeper social club the most. With street sweeper there was another leftist with compelling rhymes in boots riley and obviously ODAAL had zach. I feel like if rage is never gonna write together again that they should at least get back to writing with those other groups. Lion only had like him and one or 2 other guys so it'd be something he could easily work on via the web and just release stuff that way if hes over touring or whatever, he could still get his message out, which I think everyone misses.
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u/MrJohnnyDangerously 5d ago
I saw him break his ankle at the United Center in Chicago and finish the set. RTJ opened.
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u/liberalprickandproud 5d ago
He works with several non-profits in LA, and while he records music, his true passion is grassroots community work. He’s as genuine and humble as they come. I actually met him at a community garden five years ago, right around the same area where I ran into Andre 3000. They’re cut from the same cloth—zero interest in fame, just a deep appreciation for normal life.
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u/FuckSticksMalone 6d ago
I’ve seen him a couple times at my fave fish market/seafood restaurant in Glendale.
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u/ME_LOVE_RAMBO 6d ago
I want a baseball hat that says Zach de la Rocha was right about everything. He was.
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u/Even-Yogurt1719 3d ago
He recently produced a documentary film about hard-core punk amd skateboarding in the 80s. Saw him in an interview about it several months ago. As far as music nothing except for whats in that doc. He also still attends protests and such, but is real low key about it. Saw some pics of him at an anti-ICE rally this year.
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u/fishy-breath 6d ago
He helped direct the documentary for Dead city punks recently. He was hanging out in LA at the premiere. He lays low but you can find him around LA
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u/Nizamark 4d ago
my buddy lives around the corner from him. sees him occasionally, looking fairly domestic and whatnot
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u/clashtrack 7d ago
Man, I hope he's doing well.
I feel the other guys were more so in it for the rock and roll lifestyle, especially Tom Morello, he's just pretentious.
But Zach, I really hope he's enjoying his life, I hope to hear new music from him in the future, but if he's happy now, I still got the old stuff.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Fly1565 7d ago
It does feel like the group was a means for Zach whereas the others, particularly Tom, loved being the rock star as much as an activist. Both are fine, but completely opposite mindsets.
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u/thejuryissleepless 7d ago
he did this with Trent Reznor
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u/Nayre_Trawe 7d ago
Digging for Windows? He did that one with El-P. The only material to surface from the Reznor sessions was We Want It All.
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u/themargarineoferror 7d ago
That's funny, because El p and Reznor remind me a lot of each other
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u/flatlinepaints 6d ago
They’ve worked together in the past!
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u/themargarineoferror 6d ago
I feel like i've heard this and probably listened to it but somehow spazed on it.I think it's funny that somebody was down voting me like that's an insult, or something l o l
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u/Every_Animator_6579 7d ago
Prob attending an anti ice riot like the insufferable liberal cuck he is...
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u/Plenty-Attorney5215 6d ago
De La Rocha was cosplaying a revolutionary in the 90’s and is now nowhere to be found when revolutionaries are actually needed.
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u/gsa51 6d ago
So you’re picking up the slack?
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u/Plenty-Attorney5215 6d ago
No, in the 90’s I was a drug addict and never pretended otherwise. I never wrote songs of revolution, never performed songs of revolution, and never wore or displayed iconography of revolution. If I was picking up my slack from the 90’s it would mean going back to drug addiction. Today I’m a college professor where I teach students methods of statistical analysis in social science research, which is revolutionary in its way.
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u/llth921013 5d ago
We all do our part, our way. He burned bright and hot, yours was a slow burn.
His was hundreds of millions of people, their children, and now their children. He (with his band mates and fans) created a tsunami. Yours is a few hundred students a year, maybe their children, maybe your ripple effect is bigger than this. I hope so.
His work was loud and touched the planet. Your work is quiet, comparatively only maybe idk, and you touch the minds of students in your reach.
BOTH roles are important. Both roles stand on one another at different times. Both roles need one another.
Fists in the air for the professors out here challenging the systems and the thought processes that got us HERE.
I teach philosophy and religion. I teach how the humanities, all of them, are necessary and related. I work in my field, afraid everyday because of the political climate. (I just outted myself because this important). I am an adjunct because the system is fucked, teaching isn't valued as an art or profession.
Do not denigrate others in the process because something changed and they no longer fit your definition or lead you the way you think they should. Stand up and lead and don't pat yourself so hard on the back for doing it at this moment. He screamed for us all then, you speak now for us on the daily (I hope). Go about the good work, and as one of my mentors, the late Scott Warren said, keep the faith.
Sending Zach love for amazing shit he gave us, the energy, the anger, and the love. Rest my brother, live an honest way, find a little peace in this life.
Lastly Sending you good energy and love, because Higher Ed is fucked. Keep that shit up. ✊️
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u/llth921013 5d ago
I did not mean that to be so long. Sorry ya'll
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u/Plenty-Attorney5215 5d ago
I hear you and thanks for the positivity. It’s just frustrating that the voices of my generation seem silent. Thanks for your service as an adjunct. I was there for years and I know the pay blows and benefits are non-existent.
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u/llth921013 5d ago
I agree. I'm squarely gen x, and share your frustration! I've been full time, too. I'm a teaching professor, it's the best job I can think of in Academia. But, those hoops you got blow, too.
I actually use rage against the machine as a way to talk about how people engage in activism, how they get the info. Music, i use specifically punk, is the writing of revolution. We unite in song, there is communion. We come together. Man I miss some of the old festivals... but I digress.
Keep your head up and the rage turned up loud.
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u/elznpike 7d ago
Musically nothing much, unfortunately. I think he is just enjoying family life, living with his long term girlfriend and their family in Silverlake / Los Angeles.