Alexis de la Rocha is a first-generation Latine artist, singer, songwriter, producer, and synth goddess born and based in Los Angeles. She has performed and created music her whole life, from her early beginnings as a dancer at age three and first piano lessons at age seven to performing in recitals, talent shows, and theatrical productions throughout high school and college. As a film school student at UCLA, de la Rocha honed her artistic skills in production, directing, and acting–skills that would lead her to high-profile gigs as music festival director for LALIFF, Amazon, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Los Angeles Clippers, and many more. But it was after college while holding a job at the now-defunct Los Angeles radio station Indie 103.1, that she realized she wanted to pursue music.
De la Rocha is perhaps best known as the electrifying frontwoman of the Los Angeles experimental band, BEATMO, which she co-founded in 2006. Beatmo’s hits, including “Unheard March,” “From the Water,” and “Orale” showcase de la Rocha’s powerful performance persona and eclectic musical influences, from her early childhood influences of Madonna, the 1984 film The Neverending Story, and David Bowie’s stylized synth soundtrack to 1986 film Labyrinth to the dance, alternative, and R&B music of her teen and college years. “I grew up in the eighties and nineties, and those delicious sounds of freestyle, house, trip-hop, electronic, grunge, hip-hop, R&B, and so much more live in my mind,” she elaborates. “I remember reenacting Dave Gahan in “Enjoy the Silence” and wanting so badly to be Björk.”
A few years into her involvement with Beatmo, de la Rocha began writing solo music in GarageBand with her Roland Juno-6. She eventually taught herself Ableton. This writing helped her hone in her synth dream pop style, pulling inspiration from Bowie and the soundtrack to the classic 1982 dystopian film about Los Angeles, Blade Runner. De la Rocha formed her second band, LJ Laboratory (formerly LEX), which featured collaborations with Daft Punk’s team for shows at SXSW, W Hotels, and a sold-out event at the Los Angeles Theater Company.
As a vocalist, musician, and artist, de la Rocha’s transformative onstage presence leaves fans yearning for more, and her dynamic musical displays at Snow Globe Music Festival, Pride (Los Angeles, San Diego), KABOO, Treefort, and other festivals have endeared her to new audiences. Her commanding performances and musical artistry have earned acclaim from the Los Angeles TIMES, LA Weekly, Buzz Bands LA, Rolling Stone, The Bay Bridged, Consequence, and other publications.
With their disbandment, de la Rocha heard the calling of motherhood and had her baby girl. She admits the transition to full-time motherhood was not easy, and she had a tough time adjusting to her new life. “I was missing my music life,” said de la Rocha. So she wrote, and wrote, and ventured on her musical journey to find herself in this new life chapter. One result was her 2021 single, “Chill,” written with longtime collaborator and homie VFRESH. De la Rocha is revving up to release even more music this year and perform once again. Her latest song, “Haze,” holds her inner reflections, visions, and intimate thoughts.
“My music is my soundtrack and interwebbings of my influences of 1980s synthesizers, fantasy, fashion, goth, and dream pop. ‘Haze’ is where I let my childhood play with sounds inspired by David Lynch’s Twin Peaks theme by Angelo Daniel Badalamenti and where synths pay tribute to David Bowie’s instrumentation in the Labyrinth.”
For de la Rocha, the title “Haze” speaks to the cloudiness of the mind when it’s caught in a spell of depression. “It’s about making your way through the fog during those moments when you are not yourself or able to be the version of yourself that you imagined,” she says. “My vocals are haunting, echoing the internal voices that repeat in the mind. Haze is about looking back at those tough moments and finding the beauty in them, learning the lesson, the takeaway, so you can continue forward stronger. Grief and heartache are okay because you are overcoming the pain. Art and music are spiritual for me and in those moments when I feel overwhelmed, I’m able to find understanding through my creation process and self-expression. I’m hoping people are able to connect and find comfort in the sounds.”
Regarding her creative process, de la Rocha explains, “I meditate and say a prayer, give thanks to my ancestors, set my intentions, light a candle under my huge evil eye/mal de ojo which watches over me at the top of my studio, and let all art pour from me. I’ve worked on letting go of my paralyzing unreality-based limit of perfection and am diving fully into the sounds and art that fill my heart. I am a vessel and the art is a release. I feel alive on stage, like I am finally myself, in my fantasy dream world. I give 150% to my performance and my audience. They can be anywhere else in the world, yet they chose to be here, with me, and I am ever so grateful. Their love gives me the confidence to keep going.”
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