November 1, 1999

twec.com: Welcome to tonight�s chat with the members of Rage Against the Machine. Answering questions first is Brad Wilk.

Travis Wood: Hey Brad, what do you think of today's music scene?

Rage Against The Machine: Brad - I think today's music scene is thriving as much as it was, say, 10 or 20 years ago. It's just that the cooler stuff is harder to find. I think you're going to see more underground music with the MP3�s.

sexymutt: Brad, how was the whole experience at Woodstock?

Rage Against The Machine: Brad - Aside from being fumigated from gasoline and hearing horrible accounts of rape and dehydration, it was not so great. No, I'm sorry, aside from that it was okay.

Jgant: What is your favorite memory of touring with Rage Against the Machine, Brad?

Rage Against The Machine: Brad - Being tear-gassed in Christiana, Denmark, on our bus, just before we played, by the police in an effort for them to try and incite a riot and stop our show. They tear-gassed our crowd as well. The kids didn't riot and the show continued, and I have never felt more alive in my life.

Morellofreak: Brad, what�s it like being around Tom, the guitar master?

Rage Against The Machine: Brad - Thank God I'm not the guitar!

Risela: How do you describe the sound of the new album?

Rage Against The Machine: Brad - It's intense. Much broader than the last two records. And it really caught the feel of the live shows better then the last two records as well. This record honed in on the chemistry between the four of us.

Bubbs: Brad, how did you like Cocachella?

Rage Against The Machine: Brad - Cocachella was a great experience and we look forward to doing it again.

CalmLikeABomb: Brad it seems like your drumming has improved and you were allowed more drumming freedom on this album. Is this true?

Rage Against The Machine: Brad - I've never been constricted in any way, or allowed or not allowed to do anything. What I play is my choice. I think the first record I made with only three drums and wanted to concentrate on groove, period. And then after that was established, I felt more and more freedom on the last two records. But thanks for the compliment.

Bprice: Hey Brad, how do you feel about people pirating your new album over the internet in MP3 form?

Rage Against The Machine: Brad - One day, music will be all pirated, and we'll all have to go get real jobs. It's only a matter of time. Free music - what a concept.

RageChick: Brad, how do you feel about touring with a band whose music carries such a strong message when there is so much meaningless crap out there?

Rage Against The Machine: Brad - I'm very proud of Rage Against the Machine's hand-in-hand music and politics, and I think it's what sets us aside from other bands.

CalmLikeABomb: Brad, did you have more freedom musically with the drums on this album? They sound a lot better on this album.

Rage Against The Machine: Brad - I kind of just answered that, but that's a nice thing to say.

rage2000: Brad, what bands did you listen to as a teen?

Rage Against The Machine: Brad - I listened to all kinds of music, from all genres. I never limited myself. So, bands like Public Enemy, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, The Sex Pistols, The Parliament, James Brown.

twec.com: Brad has left and Zack will be joining us now.

Chillywilly: Zack did you guys hang out with any Zappatistas at the Mexico City show?

Rage Against The Machine: Zack - Yeah. The youth identify with the Zappatistas because they have a lot of the same needs and the same struggles, and they understand the demands that the Zappatistas put forth, including the right for free education. In Mexico City, a lot of the youth who joined us were part of a student strike that has been going on for six months. Many students are protesting the privatization of their schools. Many students who were there with us share the vision of real democracy in Mexico. It was wonderful to play a concert in solidarity with them. We're looking to assist the movement and the people in the countryside who are fighting for a dignified life. So I guess the answer to the question is yes.

Cryptonet: How much has the experience of playing with the other band members changed your life?

Rage Against The Machine: Zack - I guess it's hard when you have a band that is so musically and politically driven, that sometimes it's hard to maintain a relationship that remains a collective experience. Over the course of the last eight years, the four of us have come together over musical things and political ideas that we have in common. That's a hard process. There is constant attention and media that can divide people. Sometimes egos explode, and you can lose contact with people whom you consider to be your nuclear family. Resolving those issues have changed my life in a profound way. It is often ironic that when you make music that brings people together, you sometimes find yourselves drifting apart from the people you're creating the music with. It has changed my life a great deal.

