Immigrant Punk

Artist Information

Biography

After fronting several bands as a english/spanish vocalist Rocio Aranda set out to start her own music project. Immigrant Punk hit the world music scene in November 2010 blending mexican folk, poetry and hip hop on the first live albums "En Vivo" and "Blanco." The live records were recorded and released the first 3 months into the projects life opening doors to the studio album "Declaring Raw" in 2012 and festivals throughout the country.

2010
Savannah Georgia Pride
St. Petersburgh Florida Pride

2011
Denton, Texas Jazzfest
Denton Peace Festival
Denton Beanstock
Twist Dallas
Milwaukee Pridefest
Mid-South Memphis Pride
2011Halloween Dallas,Tx
Art Outside Austin,Tx
Baytown Barkaloo Baytown,Tx

2012
Denton Jazzfestival
Houston Free Summer Free Press
Art Love Magic "The Underground"
Outlander Fall Festival
Yes, Indeed Houston Music Festival

Rocio Aranda's voice and lyrics have often been described as a female version of Zach de la Rocha frontman for Rage Against the Machine with a melodic twist. Immigrant Punk music has been described by audience as the most raw yet comforting combination of world music. The project is guaranteed to be different on any given night. Although Rocio Aranda is the common denominator and can be caught performing solo on the streets and on stage, she often invites musicians from all walks of life to accompany her in her delivery. The project also has been seen with live artist on stage painting pieces influenced by the music, fire dancers, break dancers, and modern dancers.

Today IP is taking some time off to live and write new material.

Rocio has joined Rage Against the Machine Tribute Band, Rip the System as the lead vocalist. The band is currently performing in various cities around Texas. To learn more about the project visit www.ripthesystemband.com

Instrumentation

Rocio del Carmen herrera Aranda - VOX, Djembe, Classical Guitar
Randy Lincoln - Bass Guitar
Erin Cassaday - Live Programmer

Discography

Immigrant Punk
"en Vivo 2010"

Immigrant Punk
"BLANCO"

2012
Immigrant Punk
"Declaring Raw"

Official Website

http://www.immigrantpunk.com/

Links

• MySpace
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Immigrant Punk Videos
• Become FAN or Street Team Member
• Rip the System

Audio

• These Days
  Listen  
• El Olvidado
  Listen  
• Anxiety
  Listen  
• Till Death Do Us Part
  Listen  

Video

Immigrant Punk - Greg Stein Fire Dancing - YouTube.mp4

Living Dead (live) 2012 Art Outside.mov

Photo Gallery

Press

• Twist Dallas GLBT night at Lakewood Bar & Grill on Wednesday was a surprising success [+ Show ]
  

  Immigrant punk was so many things balled into one. She was Zen, she was intense. At times angry and ...Immigrant punk was so many things balled into one. She was Zen, she was intense. At times angry and then flipped to sweet. She drummed with an accompanying Spanish guitar and it was both lush and mesmerizing.

• Punk Heritage [+ Show ]
  

  When you talk to Rocio Aranda, you can’t escape her eyes. They are intense with a penetrating stare....When you talk to Rocio Aranda, you can’t escape her eyes. They are intense with a penetrating stare. Aranda is one serious woman.
  
  That’s a result of her devotion to changing the world — even from her little corner in Denton. And her goal is to do that through her music as Immigrant Punk.
  
  Aranda could be the first musician to mix her Mexican heritage of folk music with a kind of hip-hop laced with a spiritual optimism as a woman and gay. She’s punk and traditional. But that lack of definition may be her best asset.
  
  “I write about anything you can think of that inspires you,” she says.
  
  Born in Mexico, Aranda settled in Texas with her family at age 14. By then, she was already writing her own poetry, but soon discovered The Doors, Rage Against the Machine and music she had never heard of: Hip-hop.
  
  “I started doing music [at age 19],” she says. “I wrote about things that relate to my life. But I would also cover songs by Tupac Shakur, Jay-Z, Mana that were like parallel realities to my life. Those self-made, something-out-of-nothing lyrics were poetry.”
  
  Those influences melded with her love of Mexican music and experience playing with other bands. Her songs are minimal in delivery: She raps over a djembe drum — that’s it. But Aranda invites other musicians to play with her and is always changing the sound. The lack of consistency and even glossy production is strangely part of her music philosophy. Immigrant Punk isn’t just her moniker —it’s her musical lighthouse.
  
  “The djembe is an efficient, affordable way to do my music,” she says. “I’ve been learning to rap and now I write my music that way. It’s my plan to have different instruments all the time but with my lyrics. And I want to give my music out for free.”
  
  No lie. She records her live performances and then gives out the CD free of charge. Her first “album” debuted in March. She’d rather sell her merch for funds to keep doing music, but she sees the work as a gift to give back.
  
  “My target audience is the individual who has the desire to grow,” she says. “People who still dream and have moved forward and are now in this fabric of America. I wouldn’t call it a struggle because it’s beautiful to want something.”
  
  In Denton, Aranda is surrounded by a happening music scene where she finds a jukebox of inspiration by the different bands and artists. But she wouldn’t mind hitting the Dallas venues and even playing more to the community, even though her work tackles more about her identity as an immigrant to Texas more than her sexuality.
  
  “It’s clear I am lesbian and very proud to be,” she says. “I’m blessed. I never had a negative response from my family or friends about my sexuality. It’s one of the factors that drive me to do positive things. I feel a sense of responsibility as far as our time right now.”
  
