*Dramatic Music*
Riffology!
We're back!
*Dramatic Music*
You're still very poorly.
Well, I was...
Yeah, it's a long story, but I was very poorly.
And then I had to go away and do some work in Ireland.
And now I'm poorly again.
*Dramatic Music*
Well, to be fair, I've been poorly all week, and now I'm less poorly than I was.
Yeah, but you still sound rubbish, mate.
Oh, honestly.
You know, like, I came back from Ireland, and we should have recorded a show last week.
And we had a plan.
Yeah, we had a plan and everything.
And I landed at Birmingham International Airport, which always seems a little bit exotic a name for Birmingham's finest airport.
And my car had a flat tire.
Yeah.
Made me really sad.
Yeah.
I wasn't feeling very well.
And I got home eventually.
And I just kind of went face down and I, you know, just filled myself full of...
You went off-grid.
...paracetamol and all the things.
Yeah.
And I did my case, everything, literally just by the door.
Yeah.
Just didn't even do...
I don't even think I locked the door.
I just kind of literally walked in, face down.
And it wasn't until, like, Monday lunchtime.
Yeah.
That I, like, sat up in bed.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Just, like, you know, the fever and the shaking and the...
Just honestly awful.
Because we, like, regularly message.
Yeah.
Like, most days.
Fairly regularly, yeah.
There's at least some memes.
There's always a meme of something.
And, like, and, you know, commentary on the ongoing things that are happening in the world and the life of the universe and everything.
Yeah, we do.
We have insightful commentary on the world.
And, like, that stopped for a few days.
And I said to Gemma, I was like, I think Neil's dead.
I felt just...
I've never...
I mean, so I had the flu the week before.
Yeah.
And that knocked me for, like, four days.
But still, I was still able to text.
Yeah.
Do you know what I mean?
And then I think this was just my body kind of going, don't do that again.
Yeah, yeah.
Do you know what I mean?
We told you, we did the making you ill thing.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And now you...
No, so stop.
So this episode is going to go out on Sunday the...
No, Monday the 24th of March.
Yeah.
Today is Sunday the 24th.
I wanted to tell people about our process a little bit.
Oh, right, go on then.
So what happens is...
I'm looking forward to learning how this works.
I was talking about time, you see.
Yeah.
And basically, we arrived, I want to say, in the studio, about half six, 6:30 p.m.
It doesn't, it's half past eight, isn't it?
It's now half past eight.
I don't know what we've been doing.
We faff.
What it is, is that we, like our process is generally two hours of faffing.
Yeah.
Around various things.
Yeah, that's true.
Before we hit record.
But I actually think that's like, I think that's part of our warm up.
I've been learning.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
We're diving into blogs.
Yeah, you've been faffing.
I've been faffing with editing.
I did a blog about the history.
Well, I wrote it before I got really sick.
Yeah.
And then finished it while you were faffing.
I have no idea what you were doing to me.
I was just ignoring you.
And I was drinking my Diet Coke.
And so, yeah, we do, don't we, muck about?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But it's about an hour or it's somewhere between an hour and a half or an hour to two hours
of faff before we even hit record.
It's quite relaxed though, isn't it?
Oh, it's nice.
Yeah, yeah.
It's like we just kind of come in.
It's like we're going into a cave for a bit.
Well, we know what we do.
So, in case anyone's lost, we're doing Rage Against the Machines debut.
And we, this has been one we've wanted to do for a long time.
We've said it for months.
We have.
And this is one I've got on vinyl.
And I love this album.
It wasn't, again, it's another, there's quite a few.
There's another album that I didn't fall in love with at the time.
It wasn't one that I kind of, oh, I've got to get, you know what I mean?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It wasn't like, this one like grew on me over the, over the years.
But it's cool.
We kind of come into the studio and just like chill out.
You do your things.
I do my things.
We kind of chatting about random stuff going, oh, did you know about, and I'll be reading
stuff.
Did you know this?
And did you know that?
And I can hear you doing the interviews in the, in like, in the background.
Yeah, yeah.
And then, then there's a point where it's like, okay, we're ready.
Yeah, yeah.
And it just all comes together.
I don't know what that point is.
No, no, no.
Nobody knows.
But then this happens.
So, yeah.
It does.
Yeah.
It's very good.
It's very good for being a little bit.
I don't know.
I feel like I've got a lack of energy.
I felt like when we came in, I described myself as feeling really pathetic.
And that's kind of how I feel.
Do you know, like if it was really windy outside, I'm not, I don't think I'll be safe out there.
So I'm feeling a bit pathetic and a bit weird.
I have to be honest.
I've not listened to much music.
I normally listen to like music is like such a big part of what I do every day.
And I just haven't.
I've had this ringing in my ears, like just really, really heavy duty ringing.
It's made me feel really nauseous.
I've not listened to much music.
Yeah.
But there are two albums that have hit me this week.
Yeah.
One was the Wild Hearts.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Which I've loved.
And Stephen Wilson's new album as well.
Both of which you've said numerous times.
Yeah.
You've definitely got to get on these, mate.
And I've not.
And you haven't.
No, no, I haven't yet.
So, but those two, there's probably, I've not listened to that much.
And those two have really kind of hit me.
That Stephen Wilson record.
You know, when you're feeling a little bit under the weather.
Yeah.
That's lovely.
It's like space rocky.
Yeah.
It's really weird to pin down.
It's like two tracks.
Yeah.
As all good albums should be.
They're like 20 minutes long.
And you know what I'm like?
I'm like three minutes.
You know what I mean?
And I have no idea what's going on.
If that album's longer than 20 minutes, I'm not listening to it.
I've got no idea what's going on.
And it's brilliant.
Yeah.
And, and the Wild Hearts record has just been, it's brilliant.
It's to hear Ginger, you know, especially with the band breaking up and like disappearing
and then Ginger having to, you know, he goes through these like breakdowns, meltdowns almost,
but he does it on social media.
So you kind of see it's happening and you're like, you just kind of want to go and give
him a hug most of the time Ginger.
You can't, you know, and you can see when the world's not going his way.
Um, and he did, he's had, he's had like a, uh, some, some rough times, bless him.
