Rage Against The Machine : Well-Oiled Machine

"With the first record, the question that I asked myself was, ‘Is anyone going to like this?’ says Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello. "And the answer was, ‘Yeah.’ With the second record, it was, ‘Can we do it again?’ And the answer was, ‘Yes.’ With this record, it was, ‘Are we the best band in the world?’ And you know, we’re not done with the record yet. But at this point, I’d say, ‘Probably.’ Audacious? You bet, especially since Rage Against The Machine singer Zack de la Rocha was, at press time, still writing and recording lyrics for that as-yet-untitled third album. But Morello can’t help being confident. I’ve got a tape sitting right here. Fifteen phat jams that I just cannot wait for people to hear," he says. "As soon as there’s vocals on it." Morello credits much of his excitement to increased camaraderie within the band. "We’ve been a band now for seven years or so, and there is a chemistry between the four of us that is priceless," he says. "There’s amazing musicianship on this record, and not from a G.I.T. point of view. I think people will just be floored by the different use of sounds and rhythms on this."

Given the number of bands currently working the hard rock/hip-hop sound Rage Against The Machine pioneered, Morello knows that it will take a lot to knock people out. But he’s totally confident in how his band will face the competition.

"There are a lot of totally weak-ass bands out there who this record will totally dismiss," he says. "Then there are a lot of bands that are obviously influenced in some way by Rage Against The Machine, and I think that this album is going to send them all back to the woodshed. It’s definitely the heaviest Rage Against The Machine record. It’s the funkiest Rage Against The Machine record. And it’s the most adventurous Rage Against The Machine record."