Aztlan Underground

Aztlan Underground navigates time and space between the contemporary and the ancient to create music that reveals the unrestrained voices of indigenous peoples of the world. Through their own personal journey of enlightenment, they uncover the raw, painful, solitude of oppressed people transforming it with unbridled energy and emotion into their hard-hitting musical style. For nearly 20 years, Aztlan Underground has cultivated a grassroots audience across the world from Europe to Australia and, most importantly, the Americas, from Canada to Venezuela. Initially disregarded as stereotypical American yankees, Aztlan Underground shocks and awes foreign audiences with their respect for the ancient ways and songs of ancestors mixed with the modern, industrial sounds of today. They have performing with every socially important act from Rage Against the Machine, Manu Chao, to Fermin Muguruza, and Dead Prez. Aztlan Underground remains true to their name and beliefs by playing political rallies, underground venues, and anywhere the doors open. At home, the band is considered an institution having influenced a whole new generation of musicians, bands, and free-thinkers. Giving back to the community, each band member, in one way or another, reaches out to troubled and incarcerated youth, families in need, and disenfranchised neighborhoods. [ADD MORE] Growing up in poor, violent households where gang membership was the popular way out, Aztlan Underground band members found music. Their early musical influences went from one extreme, punk and metal bands favored by their classmates, to the other, cumbias, rancheras, and salsa heard at home. Picking up an instrument and grabbing a microphone was a cathartic experience that in a sense saved their lives. Through the healing power of music, four mystified souls joined together and found their medicine. Their message is one of self-determination and decolonization. They challenge their audience to look within themselves, to their own life-giving forces, and human potential to realize that they are all God. Individuals and the collective are strong and divine. They ask to confront personal demons and society's ills to create a world filled with hope, answers, and a way forward. From the hurt and rage, they seek to inspire positive action within themselves and others. Aztlan Underground independently produced and distributed three albums: Decolonize (1995), Sub-Verses (2001), and the self-titled album Aztlan Underground (2009). The band's albums reflect a process of self-discovery and realization evolving from the anger of Decolonize to the new self-titled album featuring an evolution towards a more global, humanitarian struggle. The new album maintains the indigenous infusion of sounds and timelessness where the songs stretch the boundaries of the standard composition and become 8- to 9-minute nonconformist journeys. The power of music is beyond just me. We're simply a vehicle to inspire and send a message to empower, and enlighten. The world is at stake--the war--we're all part of the puzzle. Everyone is being conscious, aware that the earth is speaking, things are changing.