And to see, listening to the album, you can hear that in the record.
Yeah.
But it's brilliant.
It's so him and it's just, it's, it's so good to hear.
Yeah.
You had it on, on the way here and I, you know, and I've listened to the single, uh, when
that first dropped a couple of weeks ago and he's, yeah, it's just on form.
And it is brilliant.
I saw a bunch of video clips of him at rock city as well.
Um, yeah, over the past week.
So yeah, he's, he's mega, but should we, should we get back on track?
That's unlike us veering off, isn't it?
Um, I love this album, Rage Against the Machines, Rage Against the Machine.
Um, and the main reason for that is that despite it's quite aggressive sound, it feels like an
album that's a bit of a warm hug for me.
And I, it's, it's quite a comforting album.
And I think it might've been just because of, it's one that I would list, would be listening
to when I was finding my identity.
And right.
You know, it was one that I really connected with, with this kind of challenging of authority
and the, the kind of hierarchical power structures that exist.
So this was 92.
Yeah.
So what, how old?
No, no, I, I, I must've discovered it later then.
You think so?
Yeah.
Cause I would have been about 10 then.
So, so I would have found it.
I would have found it whilst I was doing the green day thing and the offspring thing.
So probably 96, 97, maybe.
Oh.
So that kind of, that kind of time.
That's where I would have found it.
So it would have been, it would have been about the time where evil empire came out.
I think.
Right, right, right, right.
That was like, that was like, wow.
I'm looking at 99.
So maybe a bit before that then, but it was, it was, it was, yeah.
Yeah.
I didn't catch it when it came out.
I was too young.
Oh, 96.
Yeah.
So that's probably about right.
It was Battle of Los Angeles, 99.
Yeah.
So no, it was a definitely evil empire.
Cause I remember being in the maths classroom and people talking and looking at the cover.
I remember.
Yeah.
Um, and yeah, that I just remember hearing this and I dunno, this is, it's got a vibe to it.
This record has, it's got a sound, you know, the, one of the things I really wanted
to speak about, but this record is the sound of it is really unprocessed.
Like what you're getting is the raw thing through the mix.
It's the thing that I really like, which is, it's the instruments, mics, not lash into reverb,
put through a nice preamp, nicely mixed, everything in its right place, shoved through a bust, shoved
onto tape, and then everyone's apping.
And then, you know, the, one of the things I really like, which is the sound of the sound of the sound of the sound.
The sound of the sound of the sound of the sound of the sound of the sound of the sound of the sound.
I'm sick, cause silence can be violent, sorta like a split wrist.
The vibe was suicide, then you would push the button.
But if you're bowing down, then let me do the cutting.
Some speak the sounds, but speak in silent voices.
Like radio is silent, though it fills the air with noises.
Just missions bring submission, and you're all to be unreal.
And Mad Boy grips the microphone with a fist full of steel.
With a fist full of steel.
And a fist full of steel.
Cause I'm the bastard son
With the visions of the move
Vocals not destroyer to ignite and put in flight
My sense of militants grooving
Playing that game called survival
The status, the elite, the enemy, the rival
The strangest sheep slipping, ripping, tripping
Give you a glimpse of the reality I'm gripping
Stepping into the jam and I'm slamming like Shaquille
That one dips the microphone with a fist full of steel
Yeah
And mad boy groups the microphone with a fist full of steel
With a fist full of steel
I can't make the power of a machine
With a fist full of steel
Cause I need the power of a machine
Oh shit
And I won't stop
Cause I know the power of a machine
If you fight for suicide then you would push the button
But if you're bowing down then let me do the cutting
Yeah
Come on
44 full of bullets
Base full of pale
Eyes full of empty
Stand full of nails
Don't do that part of the world
Well it was Garth Richardson wasn't it
It's a g-g-g-garth
Yeah yeah
At Sound City
So Van Nooy, California
Yeah yeah
Analog desk
Yeah
The Sound City sound
You know
Yeah it's really interesting
Because it's
If you
You know you think the Sound City sound
You kind of think rumours
And stuff
Yeah yeah yeah
But then actually
As we've discovered
Doing this
Iowa was recorded
Yeah yeah yeah
From Slipknot
And that didn't sound like rumours
No
And this doesn't either
But what they've all got in common
Is that authenticity
Yeah
And I also hadn't realised with this
Only when
Like prepping for the show
They basically did these live
Yeah yeah
So these were live
Absolutely feels like a live recording
Yeah like live recordings
And the other thing
That I think is really interesting about this
Is it sounds like
Like nothing else
Yeah no yeah
There's nothing
Like
We did
Skunkinancy's Stoosh
Yeah
Which was
1996 I think it was
And they referenced this record
Specifically
And said that
This album
Gave them two things
It gave them
Like a blueprint
Of how they wanted to be
It was like
They were like
That's
That's what
That's the sound inside
Is that we need to get out
Yeah
And the permission
To be political
Yes
And I think that
It can't be understated
That
What
What this album did
And kind of gave permission
To a bunch of other bands
Yeah
To go and do that
But like you said
It wasn't
There was no
There was nothing
That sounded like
It was that melting pot
Of where they came from
Yeah
And
You know
The
That
That kind of blending
Of rap
And then
You had kind of
Tom Morello
From the metal side of things
And then
You know what I mean
That kind of melting pot
It all sort of came together
Yeah
But it's it's own beast
You don't listen to it
For me
You don't listen to it
And you don't go
Oh oh that's
That's rock mixed with rap
You don't
You don't hear that
You hear
That's Radio Against the Machine
Yeah
That's totally
It's own identity
Where I was going to get to
With it is like
When you hear
Often with this stuff
What you
What you kind of get
Is when someone says
Oh that you know
They
You know
Tom Morello
Was into metal
You know
It just means
It's in like
Drop D
And it sounds a bit
Like Black Sabbath
And then
Do you know what I mean
Then you've got some
A rapper
Yeah
Do you know what I mean
There's a danger
Of that here
But you don't
You get this
You
I mean
There's clearly
A metal
Element to it
But in the tone
And in the attack
But you get this
Kind of
I won't say
I don't think of the right
The right word
But it's
It
It feels like
There's innovation