RageChick: Zack, how can my friends and I, being only teenagers, help you out on the causes you work for?

Rage Against The Machine: Zack - I think the first thing that anyone can do when faced with so many crucial issues and concerns is to be as critical as possible of everything around you. That was, in my experience, what was so important. Being one of the only Mexicanos in a white suburb, that caused me to read into it and read about the experiences of people in the past who experienced what it was like to be a minority in a racist country, and what they did to fight the injustices. Look at the conditions in your own life and read as much as you can about them. That's how you develop a consciousness, and that is how you will move the country in a more humane direction. You can also look at the songs we write as a lens to the world. If any of that interests you, such as our involvement in the Zappatistas or Mumia - read about the causes. Mumia wrote a book a few years ago called Live on Death Row, which illustrates what he is going through on death row. Pick up a book called Zappatistas - Documents of the New Mexican Revolution. Becoming informed is the most powerful weapon for young people like yourselves who now can have the opportunity to struggle and change the situation in the States for the best.

Jgant: Zack, if you could ask Bill Clinton to do anything for improved relations with Mexico, what would you want him to do?

Rage Against The Machine: Zack - That's a great question. The first thing would be for him to stop all military aid to the government in Mexico. Bill Clinton, despite the fact that the Mexican government has decided to take a path of bloodshed and war, continues to aid them every day. When the US, during the French colonization of Vietnam, was giving 80% of all military aid to the French as they were attempting to destroy the liberation movement in Vietnam. Now President Clinton is paying for a huge percentage of the military costs of destroying the democratic movement in Mexico. President Clinton is standing in the way of democracy in Mexico. I would also tell him that in order to bring peace, real peace with dignity to Mexico, that he should stop all funding of the School of the Americas in Georgia. It is known throughout Latin America as the school of the assassins. People send their heads of military to the US to learn tactics of torture to stop the liberation in their own countries. Those are two things that I would state to Clinton if I were ever given the opportunity.

DelaRoc3585: Zack, what did the armband at Woodstock stand for?

Rage Against The Machine: Zack - The armbands that we had on our shirts were the black flag and the red star, which is the flag flown by the Zappatista army of national liberation. We wanted to show solidarity for them and that we support their demands and their struggle for peace and democracy. We wanted to inform young people in the States about the situation in Mexico.

MattH: Where is the charity money from the concert tickets going?

Rage Against The Machine: Zack - I believe it is $2 which is going to be spread throughout four different organizations. One will benefit the legal defense fund for Mumia Abu Jamal. Another will go to the legal defense of Leonard Peltier. A 1/4 of the proceeds will go to Women Alive, and the last 1/4 of the proceeds will go to the Zappatista Front for National Liberation.

twec.com: Joining us now is Tim!

rage2000: Who is opening at the upcoming tour?

Rage Against The Machine: Tim - Gang Starr, and that's cool. They're a huge band! They've been a huge influence on us. They've made about six albums and every one of them is sick dope.

ratm18: Tim, the song "Without a Face" is about the building of a wall between the US and Mexico. What is this wall? Can you clarify this for me?

Rage Against The Machine: Tim - "White Walls". That's what the song used to be called, "White Walls". And that's the wall.

kevin_m: Timmy, could you describe the new effects you use on the third album?

Rage Against The Machine: Tim - I use two bass distortion pedals, an octave pedal, a wah-wah pedal, and a delay pedal.

zubby56: Tim, what inspired the name change on the new album?

Rage Against The Machine: Tim - I thought about it when people were thinking the record was going to be out in '98 and I knew better. It's almost two months away from being perfect, but soon enough, you know?

