Rocky Rodriguez was barely out of high school when adrenachrome. started shaking basement walls. It was 1995, the tail end of grunge and the early days of nu-metal, and he was already carving out his own frequency: part hip-hop cadence, part metal snarl, part alt-rock melody.
Raised on scuffed-up CDs by the likes of White Zombie, Snoop Dogg, Sepultura, Korn and Deftones, he built a sound that fused all the noise his generation loved and refused to pick a side.
Soon, adrenachrome. was packing local clubs with moshing kids, beer-soaked floors and maxed-out PAs. Then the amps went quiet. For nearly a decade, Rocky stepped back from the stage. That silence breaks Friday (Nov. 7) when adrenachrome. returns to play Rodriguez Fest, a full-circle family gig at Grewal Hall. The band will share the bill with Rocky’s sister, Rachel Rodriguez, whose music blends her Latina roots with rock ‘n’ soul swagger.
“Her voice is like Janis Joplin or Tina Turner, very soulful with a little bit of rasp,” Rocky said.
Their father, Ray T. Rodriguez, rounds out the lineup with songs from his new acoustic album, “Generaciones,” a striking mix of traditional Mexican tunes.
“He’s still got it. My dad’s been doing this forever,” Rocky said. “My dad sang ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ for the 1984 Tigers during the World Series.”
Also on the bill are Your Dad and Shelby & Jake, with DJ Sizl spinning between sets. A diverse lineup, to say the least.
At 47, Rocky is plugged in again with a new adrenachrome. lineup and ready to see if lightning can strike twice. He spoke with City Pulse about growing up in the woods of Ovid, his days opening concerts for Sevendust and Hed PE, and relighting the spark that started it all.
Back in the late ‘90s and early 2000s, adrenachrome. had a big following among the Deftones and Korn crowd. How’d that happen?
We were early on that sound. The Korn, Deftones thing was happening already out in California, and I was on it right away. That’s just what I was attracted to at that time. I was the kid who grew up listening to Pantera and Snoop Dogg. So, it just made sense for me to try to do something I could do.
But even before the band was happening, I was a kid who was involved in lots of stuff: sports, acting, student council and playing trumpet in band. Being involved in lots of different social groups really helped. And the sound was a hybrid of all things. I think our late-‘90s generation was the first to like Korn, The Prodigy and the Dave Matthews Band all at the same time.
What was your first big adrenachrome. show?
It was this battle of the bands at the Small Planet, probably in late ‘97, maybe early ‘98. Another local band on the show was Uncle Slarvy. We ended up winning it.
That’s when everybody showed up. It was surprising. It was literally our first show, and we lived in Ovid. East Lansing and Ovid are far apart — you might as well be talking about Detroit if you’re from Ovid. And, at the time, everybody else in the band was like 14 and 15. I had just graduated from high school. I had to pay the Small Planet’s door guy to let my bandmates play the show. So, for us to win and immediately jump into a college-type circuit was amazing. That, combined with hitting the streets and giving demos out everywhere we went. All that effort paid off.
What was a high point for the band?
We were fortunate enough to have waves. We won that battle of the bands. Then we started packing the Silver Dollar and Small Planet. And then all those clubs closed down, and that’s when we started playing other types of venues, like The Barn in Pompeii, the VFW hall in St. Johns or basement college parties. We just had to do whatever it took to make it happen when Lansing didn’t have the Small Planet or the Silver Dollar. And then the Temple Club opened, and that was our next peak, when we started blowing out shows.
You gigged a lot with E Backwards E, another successful local band from that era. What was that relationship like?
That whole allied peer group was definitely helpful to us. Every time they (E Backward E) elevated their songwriting, it made us want to do the same thing. In our little world, we were our own little Korn and Deftones — two bands in this area that were original and doing their own thing. Every time the night was over, you could tell we just tore the roof down.
What inspired you to get back on stage for Rodriguez Fest?
My sister in Nashville, Rachel Rodriguez, has been having a wave of success. She’s got a lot of momentum rolling and a new album, “Mi Vida,” coming up, some singles being recorded at legendary studios with serious players and serious management.
With all those gears moving while I’m around it, it just gets me sizzling on the inside. For this show, I knew I didn’t just want to run production and sound. I actually started feeling a pit in my stomach, thinking that when she comes to town, I’ll be embarrassed if I don’t take the stage. I feel like riding her coattails right now and re-sparking what I had going 10, 12 years ago. That was about the last time I did a big show like this.
What keeps you inspired these days?
I like the process of it. When I do music, it benefits not only my mind, body and spirit, but also the people around me. You can’t quantify those feelings within yourself when you’re just overwhelmed with gratitude. I’ve gotten to practice my sister’s songs with the band. I’m singing my sister’s lyrics, and her words are so beautiful. I’ve cried more these last few weeks as we’re preparing for this show, not out of sadness, but out of inspiration.
Buy advance tickets for Rodriguez Fest HERE.
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