Stressing that no bad blood exists between them and their former frontman, the remaining members of Rage Against the Machine reiterated Thursday, November 9 that they will forge ahead without Zack de la Rocha.
"Rage is gonna move
on," bassist Tim Commerford said. "We have a future that is bright, and we have music that we're excited about, and skills that we want to utilize, and we're ready to go. We're gonna be out there. If you're into the music of Rage Against the Machine, you're going to be psyched because there's gonna be a lot more coming."
Commerford, guitarist Tom Morello, and drummer Brad Wilk deflected questions about their specific plans to proceed, saying their immediate focus is on their new album, Renegades, due December 5. The LP was recorded with producer Rick Rubin before de la Rocha's departure last month, and it features what Morello calls "revolutionary renditions" of songs by Bob Dylan, Devo, Cypress Hill, the Rolling Stones, and others.
"The priority for the three members of Rage Against the Machine now is to let the world know about this great new record," Morello said. "When we're through working behind this record, we're going to sit down and figure out the future of Rage Against the Machine."
When asked about replacing de la Rocha, Morello said, "We've got some great ideas about how to move forward, but we're gonna figure that all out in the coming months."
Morello praised de la Rocha's performance on the album, pointing specifically to the singer/rapper's interpretation of the Rolling Stones' "Street Fighting Man," which he said gives the song a "new and vital" meaning.
"I think Zack does an amazing job on this record," Morello said. "He changes 'sleepy London town' to 'sleepy L.A. town,' I think in light of the Democratic National Convention and some of the other youth action that has been going on in the streets in different cities."
Rage chose Election Day to release the album's first single, a take on Afrika Bambaataa's "Renegades of Funk," because "renegades have to stand up [for their beliefs], and that's the perfect day to do it," Morello said.
None of the band members will appear in the song's video, which will instead feature footage of Afrika Bambaataa and figures ranging from Muhammad Ali to Richard Pryor.
"It's a tribute to people within music and within politics who have been renegades - people who have stood up against the conventions of their time to make music that's been groundbreaking, or express opinions that have been groundbreaking," Morello said.
Initial pressings of Renegades will include two bonus tracks, "Kick Out the Jams" and "How I Could Just Kill a Man," the latter featuring guest appearances from Cypress Hill's B-Real and Sen Dog. The tracks were recorded live in Los Angeles in September for what was to be a Rage live album, but the covers album soon took priority, landing the live project on the back burner. Rage will decide later what to do with the remaining live material, Morello said.
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