Breaking up is hard to do. Unless you are Rage Against the Machine.
At their height, the band split in 2000 when frontman Zach de la Rocha departed. The remaining members joined forces with Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell to form Audioslave. Rage reunited in 2007, went on hiatus in 2011 and another supergroup was born as this time, instead of Cornell, it was Chuck D and B-Real of Cypress Hill. Hip Hop and hard rock fused genres and fans.
Rage reunited once again in 2019 for a huge tour they dubbed “Public Service Announcement”. But then COVID hit.
Things were finally looking up in 2022 when Rage was ready to get back to the road and make good on all those dates. The trek was short lived as de la Rocha ruptured his achilles during a stop in Chicago, forcing another waiting period for anxious fans.
Earlier this week, drummer Brad Wilk issued a statement on Instagram that the band would not be rescheduling any of the dates that were postponed in 2023.
” I know a lot of people are waiting for us to announce new dates for all the cancelled RATM shows. I don’t want to string people or myself along any further. So while there has been some communication that this may be happening in the future…I want to let you know that RATM (Tim, Zack, Tom and I) will not be touring or playing live again. I’m sorry for those of you who have been waiting for this to happen. I really wish it was…”
It’s bummer news for sure, but not surprising. After their peak, it just seemed the cards were stacked against them. Whether it was money or the love of the music and the message they inspired them to try, try again, they just couldn’t get it together well enough to make it stick. I have no doubts, however, that Wilk, along with bassist Tim Commerford and guitarist Tom Morello will turn up somewhere in new projects. Afterall, there is still plenty to rage against.
