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Rage Against The Machine, Kanye West, Sonic Youth Boycott Arizona

Sara Harowitz — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 12:50:06 +0000

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Rage Against The Machine’s singer Zack de la Rocha has started a protest group that opposes the state of Arizona’s new immigration law, reports NME.com.

The singer and other artists including Sonic Youth, Kanye West, Massive Attack and Serj Tankian say that they will not play gigs in Arizona until the bill, SB 1070, is amended. The bill allows Arizona police to confront anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant to prove their official status. If they can’t, they will be arrested.

Called The Sound Strike, the group of protesters has a petition going at Thesoundstrike.net.

On the site, de la Rocha states his reason for forming The Sound Strike.

“Some of us grew up dealing with racial profiling, but this law (SB 1070) takes it to a whole new low,” he wrote. “If other states follow the direction of the Arizona government, we could be headed towards a pre-civil rights era reality. This unjust law was set into motion by the same Arizona government that refused to acknowledge Martin Luther King Jr day as a national holiday.”

The list of artists who have already signed up to support the group are Cypress Hill, Juanes, Conor Oberst, Los Tigres del Norte, Rage Against The Machine, Cafe Tacvba, Michael Moore, Kanye West, Calle 13, Joe Satriani, Serj Tankian, Rise Against, Ozomatli, Sabertooth Tiger, Massive Attack, One Day as a Lion, Street Sweeper Social Club, Spank Rock, Sonic Youth, and Tenacious D.

Rage Against the Machine take UK Top Spot

Emma Renda — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:39:48 +0000

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Simon Cowell has even more reason to be Scroogey this Christmas, thanks to Rage Against the Machine.

Jordan McElderry, the winner of The X Factor, a UK talent show, will not be taking the top spot on the UK singles chart for the week of Christmas. Instead, Rage Against the Machine will be sitting humbly atop the list, thanks to John and Tracy Morter, two Facebook users and RATM’s biggest fans.

The Facebook campaign was launched just last week, urging anyone who didn’t want another pop single as the number one to download RATM’s “Killing in the Name Of”.

It was announced yesterday that RATM had in fact topped the charts with 500,000 downloads of “Killing in the name of”, a single from 1992 self-titled debut. McElderry’s “The Climb” (actually a Miley Cyrus cover) only sold 450,000 singles.

“WOW!!!! WE DID IT!” reads the Rage Against the Machine for Christmas No. 1 Facebook page. “We all should be incredibly proud of what we have achieved on this group. We’ve shouted that we’ve had enough of a dull Christmas chart every year and given it a complete shot in the arm for many years to come.”

An admirable feat in itself, the Morters have also pledged to donate the £83,000 to SHELTER, a housing and homeless charity. At the beginning of the campaign, RATM announced they would play a free “thank you” gig in the U.K., which led to a steep increase in downloads before the deadline on Dec. 19.

Tom Morelle, RATM’s guitarist, promised he would invite McElderry and Cowell to MC the show.

“Quite a day! Thanks again for making Rage part of this historic campaign,” Morello said via Twitter yesterday. “Changing the charts or the world: together we can’t be stopped.”

Cowell didn’t take the loss hard, however, even calling John Morter before the results were released to thank him for spicing up the holiday season.

“I called Jon on Saturday to congratulate the two of them that, win or lose, they turned this into a very exciting race for the Christmas Number One,” Cowell told Rolling Stone.

Even Paul McCartney was on board, after appearing on The X Factor last week. He said RATM’s win would be “funny” and would “prove a point”.

“The people in the U.K. are tired of being spoon-fed one schmaltzy ballad after another and they want to back their own charts, and we are honored that they have chosen our song to be the rebel anthem to try to topple The X Factor label,” Morello told the BBC5.

Rage performed “Killing in the Name Of” live over the BBC but were cut off early as lead singer Zach de la Rocha, shouted “Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me” four times as the song came to a close.

Morello took to the band’s website last week, telling fans to purchase the single and inking the promise of a gig in 2010 if they did score the win.

“Attention Freedom Fighters! RAGE VS. X-FACTOR WILL BE DECIDED BY SATURDAY’S SALES. Spread the word! Knock on doors! Host downloading parties! Knock over ladies buying X-Factor! The clock is ticking. And if “Killing in the Name” is number one WE ARE COMING. And it will be the victory party to end all victory parties.”

Rage Against The Machine Frontman Forms Side-Project

Eva Lam — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:15:17 +0000

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Rage Against The Machine frontman Zack De La Rocha has teamed up with former The Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore to form a new band called One Day As A Lion.

The duo will release their five-track self-titled EP on July 22.

On the band’s MySpace page, the record — which features De La Rocha on vocals and keyboards and Theodore on drums — is described as “a defiant affirmation of the possibilities that exist in the space between kick and snare.”

“It’s a sonic reflection of the visceral tension between a picturesque fabricated cultural landscape, and the brutal socieconomic realities it attempts to mask.”

The name of the band is taken from a 1970 black-and-white photo by George Rodriguez “featuring a center framed tag on a white wall in an unspecified section of Boyle Heights,” says the web page.

“It reads: ‘It’s better to live one day as a lion, than a thousand years as a lamb.’ This record is a stripped down attempt to realize this sentiment in sound.”

De La Rocha isn’t the only RATM member tackling a side-project — RATM guitarist Tom Morello will release his second album from solo act The Nightwatchman, titled “The Fabled City,” on Sept. 30.

Rage Against The Machine, which reunited in spring 2007 for the Coachella festival, also has seven festival dates lined up this summer, including Lollapalooza and the Reading Festival.

Lollapalooza Line-Up Leaked

Eva Lam — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 00:04:38 +0000

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Kanye West, Rage Against The Machine and — for the first time — Radiohead are reportedly among the huge names who will play this summer’s Lollapalooza.

Festival promoters will not announced the full line-up of more than 120 acts until Monday, but the Chicago Sun-Times says it confirmed its report through industry sources.

Other artists on the bill according to the Times include The Raconteurs, Nine Inch Nails, Bloc Party, Gnarls Barkley, Wilco, Battles, Stephen Malkmus, Girl Talk, Cat Power, The Black Keys, Mates Of State and Canadians Broken Social Scene.

The event will take place at Chicago’s Grant Park from August 1 to 3.

Last year’s edition drew the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Pearl Jam, Interpol and Daft Punk, among others.