  But her spirituality drives Aranda ... though she’s not of the Bible-thumping Christian rock variety. She just sees her work as part of something bigger.
  
  “Sometimes I wonder if art is just the language of God speaking through people,” she says. “I hope my audience can go away feeling like they’ve seen something fresh, not through me but in the lyrics to remember ‘This is a new day —this life is an opportunity.’”
  
  This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition April 30, 2010.
  
  © Copyright by DallasVoice.com
  Link: http://www.dallasvoice.com/artman/publish/article_12798.php

• Real Grrl:Rocio Aranda [+ Show ]
  

  Where do you call home? Denton, Texas Get Real with Us… I am a Mexican immigrant who moved to the U...Where do you call home? Denton, Texas
  Get Real with Us… I am a Mexican immigrant who moved to the United States for a better life. I fronted several bands across Texas and Mexico before starting my solo project Immigrant Punk.
  Immigrant Punk records are all live. The recordings you will hear are real time, real show. I do that because I invite different musicians to share the stage with me each show. I record it. Print it. And give it to the people. Free. Being an immigrant, my music is strongly influenced by Mexico and by the United States. Being a lesbian, my music is strongly influenced by the hunger to liberate the suppressed and encourage diversity.
  
  Link
  http://cherrygrrl.com/real-grrl-rocio-aranda/
  
  

• Benefit supports Mayan youths’ ambitions [+ Show ]
  

  How do you help four struggling students from Yaxunah, Mexico, stay in school and on the college ...How do you help four
  struggling students
  from Yaxunah, Mexico,
  stay in school and on the college track?
  In Denton, you put on a
  show.
  Lorena Swan, the benefit
  coordinator of the University
  of North Texas Anthropology
  Student Association, is doing
  just that. She recruited local
  bands Anonymous, Immigrant
  Punk and Ryan Thomas
  Becker’s Last Joke to join her
  trio — Lorena and 2 Dudes —
  for a benefit concert Sunday
  night at Dan’s Silverleaf.
  The student association
  hopes to raise at least $700 to
  help support four Mayan students who are part of a UNT
  partnership in Yaxunah, led by
  Grace Bascope, an adjunct
  medical anthropologist who
  works in the Mayan region of
  Mexico.
  The residents of Yaxunah
  live off the milpa — corn fields
  — and small government
  grants. Swan traveled to
  Yaxunah to work with
  Bascope’s program.
  In one of the Yaxunah communities Bascope works with,
  four young people are making
  sacrifices to travel to school. If
  the four students want to complete college, they’ll need help.
  One of the students plans to be
  a doctor, and another hopes to
  practice veterinary medicine.
  Two plan to teach, Swan said.
  “I knew I didn’t just want to
  go down there and help as a
  tourist,” Swan said. “I wanted
  to be involved on a more longterm basis.
  She recruited bands with a
  broad audience in mind.
  Immigrant Punk is a rap-folk
  act fronted by Rocio Aranda.
  Anonymous is Denton musician Will Frenkel’s project with
  Andrew Wahlert. Ryan
  Thomas Becker’s Last Joke is a
  rock outfit made up of Becker’s
  school friends and fellow
  musicians.
  Details: Admission is a suggested donation of $5 to $10.
  The show starts at 7 p.m.
  Sunday at Dan’s, 103
  Industrial St.
  — Lucinda Breeding

• Scenes from PARK(ing) Day Dallas [+ Show ]
  

  In the short block between Pearl and Olive, a patch of grass and tables were set up with food trucks...In the short block between Pearl and Olive, a patch of grass and tables were set up with food trucks purring nearby. This was the scene downtown Dallas, where three blocks of parking spaces were reserved and converted by locals in the name of a "more lively, active and community-oriented place to live, work and play."

• Immigrant Punk [+ Show ]
  

  Slithering, the beautiful and deadly viper lures you in with seductive hypnotizing undulations to st...Slithering, the beautiful and deadly viper lures you in with seductive hypnotizing undulations to strike with deadly accuracy. Stalking, the panther gracefully moves through the bush and then, --- without warning, --- pounces; claws unfurled leaving you wondering what just happened. Alternately beautiful and abrasive, Immigrant Punk is on a mission. Back and forth between singing and spoken word, English and Spanish, a music attempting to bring two worlds together, Immigrant Punk is an apropos expression of our times, resonating back to us our cordial and uneasy relationships. Feel the raw refined power of Immigrant Punk

• The Otherside: Tv Interview
  

  Tv interview with Mike Miller

• Scenes from PARK(ing) Day Dallas [+ Show ]
  

  In the short block between Pearl and Olive, a patch of grass and tables were set up with food trucks...In the short block between Pearl and Olive, a patch of grass and tables were set up with food trucks purring nearby. This was the scene downtown Dallas, where three blocks of parking spaces were reserved and converted by locals in the name of a "more lively, active and community-oriented place to live, work and play."

• Artist Spotlight Immigrant Punk
  

  Girl Show Artist Spotlight

Setlist

Querro Bailar: original
Run: original
Forever Young: cover song by Jay-z
El Olvidado: original
Can I talk to you: cover by Talib
10% Rapist: original
Shape of Hope: original
The Cause: cover by Miguel Pinero
Ruego Por Ti: original
Anxiety: original
My America: original
Roaches: original
2-Pac covers
Mana covers
Poquito de Cafe: original
Amor Velles a Flores: original
Machete: original
We promised we would: original
Dead Flowers: original
Clint: original

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