Rage Against the Machine is a Punk Band, Says Tim Commerford

2016-08-31

Story by Charles Ken

Rage Against the Machine hasn’t always been considered a punk band

Is Rage Against the Machine a punk band? Ask bass player Tim Commerford that question, and he’ll tell you the rap-rockers totally fit the punk band criteria.

“When I see people talk about the history: What are the 10 best punk bands of all time? I never see Rage on that list…” Commerford told “Rolling Stone,” adding that he thinks they should be a part of that list. “Because Rage is a punk band. We were a punk band and our ethics were punk.”

“We didn’t do anything that anyone wanted us to do,” the bass player added. “We only did what we wanted to do and that is the essence of punk rock.”

Commerford and fellow Rage Against the Machine members Tom Morello and Brad Wilk are currently on a North American trek with Chuck D and B-Real under the moniker Prophets of Rage. Commerford is also opening on that Prophets of Rage tour with his new band, Wakrat.

Commerford actually is the lead vocalist and lyricist in Wakrat, instead of the bass player, which he is with Rage Against the Machine and Prophets or Rage.

“I’m a bass player first and foremost and that’s where these bands cross and I’m so proud of what I’m doing in both bands,” Commerford said. “But…one is more of a physical strain, the Prophets of Rage is more an aerobic, musical, bass-player thing. Whereas Wakrat is more of a mental strain for my brain and for my heart.”

Prophets of Rage’s show tonight (Aug. 24) in Toronto will be live-streamed on the group’s Facebook page starting at 9 p.m. ET.

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