TUNI: Tim your tattoos kick ass. Do any of them have special meaning?

Rage Against The Machine: Tim - It's kind of weird, but when I was a kid and I went to school, I went to a school in Irvine, CA and it was predominantly white kids. My older sister Sharon got married, I was like in fourth grade, to a guy named Ray Ali, and he is African American. I remember I used to look forward to every holiday when he would come over. He always played sports with me and brought the cool gifts. Partly because of that, there were 5 or 6 kids in my school who weren't white, and I was friends with all of them. When I was a kid I wished I was black because I thought I was at a disadvantage on a sports level. Eventually, with my love of history and tattooing, and the history of tattooing, I whittled my tattoo down to a body suit, and that was it.

Body Remover: What do you mean by "everything for everyone and nothing for ourself?"

Rage Against The Machine: Tim - That's Zack's lyric. That could mean a whole bunch of different things. I'll say this - his lyrics are riddles and they mean different things to different people, and that's the way he means them to be. It means whatever you want it to mean.

mr che guevara: Tim, what is Rage Against the Machine trying to say with the new video, "Guerilla Radio", and the Gap parody at which it aims?

Rage Against The Machine: Tim - Well, we don't feel comfortable making videos with nothing to say and just promote the band. We wanted to shed light on the garment industry and that's what we did. We wanted to have the white stage, the Gap stage, as our stage. We weren't necessarily pointing our fingers anywhere but at the garment industry. There was a lot of negativity that came out, and Gap threatened to sue us. The message in the video and the message in the song are two different things. The video is an example of something that the song talks about in one sense. "Guerilla Radio" is what�s going on in the song. Shedding light on injustice - we're doing it with our instruments instead of with weapons. It's exciting.

Talman: What is the musical relationship between you and Tom? Do you play a slightly different way because of his unique style?

Rage Against The Machine: Tim - I think when I hear guitar and bass playing together all the time, it sounds kind of like heavy metal to me. Tom's a big fan of heavy metal, and in a perfect world he loves having me play note for note. There's a part of me that likes hip-hop, and what Tom does on his guitar is like hip-hop. In hip-hop, you rarely have the bass line and the sample doing the same thing. That's where that comes from.

Aus_chic: Tim, do you think the lyrics will become more personal with future Rage music?

Rage Against The Machine: Tim - Absolutely. I think this record is an obvious example of that, and as long as we're a band we're going to continue to grow. That's a sign that we're growing.

Duckrage: Are you planning anymore collaboration with other hip-hop stars?

Rage Against The Machine: Tim - I don't know. If it comes up and it's somebody that we respect, we would definitely do it.

smudge49hotmailcom: Tim, what does the cover of the new album represent?

Rage Against The Machine: Tim - It's a battle, obviously - it represents a battle to me. The name of the album, The Battle of Los Angeles, is a general view of all the battles that are happening in LA. It doesn't take long before you come across one of the battles when you just walk around your city streets. It means a lot of different things to different people. For example, we have the NAFTA that lets US corporations go into Mexico and exploit the worker and poison the worker with things they can't use in America and wages they don't have in America. Then those same workers want to come over to America where they can make more money, and then you pick up a newspaper and these workers are portrayed as illegal aliens. These people are running to America to get away from America, from the American companies who are taking over Mexico. That's a battle. California was Mexico not too long ago. That's a battle.

Ignorance: Tim, Do you ever feel overwhelmed when responding to political situations?

Rage Against The Machine: Tim - It's overwhelming to be in a political band when you don't have a degree from Harvard. Anytime I personally have to get in-depth about any political situation, I get nervous. I like to think I need to know what I need to know, but you never said. It's crazy to be in a band with insane intellect, and talk about stuff and learn about things. My band has been my school and my family all in one. It's cool.

twec.com: Joining us now is Tom!

Special153: Tom, where do you come up with the solos to your songs? Is it completely spontaneous, or does it take time to figure them out?

