Rage Against The Machine General Information

Rage Against the Machine formed in the early 90's with Zack de la Rocha and Tim Commerford. Their first meeting was actually when they were in elemntry school together and Zack showed Tim how to steal food from the college cafeteria. Zack has always been obsessed with music so he introduced Tim to it and that was when Tim first started playing the bass. After a while Zack was in a band called "Hardstance" and then a nationally popular band, "Inside Out". At the time Tom Morello was back in his hometown in Illinois playing in a band called "Electric Sheep" with Tool's guitarist, Adam Jones. Tom moved out to L.A. and first heard Zack rapping at some club. He met up with Zack, and took a look through his lyric book. Tom and Brad Wilk were already friends because Brad had responded to an add for a drummer that Tom put out and things kind of formed from there.

the band started writing songs and eventually came up with 12 that they put on a demo tape. It was heard all through L.A.'s music scene and eventually they supported Porno for Pyros on their first major gig. They also got second stage on Lolapalooza II where a scout noticed them and they signed on Epic Records (a division of Sony). They released their self titled debut in 1992 and went on tour. They played benefit concerts for Mumia Abu-Jamal, Leonard Pletier, the Anti-Nazi leauge, and the Rock For Choice benefit. They appered in Lolapalooza in 1993 and in Philadelphia, protested against the PMRC by standing on stage naked for 14 minutes with duct tape over their mouths and PMRC written on themselves.

In 1996 they relaesed their second album, Evil Empire on Epic Records. They headlined their own tour in the spring and summer of 1996. In 1997 they went on tour with Wu-Tang Clan and made more money than H.O.R.D.E tour, Van's Warped Tour, or Lilith Fair. They released a homevideo in November of that year which inclueds live footage from concerts.

Rage has recently been seen at Mumia Abu-Jamal benefit concerts, Tibetan Freedom Concerts and Woodstock '99. They're new album is due for release in September.