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Artist News Gigs & Festivals
Prophets Of Rage split as Rage Against The Machine reunite
By Andy Malt | Published on Monday 4 November 2019
Prophets Of Rage have announced that they are splitting up, that’s the big news. After just three years, the group – made up of Public Enemy’s Chuck D and DJ Lord, Cypress Hill’s B-Real and Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morrello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk – have announced that they’re calling it a day. Not because of any big bust up, but because Zach De La Rocha has decided that he’d like the perform with the band’s Rage element again.
So, yeah, Rage Against The Machine have reunited, as I think I explained perfectly clearly in the previous paragraph. Maybe that’s the big news here. The band have announced five US shows for next year, including two performances at the classic reunion festival that is Coachella. It’s not yet clear if there are plans for more shows or new music, but presumably you don’t split up a whole other band just because you’ve got a week’s worth of other work in six month’s time.
“I want to say thank you to the fans that supported Prophets Of Rage for the time we’ve been rocking together”, wrote B-Real on Instagram. “It’s been an honour to rock stages and people of all ages with these guys. It’s been a great time, [many] great memories in a short time”.
“Rockin along side of Chuck and Tom has been amazing to say the least”, he went on. “It was fun while it lasted and I hope we left a big impression and that the music has been a source of inspiration for those that needed it. That was the purpose we got together. So I say to y’all stay informed, stay engaged and fight the good fight”.
Chuck D added on Twitter: “[Prophets Of Rage] was about doing something greater than self. Keeping [Zach De La Rocha’s] spot warm for Rage Against The Machine and powering a statement for 1000 days was a honourable truth mission in the hours of chaos from the jump”.
As for Rage Against The Machine, next year’s shows will be the first time the outfit has performed together since 2011. During that time the band’s members have remained busy.
In addition to performing in Prophets Of Rage, Morello has released a solo album and collaborated with various other artists; Commerford has released music with his bands Futureuser and Wakrat; and Wilk has worked with Black Sabbath and Smashing Pumpkins. De La Rocha was said to be recording a solo album and announced plans to release it in 2017. However, although he did release an EP, that album has never emerged.
Prophets Of Rage released an EP in 2016, followed by their debut album in 2017. Since then they have released three more singles, two of which – ‘Made With Hate’ and ‘Pop Goes The Weapon’ – came out earlier this year. As recently as September, Morello was discussing the band’s plans for a second album.
“This will be our third studio record and really the one where I think we have to define who we are in 2019 and beyond, rather than just [being sort] of a coming together of groups with notable catalogues, to really find our own sound and to continue to grow”, he told BBC Radio 6 Music. But that all seems to have gone out of the window now.
The project may return, of course. Morello, Wilk and Commerford’s previous project with another vocalist – that being Audioslave, their collaboration with Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell – filled another hiatus in RATM’s career. That band reunited for a one-off show to protest Donald Trump’s inauguration in 2017. Cornell confirmed afterwards that there had been discussions about further shows. But, of course, later that year he took his own life while on tour with his main band.
As already noted, currently the four members of Rage Against The Machine are staying pretty quiet about their plans – beyond announcing the dates of the five shows they have already scheduled. But now that Chuck D and B-Real have had space to bid farewell to their Rage-linked project, the information chasm left will likely be filled soon enough.