Yeah
That's exactly what it is
There's stuff here
That Tom does
With the guitar
That I don't think
Any
And he always
Whenever you see him
You know
He always
Has the guitar
Really high
Like a ukulele
You know when you see
Ukulele players
And they've got
The thing around
Their neck
Yeah
It's always really high
Yeah
And you just think
He just looks so uncool
Do you know what I mean
That's not
Do you know what I mean
The kids
The kids have really long
Straps
And the guitars
Around their ankles
Kurt Cobain didn't wear
His guitar like that
Do you know what I mean
And the strings are all
Flopping everywhere
And like Tom Arell
He does do floppy strings
He does
Yeah
He does do floppy strings
He's just all like
Kind of
It looks all really stiff
And rigid
Do you know what I mean
Yeah
And then he starts to play
And then it's just like
Whoa
It's a masterclass
Isn't it
Yeah
But he's using the guitar
As something more
Than the guitar
Yeah
Absolutely
And I think
But I think
That was the third thing
That I think
That he gave
Right
I think the band
They kind of gave
This
This tone
Yeah
Like you said
That kind of authenticity
And then
They were like
Do you know what
You can be political
And still be successful
Right
And not everyone
Has to agree with you
Yeah
You know
You don't have to
Talk about like
It doesn't have to be
About love songs
You can talk about
Whatever you want
Yeah
And then that ability
To
Or not the ability
That
You know
Extending the instrument
To make it
Make it you
Yeah
And you've talked about
This on the show
Loads of times before
But
Nobody sounds like
Tom Morello
No
You can play the same
You can play exactly
The same riff
Exactly the same stuff
But you can tell
It's not Tom Morello
And you can tell
It's Tom
I saw Tom Morello
Playing with
Steve
Steve Fye
And Joe Satriani
Part of the
What was it
The GA
G3
Yeah
Something like
And it was fascinating
They were all
Like playing each other's
Stuff
Or not each other's stuff
But they were all playing
You know each other's songs
If you like
Yeah yeah
And there was a
Lovely interview afterwards
Where they were saying
That the
Like the hardest thing
Is playing
Like somebody else's
Material
Yeah yeah
And especially from those three
Because they were like
There's just so much
Of their DNA
Yeah
In it
Yeah
That when they play it
It sounds
Amazing
Sounds effortless
Yeah
But for you to try and play it
Like
Because you know
You try and play it in the best way
That you can do
Yeah yeah
It's you know
You just can't do it
And he's one of those players
I think that's kind of almost
Inimitable
Yeah he is
I saw a thread on X
A few weeks ago
Probably three weeks ago
And somebody
Put a Tom Morello thing up
And it was one of the
Classic rock
Channels
Or accounts
Yeah
Saying that you know
Is this real guitar playing
And it was kind of
You know
You know when he kind of
Starts hacking around
With the strings and stuff
And it was fascinating
Watching you know
The old men
Going
It's not proper guitar playing
Is it
But he managed to get sounds
Without using effects
That you'd ordinarily
Need to get effects on
And I remember
That was the biggest
The biggest thing
Was like
That you know
He doesn't use
His thing is that
He manages to use the guitar
As something
To create a
Soundscape with
But without the use of
Loads and loads of pedals
And effects
And I think he's probably got some
But that was kind of
His thing you know
Yeah
It was like
A time where everyone
Was using wah pedals
Or flanges
Or you know
That kind of thing
That was
Come on at a time
You never really did that
Yeah
We're coming back in
With another bomb track
Then you know
It's all of that
Hey yo
So check this out
Yeah
Come on
Boy with inside
And a raised fist
A witness to the slick fist
As we're moving to 92
Still in a room without a few
You've got to know
And when I say
Go, go, go
Amp up and amplify
Define
I'm above all the furious
Mind
Action must be taken
We don't need the key
We'll crank it
Something must be done
About vengeance
Or badge
And a gun
So rip the mic
Rip the stage
Rip the system
I was born to range
Against the fist
And you're facing the place
And I'm about to stop
Clearly
Know your enemy
Yeah
And they'll get with this
Fuck
One is born
Fight the war
Fuck the norm
Now I got no patience
So sick of complacence
The D, the E, the F, the I
The A, the N, the C
The E, the mind
Of a revolutionary
So clear the lane
Put the finger
To the land of the change
What?
The land of the free
Whoever told you
That is your enemy
Now something must be done
About vengeance
Or badge
And a gun
So rip the mic
Rip the stage
Rip the system
I was born to range
Against them
Now action must be taken
We don't need the key
We'll break it
I got no patience
Sick of places
Now
I got no patience
Now
No sick of
Kind of places
Now
Sick of
Time has come
To
You're your enemy
Yeah
guitar solo
Yes, I know my enemies
Then the teachers have taught me to fight me
Compromise
Conformity
Assimilation
Submission
Ignorance
Hypocrisy
Brutality
The elite
All of which are American dreams
Living in the States, you're living in one of the most brutal societies in the history of the world. You know, the country who inherited the genocide of the Native American peoples. A country which participated in chattel slavery. You know, the only country in the world.
You know, the country who inherited the genocide of the Native American peoples. A country which participated in chattel slavery. You know, the only country in the world to use and drop an atomic bomb on another country, society.
The country which murdered and enslaved millions in Southeast Asia as a result of the Vietnam War. And we drew from the people who resisted. We were inspired because we feel that any society or any government or any system that is set up solely to profit a wealthy class.
While the majority of the people toil and suffer and sell their labor power, so long as that system's only true motive is profit interest and not the maintenance and betterment of the population to meeting human needs, then that society should not stand.
It should be challenged and questioned and overthrown.
Waking up to the long legacy of brutality of American history, subjugating the world's population has been something we wanted to challenge through music, you know.
One thing I wanted to talk about was how little credit the rhythm section gets for being so good, you know, and holding the thing down, really holding the thing down.
Because what you've got is this raw vocal, this sort of innovative kind of stylistic guitar stuff going on, and then you've just got this absolutely locked in bass and drums, just holding the thing together, holding it down, you know.