Rage Against The Machine: Tom - It's a combination of both. On our first record we were a band that was playing hip-hop music, and I was designated DJ. The more I concentrated on the eccentricities in my playing, the more it has become a natural means of self-expression. Now, on the Battle of Los Angeles, it's just how I hear music and how I hear my guitar playing. It required very little pre-meditated thought and a lot of instinct.

Zapata: Tom, is it true that you don�t use samples or keyboards?

Rage Against The Machine: Tom - That is absolutely true. None of our three studio albums, nor at our live shows, do we employ sampled instruments or an outside DJ. All of the sounds that you hear on a Rage album, no matter how exotic, bizarre or harmonica-like they may sound, are all made with guitar, bass, drums, and vocals.

Guitarist26: Tom, have you ever disagreed with Zack on any lyrics? If so, which ones?

Rage Against The Machine: Tom - We're very much in tune politically, Zack and I. I think he has a brilliant way with expressing his views into the poetry that are our lyrics. I can't think of an instance where there has been a point of view expressed in the lyrics where we didn't at least have a mutual understanding.

BigLew: Tom, what kind of guitar did you use on the new album?

Rage Against The Machine: Tom - I used several different guitars. My two principle guitars remain a Stock Fender Telecaster, which I used for the songs in Drop D tuning, and a homemade Mongrel guitar, which I use for most of the other songs. In addition to those two, I did some of the overdubs on this record with a small, inexpensive guitar that I found in a Toronto pawn shop, as well as two Ovation solid body guitars.

Adrok: Tom, how did you like working with Primus?

Rage Against The Machine: Tom - It was great working with Primus! I've long been a fan of their excellence and quirky tunes, and I was very flattered that they asked me to produce three songs on their new record. They're great people and tremendously talented musicians.

GuerrillaRadio1: What do you think about the critics saying that you are the Jimmy Page of the 1990�s?

Rage Against The Machine: Tom - That's very flattering! And I am currently blushing. But all I really try to do in my playing is, you know, on the one hand come up with and play with conviction - music that feels true, that rocks super hard and that is challenging in its sonic and rhythmic variety.

MattH: Tom, how did you come up with that toggle switch style of playing?

Rage Against The Machine: Tom - It was a matter of necessity. I had a Gibson Explorer guitar which had two pickups and multiple volume and tone knobs at a time when all the cool guitar players were playing those Eddie Van Halen guitars with one pickup and one knob. I had to find some application for the dinosaur guitar I had in my possession. I stumbled on the toggle switch method when I was in college. I used a wah-wah pedal, and I began to find whole new worlds of sonic possibilities, unlike anything I had heard before. In the early days, when I first discovered the toggle switch style of playing, I was tempted to turn my back to the audience so that aspiring guitar players wouldn't steal my trick.

Snood: What�s going on tomorrow at the Ed Sullivan theatre? I heard you guys are going to play some songs on the street or something.

Rage Against The Machine: Tom - Yeah, we're taping the song "Guerrilla Radio" for the David Letterman show, out on the streets of Manhattan. We're going to try to get away with playing as many songs as we can for the fans gathered there before the authorities shut the thing down.

RageBoy: Tom, do you have a favorite guitarist? If so, who?

Rage Against The Machine: Tom - I have several favorite guitarists from the aforementioned Jimmy Page to experimental punk guitarist Andy Gill, with Gang of Four. To some more traditional shredders like Al DiMiola and Steve Vai. However, I've been more influenced in the last decade by DJs and programmers who look at music in a very different way than the average guitar player would, and emulating the textures of hip-hop and electronica I find much more rewarding then merely raping the guitar solo from Freebird.

DoOsU: Did you get to play any with Kirk Hammett from Metallica while you were at Woodstock �99? You two would sound awesome together!

