Rage Against the Machine on the Left

___Rage Against the Machine are between albums, but that doesn't mean they're lying idyll. At the beginning of the year, frontman Zach de la Rocha led a protest at the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles in support of left wing Zapastista Guerrillas fighters against Mexico's governing party, the P.R.I. Rage has been long outspoken on the issue, addressing it on such songs as People of the Sun
___According to Zach, the Christmas time massacre of 45 Indian peasants in the Mexican highlands of Chiapas was believed to be carried out by a paramilitary group that supports the P.R.I. A local mayor who assists the P.R.I. was arrested after admitting he supplied the weapons for the massacre
___"We demand that all paramilitary groups now operating in Chiapas be defunded, disarmed and disbanded," declares de la Rocha. "We demand the complete and total demilitarization of Chiapas, because the Mexican Federal Army has only contributed to the levels of violence throughout the state and failed to respond in any significant way."
___Zach's been involved every step of the way since the Zapatistas made their stand in 1994. He helped organize a delegation of college students and activists to visit Chiapas. He has given presentations to high school students and been involved with various organizations--- most notably the El Paso, Texas-based National Commission for Democracy in Mexico, USA--- established to raise funds and support the Zapastistas' cause.
___Fiercely political is the only way to describe Rage Against The Machine--- it was obvious from the moment their self-titled debut disc was released in 1993. Furious lyrics were backed by an abrasive post-punk guitar roar inflicted with hip-hop, a combination that literally raged forth from the stereo. By the 1996 release of the band's second album, Evil Empire, Rage's fiery, militant rock cemented a firm following--- far more than most other pointedly political bands (with the possible exception of U2)
___Meantime, the month before Zach led the consulate protest, Rage guitarist was arrested along with 32 others in Los Angeles, where they were protesting the sweatshop practices of Guess? Jeans. The protesters were gathered up by police after they left an approved demonstration area. They were taken into custody, issued misdemeanor citations, and released.
___"It kind of sucks, because somehow the music has almost taken a back seat to the politics of the band," notes bassist Tim Bob. "Me, personally? I'm totally into the issues, but at the same time it's hard for me. I started playing bass because I wanted to play music, not because I wanted to be a politician."
___"Everyone in this band kind of has their own views," notes drummer Brad Wilk about Rage's intensely political stance. "I have too much empathy. I find myself stuck in between situations, and instead of coming to a decision based on what I feel, I'm always looking at everyone else's feelings, and how it's going to affect every person. It just makes things really difficult. I really wish I could be just a creep sometimes."
___Tom and Zach are the most harshly political members of the band. Tom has been obsessed for more than a decade with political science, and has a brilliant grasp of world politics. Zach went through his own identity crisis which lead to his political awakening. His words--- exemplified in songs like Bombtrack and Killing In The Name, are often compelling--- featuring lyrics that hit you in the gut.
___"I don't think any of our songs emanate from a place other than my personal political views," de la Rocha declares about Rage's impassioned lyrics. "It's part of a healing process to be able to express those things, and every personal conflict you experience does have political ramifications."
___Politics have bonded the band. When you have a reason for being, and that reason is harshly criticized by others, you have to stand united, or divided you fall
___"It's probably as fortunate a circumstance as any in my life to be able to hook up with the other three guys in Rage Against the Machine," appreciates Morello. "When you're in the middle of a band with the background noise that is band politics, the band chemistry that we have is something that's really good to be part of, it brings strength."
___Because conflict makes particularly good magazine fodder, the media often focuses in on Tom, the articulate way-left spokesman and Zach, the tempestuous, outspoken leader. These guys wear their political emotions on their sleeves, but there hearts are well hidden from the public eye. These hidden emotions are shared by Brad and Tim, and an unseen source of fuel for Rage.
___"If you're in a band and you're playing music, you probably need attention," Brad says. "If you're out doing that, you probably like attention and lack it, and then the whole ego thing plays into it. That will fuel a band. It's made us so intense. Everyone's trying to outdo each other, so you can reach this level, but it's important to keep in mind that you're in this together."
___On the music front, all the past six months have brought from Rage is a self-titled home video featuring home video featuring concert footage from the 1994 Pink Pop festival in the Netherlands, uncensored versions of videos like Killing in the Name Of, and Bulls on Parade and a performance recorded live in Germany in 1996. For Rage fans, the video also contains live footage of non-album tunes including Zapata's Blood, Rage's cover of Bruce Springsteen's The Ghost of Tom Joad and a 1996 performance of Know Your Enemy from England's Reading Festival.
___As far as a new record goes, there's nothing new from the group on the immediate horizon. When Tom was asked about weather work had started on that project, he replied, "No, no, heavens, no. If it were up to me, we'd put out a record every six months. I'd have us writing songs every day and then have 10 albums ahead of time, just to put out. But that's not how we work. We haven't written anything down, but in our heads we're writing songs."
___At the moment, Rage is just chilling--- doing things like inciting riots and staging demonstrations. But, that doesn't mean that between political outings, they're sitting around mastering the Playstation, they've been doing lots of music stuff. Tom's been working with the masters of electronica, Prodigy.
___"I love them," Morello declares. "I came up with a bunch of grooves and noises and sent them over to Liam, and had him cut them up, and then he sent them back to me, and we talked. We arranged a song over the phone."
___When we asked him about other projects, Tom was reticent to reveal any other information.
___"I don't want to tell you stuff," he concluded. "Otherwise, in six monthes, I'll have kids coming up to me saying, 'Hey, where's your collaboration with Ozzy?'"

Jodi Summers

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