I always find the description of Rage really weird. So, um, Zack De La Roca gets this, um, always, you know, rapping.
Yeah.
But it's more punk to me.
Yeah, it definitely is.
It's kind of got this kind of punk-ass, it's kind of spitting, it's kind of what I'd expect from like the Sex Pistols or, do you know what I mean, or the Ramones, it's this kind of like vitriolic, like rage and anger, right?
I mean, I know this kind of, the rapping is kind of there as part of that, but I get more of the punk ethos from that.
And then you've got-
It is punk, there's definitely a punk thing going on here.
Yeah, it's-
But it's punk with like, it's like punk rock, but sort of like hip hop insensibility.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
In some way, shape or form.
Yeah.
There's something there of like old school hip hop, proper old school hip hop, you know.
Yeah.
The stuff where it meant something, and it was, it was, it was, hip hop was punk in itself, right?
Yeah, that's a good point.
It's a good point, actually.
Yeah, yeah.
And like, people had something to say.
It was, it was the voice of the oppressed.
If I was taught, growing up, my contributions as a Chicano, and who I was, it would have empowered
me earlier on.
I would have been able to orient myself, and to have a stronger sense of my identity.
Maybe not take so many like, paths that got me into trouble and shit, you know.
And really, that hurt myself as a person of self esteem.
I know that how it affects a lot of Chicanos, man.
They, we've been colonized and oppressed for over 500 years.
It's, it's confused us, and it's, it's enraged us.
And unless we recognize what has happened to us, you see manifestations of violence against
our own people, because of that misunderstanding, because we don't understand what's happened.
We just find ourselves confused and mad.
We have a weak sense of our own identity.
And so, um, until we begin to recognize that, you know, we're not going to solve any of our
problems.
And it's so much a part of why we can't organize as a community either.
We need to, we need to tackle that.
And I think an anti-bias curriculum, you know, a perfect way for our children to grow
and not become disoriented so early on.
I mean, it's said that by the time children are in the fourth grade, they're already disoriented
from where they are, being part of a Eurocentric educational system.
And that's probably the first thing I would attack in a Jurassic, definitely.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It was an outlet, wasn't it?
The bit that Skin was talking about is the bit of like the permission.
Yeah.
And because she talks about being, yeah, and Skin talked about Skunk and Nancy being a punk
band, essentially.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But then, and then you've got Tim Comerford, who was bass and Brad Wilk on the drums.
Neither of them get enough credit.
No.
I don't think.
No.
It's all in every single really big track that Rage has ever done.
Yeah.
It's the baseline that is, that without the baseline.
Yeah, it's not Rage.
It wouldn't.
Yeah, it wouldn't.
It wouldn't work in the same, wouldn't work in the same way.
And again, and I think it would be so easy for the percussion to fill the gaps.
You know, there's a lot of gaps in these songs.
Yeah.
And I think there's a skill, isn't there, in leaving the space?
Yes.
You know, and I think, I think that Brad does this incredible job of kind of letting
that be rather than feeling the need to fill it, you know, with like whizzy drums.
You know, you could imagine a lot of drummers would put stuff there.
Yeah.
And I think that it's kind of, for me, it's what makes the tone of these albums.
In fact, all of the Rage albums do it.
Yeah, yeah.
Where you've got this, like, you have this beautiful bass lines.
Production is just dead simple.
Yeah.
So you can hear, you can, there's the spaces there.
And then, and then everything's kind of got its place.
Yeah, yeah.
You know, it just kind of fits and it's, and I love the way the tracks ebb and flow a little
bit.
I love the way you end up with, you know, it often feels to me like there are many more
guitars.
Yes.
Than are actually, you know.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, they do, they do so much with so little.
Yeah.
And then it will kind of come back down, right?
Then it kind of, then, then it comes back down and this is this kind of ebb and flow in
the tracks as the energy rises and forth.
There's something that you just said there that really hit it on the head for me, which
is that everything fits.
Yeah.
There is nothing in any of these songs that feels out of place or wrong or, hmm, I wonder
if they do that now, if they recorded that now, you know, it's things like that.
Yeah, that's interesting.
Every, every little, every little moment, every little nuance, every little bit of this is
just the right thing.
They do feel very, it does feel very deliberate.
Yeah.
Everything from the album cover through to the lyrics through to the, you know, the choice
of content.
Obviously they, you know, they were making a statement and they were, they were telling stories,
right?
Yeah.
They were, they were finding things that they were passionate about and then writing songs
and stories about them.
And like every, I think every single track has a fairly significant story of meaning behind
it, which got them in trouble.
I mean, there are people kind of railed against them.
Um, and, uh, you know, the, um, album cover itself, you know, kind of the immolation.
I'm not even going to attempt to, uh, say the name of who was being immolated in there,
but you all know the album cover I'm talking about.
Um, you know, it, it, it caused, uh, you know, big backlash against them and you know,
it was like, it's absolutely deliberate for all their album covers.
Yeah.
It looked empire.
Yeah.
Um, yeah.
Yeah.
Everything just feels so.
It's a band with something to say.
I look at the system that we're living under right now as a machine.
I view it as a system, which wants to do anything to, to keep itself afloat.
It fronts as a democracy.
It fronts as a system who claims to represent people and represent freedom.
all these quote, unquote, moral actions.
Like in reality, we'll just do anything simply to keep it afloat.
And I see this machine is like an engine that has been fueled and run off the blood of oppressed
people like all over the world.
like all over the world.
So it's, it's a name that I use to describe, you know, more to describe my frustrations and
my anger, being a Chicano, being, having indigenous blood and being part of a, of a culture, which
has been completely colonized.
And there's been this dominant culture that's been, uh, breaking our minds for years.
So, uh, you know, I want to express my frustrations toward it.
It's not like, um, Faith No More is where they're, they're a collection of songs.
Yes.
You know, and they're, and they're, and they're pushing the envelope of what's, you know, what,
what can go into lyrics and what things can be about.
And they're the challenging convention and the challenging attitudes.
But this is like, we are, we, we exist to, to challenge authority.
We, we exist to dismantle power structures and we exist to be a voice for the oppressed.
And that's what you hear through the records, all of them.