Rage Against The Machine: Tom - No, Kirk is a friend, but we didn't get a chance to play together at Woodstock '99. Metallica is a tremendously hard rocking and influential group, but we've never jammed together in person.

Travis Wood: Tom, what do you think about what happened at Woodstock?

Rage Against The Machine: Tom - I was only at Woodstock for about 4 or 5 hours before retiring to the hotel bar. My impression of Woodstock was basically filtered through the media, and I thought that the characterization of young people and the music that they listen to as violence was grossly unfair. While the sexual assaults that occurred at Woodstock '99 are unpardonable, the level of violence at the concert paled in comparison to, for instance, President Clinton's bombing of the children's hospital outside of Belgrade or the recent assaults of police officers on unarmed African Americans in New York City and Los Angeles. These real acts of violence that are real betrayals of principles got far less attention then the bonfires and tearing down of scaffolding at Woodstock '99.

NBAworm: How do you feel about being categorized as a "violent" band with the likes of Limp Bizkit and Korn?

Rage Against The Machine: Tom - First of all, I'm not sure who you're talking to that categorizes us like that. While we share some musical similarities with Limp Bizkit and Korn, the underlying philosophies of our bands are different. I don't think that any of the bands are violent in their intent. Rage Against the Machine has always stood up for oppressed people to throw off their shackles by any means necessary. Limp Bizkit has often inspired their audience to "break stuff". The true acts of violence that go on in our society, whether it's children living in poverty, domestic violence, or missiles aimed at Third World countries are real acts of violence, and they deserve more scrutiny then anything you hear on your CD player.

Iron Phoenix: Tom, what do you think about teen violence today?

Rage Against The Machine: Tom - I believe that teen violence is exaggerated. In all of the media reports condemning teenagers and the music they listen to, they ignore the hard cold fact that teen violence is on the decline, that sexual assaults committed by teenagers are on the decline. Adults are more like to commit violent acts and sexual assaults per capita then teens. Young people are often scapegoats for the sins of their fathers, and that ain't right.

CommieRussia: Even though you said there were going to be 15 songs on the new album, there are only 12. What happened to the other 3?

Rage Against The Machine: Tom - We recorded 15 instrumental tracks, out of which Zack wrote and recorded lyrics for 12, and those are the songs that appear on The Battle of Los Angeles, which is available on November 2 - Tuesday, November 2 - Election Day.

Ddesola: How much input do you guys have on your website?

Rage Against The Machine: Tom - Until the last few months, we have been sorely negligent of our website. We've made efforts lately to update the musical and political content of ratm.com, and to have unique stories and photos on our site, which you can't find anywhere else.

ratm_girl: Tom, how do you feel that you have to be a certain age to buy some of your propaganda? I couldn't buy the video I wanted, because I wasn't "of age." How do you feel about this?

Rage Against The Machine: Tom - I think that's a crime. I think that the first amendment is something that should be taken seriously, and freedom of expression for artists, and the freedom to enjoy that expression by ANYONE is an important and fundamental right. I would encourage you to get around those restrictions in any way you can, and perhaps work to change them.

Peabody: What meaning does the Election Day release represent?

Rage Against The Machine: Tom - I think for the first time in memory, the American people will have a true alternative choice come November 2 - not politics as usual. Our new album will be a third party choice, and people, though they may not be 18 years of age, can cast their vote. We will be on David Letterman tomorrow night and on MTV's TRL the following day. On Friday, MTV will broadcast a concert that we did a few days ago in Mexico City. For those of you in LA, we will be at the El Rey Theatre on Thursday night, which will be broadcast on KROQ. I have to run now, but thank you all for participating in this online chat. It's a great way to hear direct artist feedback from the fans. Our US tour begins on November 19 in Oakland, CA, so look for dates as they are announced in your city.

twec.com: TWEC.com would like to thank everyone for coming to tonight's chat! We apologize for not every question getting answered. Over 25,000 questions were sent in during the hour! Thank you to all who sent in their questions!