Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello recently opened up with Rollingstone.com regarding the bands lack of touring, the 20th anniversary of their self-titled debut and more. Some interesting excerpts from the Q&A can be found below:
Did you ever get emotional watching the old footage?
Yeah, in some ways, it’s bittersweet. It’s like, the very singular and combustible chemistry that made Rage Against the Machine the force of nature that it was, was the same thing that kept us from producing more. If it were up to me, I would’ve made two records a year.
As it is, we have just three records of original material over 20 years. It’s a testament to the strength of that material and to the mythos of the Rage live shows that there is an interest 20 years later in people looking at it.
What this box set does is celebrate the exciting fusion of genres and politics that is Rage Against the Machine. It is something that is able to be a victory lap for fans of the band – and it’s also a reminder for me of work left undone.
Why is it so difficult to stage a Rage tour at this point?
We’d have to agree to go on one. Once a year, the band meets and very seriously discusses and turns down awesome offers to tour the world. That’s part of the program. I’m very grateful that we did agree to do is this box set, which we’re very, very proud of.
Some of those early videos, you know, we’re playing these clubs for 25 people. I remember that period very, very well. I had been in a lot of bands before Rage Against the Machine, bands that had tried hard to make it, and with that band, with Rage, it just spontaneously combusted.
It immediately connected with something in the reptilian brain of fans of rock, hip-hop, punk, metal, activists in a way that was global right off the bat.
Rage Against The Machine‘s XX 20th anniversary edition of their self-titled debut album is available in stores now.