I feel all of them are spiritual, all of them are pretty emotional.
Some people don't see the difference between, uh, or, or, or differentiate the political songs
and spiritual songs.
And I feel like so much is connected in the political environment we stand in with, with how
we feel spiritually as, as, you know, I consider myself a spiritual person.
Uh, initially I never made that connection when I was with Inside Out.
It just wasn't, uh, as prevalent within our music.
I was dealing with just like personal ideology, personal struggle.
and now that I'm seeing how, um, like in America, for instance, the political system has so much
an effect on how we are spiritually.
I mean, growing up in this capitalist society has been very, um, detrimental to us having compassion in our lives.
And, and being, just being spiritual was thrown into this rat race in life.
And so, uh, yeah, I'd say every, every one of our songs is political and spiritual as well.
I just want to write confrontational music, you know?
Music that uplifts consciousness as well as confront and, and, and inform and help people to become more aware.
It's what, it's, it's part of my own evolution as a human being.
I, I'm trying to become more aware.
I'm trying to hide my own awareness.
I have to do that first before I can, you know, do that for anyone.
So, uh, it's all about living a simple conscious life, man.
Trying to help people do the same.
And, and recognize how still very volatile, and just the system that we live under is.
I don't know what it is.
And some of them be thinking that they can fake this.
But I'mma drop it at a higher level.
Cause I'm inclined to stoop down.
Hang out some beatdowns.
Go on a train.
I'm one folks that think they run the game.
But I've learned to burn that bridge.
And delete those two compete.
At a level that sucks to lead.
Instead I warm my hands up on the flames of the flag.
Don't recall a downfall in the businesses that burn a stall.
See through the news and the views that twist reality.
Enough I call a fuck for better than destiny.
That loads in power holes.
All my people they took turns.
Just build a suit, die at night.
And then watch them burn.
With the thoughts from a militant mind.
Hard line, hard line after hard line.
That loads in power holes.
All my people they took turns.
Just build a suit, die at night.
And then watch them burn.
Burn! Burn!
If you're gonna burn.
Burn!
If you're gonna burn.
Burn!
If you're gonna burn.
Burn!
Yes you're gonna burn!
Burn!
Yes you're gonna burn!
Burn!
Yes you're gonna burn!
Burn!
Yes you're gonna burn!
Burn!
Yes you're gonna burn!
Burn!
Yes you're gonna burn!
Burn!
Yes you're gonna burn!
Burn!
Yes you're gonna burn!
Burn!
You're gonna burn!
Burn!
You're gonna burn!
Burn!
Yes you're gonna burn!
Burn!
Yes you're gonna burn!
Burn!
Yes you're gonna burn!
Burn!
Yes you're gonna burn!
Burn!
Yes you're gonna burn!
Burn!
Yes you're gonna burn!
Burn!
Yes you're gonna burn!
Burn!
Yes you're gonna burn!
Burn!
Yes you're gonna burn!
Burn!
Yes you're gonna burn!
Burn!
Yes you're gonna burn!
Burn!
Yes you're gonna burn!
Burn!
Yes you're gonna burn!
Burn!
Yes you're gonna burn!
Burn!
Yes you're gonna burn!
Burn!
Yes you're gonna burn!
Burn!
Yes you're gonna burn!
Burn!
Yes you're gonna burn!
Burn!
Yes you're gonna burn!
Burn!
Burn, burn, yes I'm gonna burn Burn, burn, yes I'm gonna burn
Check it out
Burn, burn, yes I'm gonna burn
The Faith No More is a really good comparison
because they didn't have any involvement with the album cover, the album artwork
I can't imagine that flying with rage
No, no, we're having that dude who set himself on fire
You can imagine that animated discussion
No, no, no, no, no, this is what it's gonna be
And then the label go, you can't do that, that's too violent
And then it's like, well we've already done it
The bit I wanted to get to was the, and you just hooked on it
but it was the Rage Against the Machine in the name
and then they went, they kind of got back together didn't they
They did, they got back together in 2007
Seven, yeah
I think that was till 2011 around that time
That's right, yeah, yeah
And then they recently got back together again
Yeah
So we're now in 2025 just for those who like time
If you're time travelling
And the tickets for that show
Before everything goes wrong
That's the bit we're at now
Yeah, well it's all a bit weird
No one knows what's going on, do they?
No
No one's got a clue
No
Do you know, usually, you know, usually one of your mates
They've got an idea, haven't they?
They're like, yeah
No, do you know what's actually going on?
Yeah, yeah, yeah
You might not be in the know
No one's got a clue
No
I don't know
I normally like the chaos
But I'm a bit
Yeah
Can someone just get a grip?
If anybody's, I don't know
Switch it off and back on again
Yeah
That would be good
But yeah, so
The recent reunion
The tickets were like quite expensive
Or some of them were quite expensive
Yeah
You know, Ticketmaster are really good at gouging, aren't they?
But they were charging a lot of money
And there was a ton of articles written about the hypocrisy of Rage Against the Mission
Yeah, yeah
And it was really interesting to me
Because I remember reading it thinking, oh God, yeah
How can you be so anti-capitalist?
Yeah
And then, oh, by the way, this is quite a capitalist attitude to tickets all of a sudden
Yeah, can we have 400 quid, please?
Yeah, yeah
And it was interesting
And I was, as I was reading, I was reading Tom Morello
I wasn't reading, it was an interview
And he said, we never were anti-capitalists
We're kind of, you know, we're encouraging you to challenge authority
You know, and to question authority
That was what we were about
That's what we were bothered about
We weren't bothered that somebody made loads of money
We were really bothered that, you know, that people were being lied to
Or that something was being covered up
Or, you know what I mean, Martin Luther King
And Martin Luther King was being targeted by the FBI for his
Stance on the Vietnam War
Yeah
You know what I mean, we were bothered about that
With Che Guevara, we were bothered about, you know
We were bothered about this kind of stuff, right?
Yeah
It wasn't necessarily that people are getting, you know, wealthy
And it was interesting listening to him talk about that
And I'm sure there's like a little bit of, you know, the young Tom
If the young Tom Morello could see the Tom Morello today
Yeah
What he'd think of that, you know?
