Rollingstone.com got a hold of Public Enemy‘s Chuck D to talk to him about his new role in Prophets Of Rage—the new supergroup “elite task force of revolutionary musicians” comprised of members of Rage Against The Machine, Public Enemy and Cypress Hill. The conversation steered towards the one absent member of Rage Against The Machine in the band’s lineup: frontman Zack de la Rocha. Chuck approached the situation with respect for Zack‘s work, offering:
“We pick the things that would be obvious hits: “Testify,” “Bulls On Parade” and “Take The Power Back” sound like a jacket that Zack created that just got slightly tailored for myself and B-Real to do. And there are things that B-Real will take on such as “People Of The Sun” and “Bullet In The Head.” We keep the seat warm for whenever Zack de la Rocha wants to come in and just hang out and then you got Rage Against the Machine. You don’t have Rage Against the Machine with myself and B-Real. This is Prophets of Rage. It’s really a unique lining of the planets that fell together on paper and it wasn’t like a record company or a management team that’s like “Why don’t you just take this and that?” It didn’t work like that.”
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When asked about getting Zack‘s blessing on the project, he offered:
“Yeah. Myself, B-Real and Timmy C endlessly get Zack‘s blessings. I call Zack and he says, “Dude, this is the utmost honor” and I’m tickled brown by that. And if Zack wants to come in, they got Rage Against the Machine; if he doesn’t want to do the songs, it’s Prophets of Rage. The songs are greater than any of us as individuals. The thing with getting the approval from Zack was like, “Yeah, man, this is what it is. This is not Rage, but we’re keeping your seat warm” and he was like, “I’ll consider that.”
Though Prophets Of Rage just hit the studio this week to record a new song called “The Party’s Over“, don’t expect much material to arrive from the group. He said of their plans:
“I see us making no more than two or three songs at best that round us out because it has to come together organically and naturally. Ten songs, in this day and time, is a little too much of a buffet anyway. We can’t go into 1992 analog world and think we all of a sudden have to lock ourselves in the studio and come up with 12 tracks. You’re on the other side of journalism.
When was the last time you seriously sat down and listened to 10 albums zipped to you in a .zip file and you’re going to listen to every single track to review. It’s easier saying, “These are two or three songs that they got with their catalogue or performance material. Cool.” Not to say less is more, but yes, less is enough.”
For more from Chuck D, including his thoughts on the U.S. presidential race, head to Rollingstone.com. As for Prophets Of Rage, you can catch them out on this summer tour.
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