Prophets of Rage, the new supergroup featuring Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello, Tim Commerford, and Brad Wilk with Public Enemy’s Chuck D and Cypress Hill’s B-Real, have announced their debut show tonight at the Whisky in Los Angeles. The band will be performing Rage Against The Machine hits and a new song titled “The Party Is Over.” Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk spoke to Rolling Stone about Zack de la Rocha’s reaction to the project.
Wilk: “I haven’t talked to him recently. I know he’s making a record right now. I have nothing but love and respect for him. I hope he’s doing well and creating the record that I think he’s making.”
Commerford: “I spoke to Zack and got his blessing, and that’s really great. We’re a family and there’s support across the board. I support him and everything he does, and vice versa. I’ve definitely been keeping him in the know. You’re never going to replace Zack, and we aren’t trying to do that. He’s a unique artist and showman. It’s going to take people that I know he looks up to and that he idolizes and that he’s inspired by. We’re going to plug them in and see what they can do with these songs, because at the end of the day it’s all about the songs. The songs are needed right now, they really are. This is gonna be some cool shit.”
Chuck D discussed joining the group, “Tom talked to my wife first. She’s very deep into the politics of Latinos, blacks, inequalities and stuff like that. They had a great conversation. For years I heard the rumor that Zack isn’t going to perform with Rage Against Machine and they’ll need someone to fill in. I talked to Tom and said, ‘Sure.'”
Tom Morello said the 2016 U.S. Presidential election helped motivate the decision to reunite with his Rage Against The Machine bandmates, “Dangerous times demand dangerous songs. Both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are both constantly referred to in the media as raging against the machine. We’ve come back to remind everyone what raging against the machine really means.”