Yeah, well, I mean, the good news is that Rage Against the Machine, you know, came back between 2007 and 2011
And we were 15 days away from, you know, our first show, you know, 10 years since then
And, you know, I treasure that chemistry and those relationships
And, yeah, you're right, but rock bands are right
Like, have you ever, like, rock bands are rock bands, you know what I mean?
And they're made up of creative people who sometimes have differences
And sometimes those differences sort of outweigh the moment
There was a great quote from Joe Strummer of The Clash
Where they top her head and the drummer had a heroin problem
And they fired him from the band
And Joe said, like, we never played another good show again, you know?
And so, like, the chemistry is something that everybody in any band should greatly, greatly treasure
And that's something that we have treasured
And that the fact that, you know, that we've, you know, reunited and are reuniting again
And, you know, especially I think the world needs, not just Rage
But needs, like, bands that speak with a voice of authenticity
Which bands that speak in an unapologetic way
You know, about what's going on
And in a way that connects with an audience
In order to aim for real sort of substantive change
At an important historical juncture on our planet
And so, I have been so, like, I have been in a band with Zach De La Rocha
One of the greatest frontmen of all time
I've been in a band with Chris Cornell
One of the greatest singers of all time
I've been in a band with Bruce Springsteen
One of the greatest, you know, rock and roll artists of all time
And, in addition to that, I've been able to have a
A very meaningful solo career
Which has been completely fulfilling
Now, those opportunities were allowed to happen
Because bands come and go
You know, like the rich mosaic
Of what, I've made 20 records
And four of them are Rage Against the Machine records
I made 20 records that, you know, that I stand behind like children
You know, each one's a child
And each experience has been like a really significant and precious one
That I've attacked with like all of my creative power
And that's just the way that the, you know, the dice have rolled
And I wouldn't change it for anything
When we did the Slipknot show
Yeah
But when Corey was talking about
Corey Taylor talks about this
Yeah, I think he was
He was so much more eloquent and transparent with this
Just by saying, look, we hated ourselves
We absolutely hated the music industry
We hated the fact that it was commercial
And our stuff was, you know, buying people Rolls Royces and stuff
We hated it
And then we were sitting there in the same room with Rolls Royces
Yeah
Do you know what I mean?
And we absolutely despised ourselves
I kind of don't think that Tom Morello's in that same
No
But I do think that the young Zach and the young Tom Morello
Yeah
Seeing the $400 ticket prices
What else have we to say about it?
Would be like, are you sure?
Yeah
You know, and I get it
I kind of get that, you know, that wasn't the message
The message wasn't, you know, don't spend $400 on a ticket
And, you know, be anti-capitalism
Yeah
But it kind of is in the same area, isn't it?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely
Same thing, so I kind of get it
I get why people were a bit grumpy
I get why people were grumpy in general
About these big, you know, the Oasis stuff
And the Oasis ticket prices
And getting back together
I get it
I saw Noel talking about it
Kind of going, look, it's not us
But then it's like, well
Who is it then?
Who is it?
Yeah, and it was interesting
Because Noel gave this interview
Saying that we're like
Yeah, we're the band
And we're doing the things
But we don't set the ticket
Well, you can kind of set
How much you're going to charge for the ticket
Or you can set your fee as an artist
Yeah, exactly
But we can't decide how much
The venue and all these things
Are going to put their prices
And stuff on top of that
And this weird
Ticketmaster surge pricing
You know
Like the Black Sabbath
Yeah
Stuff as well that came
That was running in July
You know, the demand outstripped supply
So the ticket prices get really, really high
Yeah
And he was like going like
You know, I don't know
There was the Cure as well
Did the same thing
They had exactly the same
He forced them to give the ticket back
Yeah, he did
Yeah, yeah, yeah
So I kind of
I don't know
I kind of feel that whole
It just feels really broke
There's a really interesting thing
That the Music Venue Trust
Have been working with
With the government
To implement this kind of like
Levy
Yeah, I was reading that
In the same way that
I think football
Football's
Big football teams do it
So there's like a certain levy
From big football teams tickets
That then goes into this big pot
That then serves
Kind of grassroots football
Yeah
And I might have made that up
But I think
Something like that exists
So the music industry
Doing the same thing
Yeah
So when you're Beyonce
Or you're Taylor Swift
Or you're Sabbath
Or you know
Whatever Oasis
And you're doing these huge things
That are costing loads of money
And you know
There's this kind of
Ticket levy
Mandatory thing
That either is already in
Or will be coming in
At some point
Which is where some of that music
Filters back into the Music Venue Trust
Yeah
To keep
And to kind of
Smaller venues
Yes, grassroots music venues
Going
Because it's the ecosystem
Yeah
It's like
If you don't do that
You've got no music ecosystem
So you don't get another
Black Sabbath
You've got nowhere to play
Have you?
