Tim in Australia

The scene inside Rage Against The Machine's dressing room before a show is not what you would expect from a rock'n'roll band. Firstly, there is nothing untoward going on. Instead, band members are stretching out and limbering up for the gig. No glamerous girlfriends either : more likely someone is reading and getting serious for the upcoming musical onslaught. And in the corner concentrating, you'll sight bass man Tim, preparing his fingers for when he finally hits the strings. "When I see these other bands with their girlfriends who are like playboy playmates and stuff like that I am just as amazed as any other person who might see them on TV," Tim laughs. "Our dressing room is a locker room, when we are in there we are getting ready to do battle. We don't come to take second place. We feel we have to be able to get the crowd going more than anyone else" For RATM, music is sport. When they leave the stage the band wants to ensure that "nobody out-does us." "And I don't think it has ever happened," Tim says seriously. "That competitive attitude always drives us that bit further." When you speak to the tattooed bass player you can see he is passionate about what he does. And there is no denying that Tim's string slapping sets him apart from most other rock bass players. "The main difference is that I play bass guitar with my fingers and there isn't that many rock bass players out there who do it," he says plucking invisible strings. "It's more athletic. I want to play that bass as hard as I can, and I just concentrate on that. You can hear a lot of bass players just doing a support role for guitars."