Rage Against The Machine debut album producer Garth Richardson discussed stories about Zack de la Rocha feuding with Tom Morello after the debut record in a new Produce Like A Pro interview. Alternative Nation transcribed his comments about the alleged feud and the song “Settle For Nothing.” Howard Stern played a skit with a new Rage Against The Machine singer recently.
What were the stories I heard about Cole Rehearsal Studios?
“That was on record number two. From what I’ve heard, and of course this is complete folklore, Tom and Zack did not get along after that record, and they could only be there, I guess. So nothing was done at Cole for the [first record].”
So you’re in Sound City, a really fantastic room. You’re creating a live sound so you can capture the essence of the band.
“If you hear the one song ‘Settle For Nothing,’ Tom wanted to replay his solo. If you listen to it very closely, you can hear the old solo bleeding through the extra drum mics. Of course we got lucky, because there was kind of this echo, but playing this different melody. So we got caught, but it worked.” Rage Against The Machine have ‘imminent’ reunion tour dates coming.
So you’re an engineer, you’ve just engineered a big record, but you’re given the opportunity to produce, which is quite early on, of course. We’re looking at the band now, at Rage Against The Machine, it became one of the biggest rock bands in the world, but presumably at that time, they weren’t sure.
“You know what, nobody knew. There was a huge buzz on them. When we went into the studio, they had not signed their deal yet, so I paid the first $20,000 on my credit card, which, yes, to all you fans out there: don’t do that. [Laughs] Because there could be the possibility of them coming back and saying, ‘We’re not gonna pay you,’ so, you know…
The funny thing is my dad [producer Jack] mortgaged his house without telling my mom to pay for [1969’s] [The Guess Who’s] ‘These Eyes,’ so I kind of had that same feeling about Rage. It’s a bit harder now to make money, I think, in what we do.” Zack de la Rocha being called a ‘sell out’ in a photo was revealed last week.
