Meet Art Machuca of Art and the Resistance in Bakersfield

Today we’d like to introduce you to Art Machuca.

Art, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I grew up playing music with my parents and brothers playing Latin, rock, funk, all sorts of music. It didn’t start off all on my own though; when I was about five years old, my mom would make me sing any time my relatives came over.

I started off playing drums and switched to guitar and vocals later on down the road. Shortly after that, at about 15 years old, I was inspired by a lot of these artists whose songs I was playing to try to create one of my own. I started writing my own songs. One of these songs, “Solace” was recorded on my band’s debut album “From The Shadows” almost 15 years later.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
As just about any musician will agree with me on, money has been a regular issue in achieving my goals. I’ve had a lot of setbacks only due to the fact that the money for recording, gear, transportation, etc wasn’t present when it was needed. Luckily I’ve been able to surround myself with creative thinkers who can come up with ways to work around this issue.

Please tell us about Art and the Resistance.
My band is called Art and the Resistance, and we are a polyrock band based in Bakersfield, CA. We bring a variety of styles into the rock spectrum and reinvigorate this genre with influences ranging from cumbia to EDM and many other sounds in between. With limited funding, we have been able to put out a professionally-crafted full-length album and four music videos, one of which was just recently released towards the beginning of November.

Picture a 5-piece rock band with a mustachioed keyboardist, a bearded Viking for a vocalist, a literal Hollywood star as a guitarist, a long-haired Aztec warrior on bass, and a blue steel intellectual on drums, all-dancing cumbia to a frenzy of synthesizer patches, heavy metal riffs, and Spanish lyrics.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
When I turned 15, my mom bought me my very first electric guitar, a Japanese Aerodyne Fender Strat. At the time, my dad was against me pursuing music, but my mom would tell me that I have a talent and she wanted to show her support for my musical ambition with this guitar. Sadly, I don’t have this guitar anymore, but it was the spark that led me to where I am today.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.artandtheresistance.com
• Phone: 661-444-0878
• Email: artandtheresistance@gmail.com
• Instagram: artandtheresistance
• Facebook: artandtheresistance

Image Credit:
Naomi Ream, Steven Juliano, Art Machuca

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