You've got nowhere to
Go and practice
And play
And the other thing
That's happened recently
Is the bit where
We're looking
Looking at
There's always been a conversation
Around
Like because we
Live quite close to downloads
So you know
There's always that thing
Where you've got Iron Maiden
Or Kiss
Or you know
The conversation is
Well who's going to do that
Who's going to do that
And then you see
What Sleep Token are doing
Yeah
Architects
Spirit Box
Yeah
There's tons
We'll be alright
But if
If that
You know
That chain's got to end somewhere
And if there's nowhere
For these artists
To kind of start
And grow
And be supported
And learn their craft
And cut their teeth
And if that disappears
Then you don't get it
Bottom rung of the ladder
Is like a supporting
You know
Supporting architects
Yeah
Do you know what I mean
That's a pretty big
Yeah yeah yeah
It's a pretty big leap
To go
I mean like as you
I mean you've done that
Supporting stuff with
You were supporting the charlatans
And all kinds of
Haven't you
But you know
You have to be
Reasonably
Yeah yeah yeah
Established
Yeah
To get a supporting gig
Or you have to buy
Your place
Yeah that was the other thing
I was going to say
Yeah
Because that's part
Part of the modelling
And you can't do that
If you've not
If you've not been able
To go and get in
In you know
Your local music venues
And learn how to
Play in front of people
Yeah
And all right
They're mostly drunk
And dicking a bit
Yeah
But you know what I mean
And also it's about
The community
And the culture
You know
The amount of
Of these shows
That we've done
Where actually
These incredible bands
And albums
Came out of community
They came out of
Scenes
Yeah
And that scene
Will start by
Like two or three
Music venues
Where the band
Would go and play
And then muck about
With the other bands
That we're playing
And then they would
All be sitting there
You know
Getting drunk in the bar
Mucking about
And that would be
The melting pot
Of where that
Yeah
That scene came from
Yeah
Well if there aren't
Any of those venues
Then
Yeah
It doesn't happen
Does it
Doesn't happen
No
You end up with
Like weird scenes
Like
You know
We talked about
Britpop
Yeah
Which kind of
Existed as a scene
But not as a
Do you know what I mean
Yeah
There wasn't
It didn't come from
A place
Do you know what I mean
It's just
They were the bands
That were popular
At the time
But you know
What you want is
Or what I think
You want is
You know
Those kind of
The punk scenes
That happened
In and around London
Yeah
Madchester
Yeah
Like the 70s
The 70s stuff
With kind of
You know
Those massive rock bands
That kind of
All came in and out
Of London
And you know
The LA scene
For
Yeah
The
The Beatles thing
With Liverpool
Oh god yeah
The Bay Area
And Thrash
And you've got like
Seattle for Grooms
Yeah
You've got like
The death scene
Out of Sweden
Yeah yeah
I think these things
Are important
And there's a danger
That
Without a bit of
Nurture
Yeah
And investment
And yeah
Yeah
So I like that
And anyway
I
I don't know
It's
I think it's really difficult
I can totally see
Why people were
Disenfranchised
By the $400 ticket prices
I think the media
Stoked it
Way beyond what it was
Because I don't think
The ticket
They made it out
Like you had to pay
$400 to go and see them
And you didn't
Could have done
If you wanted
If you wanted to go
And get your VIP
Yeah yeah yeah
Whatever
But you know
The tickets for
Lounging about at the front
Were the same prices
As anybody else
But yeah
Yeah yeah yeah
Anyway
Here's what it is
Definitely
Should we do facts
Yeah we can do
Yeah
Let me go and do some facts
For you
Released November 6th
1992
10
I was
Were you
I
So I was 74
So 6
18
Yeah
And I do remember
This coming out
I
This wasn't an album
That I kind of reached for
I didn't have this
In my Vauxhall Cavalier
For a while
I had a Vauxhall Cavalier
As well
Mine was
Brown
I had a brown one
Did you
And then a green one
And a blue one
I had a few
I only had one
It was lovely
Total run time
Have a guess
55 minutes
Oh 52
Number of tracks
10
Record label
Epic
They weren't
A massive fan
Apparently epic
So I read
In and around
The making of this
They funded it
But they weren't prepared
To give them much money
Really
So they weren't like
They were a bit
Yeah
A bit political
Is this going to wind people up
They want to put like
You know a burning dead body
On the
Yeah
Cover
You know what I mean
Yeah
You could just see
They were like
Here's some money
As they were stepping
Towards the door
A little bit
Thinking how do we
Let's see what happens guys
Reminded me a little bit
Of
If you remember
Slayers
Reign in Blood
Same thing
Yeah
The record label
Never put it out
It was distributed
But it was never released
Wow
Because they were really
Concerned of
Pushback
Yeah
So they were concerned
It would alienate people
So they never really
Did a big push
I think this did get
A proper release
Yeah
Recorded at Sound City
Which we've talked about
A lot in the past
Yeah
I am going to do
A blog about the history
Of Sound City
I've kind of started
The draft of that
But there's just so much
There's just so much
Yeah
I mean it's just epic
Isn't it
Yeah
Producer was
Garth
The thing for me
With this album
And the production of it
And I hadn't realised
It was the
Connecting the dots
When we did
Skunkin' and Stoosh
How similar
Yeah
In tone
Yeah
They are
Again produced by Garth
And yeah
Energy as well
Yeah
I know there's
The band's a lot to do
With that
But certainly
The producer
Getting that out of them
Is a
I think so
Largely recorded live
They would do like
20 takes
Just bang them through
It was recorded in
Eight weeks
Yeah
Like start to finish
Absolutely phenomenal
The band only formed
In 91
And recorded this
In 92
Made up of four people
Zach LaRocca
Tom Morello
He was a Harvard graduate
Wow
Which is incredible really
Zach famously came from
Like the punk rock scene
Yeah
I grew up in a very
You know
I was a Mexicano
In a part of the country
Where I was the exception
To the rule
Because most
Mexicanos
In Orange County
Were there
Because they had a broom
Or a hammer
In their hands
Or were picking
Baskets of strawberries
You know
There was a deep
Sense of
Frustration
Alienation
I experienced
Growing up
In a very
Conservative community
Very racist
Very conservative community
And I think that
That's what initially
Attracted me
To punk music
And punk culture
It spoke to me
In a way
That no other music
Until that point
Could speak to me
So
It kind of happened
It was spontaneous
It was
A lot of thought
Put into it
You know
We were very
Excited about the idea
Of playing
Hip hop
With live
Instrumentation
You know
And fusing the music
That we loved
So much
That we felt
Drawn to
So I don't know
It was very spontaneous
There's no way
To say exactly
How the sounds
Came together
Or why
Tom Metal
And then you had
Tim Comerford
On bass
And Brad Wilk
On drums
Yeah
Financing was
A challenge
So
You know
The record label
Kind of
Bunged him
A few quid
But then
Was a little bit
Unsure
Famously recorded
In analogue
