Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello On Awards And Future Plans
Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello has given a new interview to Rolling Stone in which he discusses the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, last year’s reunion tour and Rage’s future plans.
Discussing the band’s nomination for this year’s Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, Morello said, “I like the idea there’s somewhere on the planet that celebrates music. This is Rage Against the Machine’s fifth nomination for the Hall of Fame. The thing I share, with many fans of many bands, is that if the Rock Hall is going to be inducting artists of so many diverse genres, there are a lot of artists from multiple genres that deserve to get in. It would be a great place to be. I certainly think Rage Against the Machine, among a lot of other bands, deserves to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame… If you saw any of the Rage Against the Machine shows last summer, you’d be hard-pressed to make an argument against us.”
Morello went on to discuss last year’s reunion tour: “It was great. Having not played shows with the band in 11 years, you just don’t know what it’s going to be. I knew pretty early on in rehearsal that we were going to sound fuckin’ great. But what is the audience going to be? Will it be dads in Dockers with cell phones out? [Laughs] There’s no knowing. The crowds were feral. The band had never played better. We’d never sounded better. It was a reaffirmation of the power of Rage Against the Machine, and the transcendence of Rage Against the Machine as a live act.”
Frontman Zack de la Rocha tore his Achilles tendon during the second show, which gave the shows an added dimension, according to Morello. Zack toughed it out that night”, said the guitarist. “And for the next 17 shows, he was more compelling as a frontman sitting on a box in the middle of the stage than 99 percent of the frontmen in the history of all time.
“It was completely unexpected, but the fact that he soldiered on … and he didn’t just soldier on, but he was able to be that electric, compelling, powerful transmitter of truth that he is, while remaining fairly immobile, was fairly impressive. I didn’t hear from one fan that felt the show was diminished in power by one percent.
“Those songs feel both sonically and lyrically more relevant now than they ever have. The themes that we weave through the mind, the mash-up of sonics, it didn’t in any way feel nostalgic. It felt like electric and very present in the now.”
When asked whether there were plans to play more shows, Morello was non-committal, “If there is to be any more shows, we will announce it as a band. I don’t know. I know as much as you do, honestly. Right now we’re in a time of healing. I’m in a time of making music and doing a bunch of stuff.”