On that
Neve 8028
At
Santa City
Which I found out
I've got a plug-in for
That's so exciting
I've actually got a couple
I've got a couple of plug-ins
That do that
The other interesting thing here
Apparently
I don't know how true this is
But there's an anecdote
That I found
In the recording
Saying that
Tom Morello
Used a cheap
20 watt
Solid state amp
To record
Timey
And
You know
There's a lot of that
Kind of stuff
I think
Where they
Just kind of
Did their
You can get a good
Sound out of them
If you want
For a particular
Purpose
That chunky
Guitar thing
Yeah
You always talk
About this
But it's kind of
It's not what you play
It's how you play
Yeah yeah
Totally
And Tom's a genius
Of that
Sales figures
For this album
Rage Against the Machine
5.3 million
Bonkers
Evil Empire
Was 3.4
Battle of Los Angeles
2.5
And Renegades
Which is like a covers
Yeah
Thing they did
For 1.1
I think the band
Was pretty much
Collapsing by the point
They did that
In 2000
Other albums
Released in the same year
Dirt by Alice in Chains
Wow
Yeah
Angel Dust by Faith
It was a grungy
Rocky era
Wasn't it
Yeah
Call by Stone Temple
Pilots
And Countdown to
Extinction by Megadeth
So there's some
Very very big
Heavy music around
And this is
Like kind of
We
We talked about
Didn't we
Where
This was
This was a time
Where if a band
Released an album
That you didn't
Particularly like
You just listened
To something else
Yeah
You didn't
Go complaining
About it
You just
Like oh
I'll listen to
Yeah
I like this one
It's on tons of
Best of lists
This one
Normally when you
Search for this
It's really difficult
To find it
But it's on
All of them
You name a magazine
And this is in there
I think it's like
It's one of those
Things where it's
Quite edgy and cool
So everyone
Wanted to be part of it
Singles from
The album
The killer
Was Bomb Track
Yeah what
Killing in the name
Right
They were
Huge
I think Killing in the name
Became this
Like
Anthem
I was going to say
Exactly the same word
Yeah
Were you
Yeah
Great minds
Yeah
But it was
It was just
I mean extraordinary
That
That song
Sometimes these songs
Become
You know
And we've talked about this before
Like
They're not yours anymore
No
And Killing in the name's not
No
Absolutely
Rage don't own that anymore
That's owned by a generation
Yeah
And
You know
It gets used in
Like
I mean
You name it right
If you've got a
A movement
And you're angry about something
Yeah
That's your song
Yeah
Go and use that
You don't even need to use the sweary bit
No
You just use any part of that riff
And everyone gets the connotation
Yeah
Absolutely
And all that sort of stuff
But then
And then Bomb Track
I think
Bomb Track might be one of the most covered
Track sevens
It's so riffy
I mean the groove on that
It's so cool
The groove
Oh
Brilliant
It's just awesome
Yeah
Bullet in the head
But yeah
And Freedom
With the other two singles
As an album of tracks
There's not a dead bit of time
No
Everything's there
Everything's
You said it earlier
Everything's in its right place
As an arrangement
And as the performance
But also
You know
As a body of work
As a sequence of songs
Jail says freedom
From the pain in my home
Hatred passed on
Passed on
A world of violent rage
But it's one that I can recognize
Having never seen the color of my father's eyes
Yes I dwell in hell
But it's a hell that I can grip
I tried to grip my family
But I slipped
To escape from the pain
In an existence mundane
I got a night
A sign
A set
And now
I got a name
Read my writing on the wall
No one's here to catch me
When I fall
Darkness on my side
Suicide!
She'll sell us freedom from the pain in my home
Hatred passed on, passed on, and passed on
A world of violent rage, but it's one that I can recognize
Having never seen the color of my father's eyes
Yes, I dwell in hell, but it's a hell that I can grip
I tried to grip my family, but I slipped
To escape from the pain in an existence mundane
I've got a nine, a sign, a set, and I've got a name
Read my writing on the wall
No one's here to catch me when I fall
Climb between my culture and the system
Genocide
Read my writing on the wall
No one's here to catch me when I fall
Your fingerprints is bliss
They knock the smile off my face
Yeah!
If we don't take action now
Settle for nothing later
Settle for nothing now
And we'll settle for nothing later
If we don't take action now
We'll settle for nothing later
We'll settle for nothing now
And we'll settle for nothing later
If we don't take action now
We'll settle for nothing later
We'll settle for nothing now
And we'll settle for nothing later
If we don't take action now
We'll settle for nothing later
If we don't take action now
We'll settle for nothing later
If we don't take action now
We'll settle for nothing later
If we don't take action now
We'll settle for nothing later
If we don't take action now
We'll settle for nothing later
If we don't take action now
We'll settle for nothing later
If we don't take action now
We'll settle for nothing later
Let's settle for nothing later
We'll settle for nothing later
Yeah, it's phenomenal
And they quite like Killing in the Name's five minutes
Yeah
Is it really?
Yeah, it is
It's getting on for prog rock
Yes, that's nearly a meatloaf intro
Influences from the band
So looking at bands they've quoted as influencing them
Public Enemy makes tons of sense
The Clash, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath
Okay
Which
Yeah, that makes tons of all of that does
Yeah
It kind of does, doesn't it?
Yeah
And then artists that claim influence by Rage
Linkin Park, System of a Down, Korn and Slipknot
Yeah
Which again, I think again is interesting
Things that I learned about when we were doing this
The cover art is a Pulitzer Prize winning photograph of Dick Quang Duk
Oh nice, well done
Is that, did I get close?
That sounds good to me
I mean it's interesting now, you see that record today
Mm-hmm
And it's weird, you kind of know what it is
Yeah
So you don't get, you don't like, oh
And Tony, when you stop and think and think, oh what
Yeah
And you realise what it is and then the backstory to it
You can, you know, it did cause a significant uproar at the time
Mm-hmm
No samples were used
No
No keyboards, no synthesizers
Mm-hmm
Mostly done live
Mm-hmm
So yeah, filled with political messages
So there isn't a single track on there that's not, not got some like a significant political story
Um, and, uh, yeah, a certified triple platinum in the, in the United States
Um, it's been used in, in tons of, uh, interesting, uh, TV and media as well
So it was in Natural Born Killers from '94
Yeah
Which, um, I don't remember it being in there
I don't remember it being in there
But then saying that, that was one of those films I always used to, like people used to say like
Oh you need to watch this cause it's a really important film and then I'd watch it and fall asleep
So, there were a few of those
Stanley Kubrick's 2000, well loads of them
Like loads of films that I should, I should have watched
You should watch
From start to end because they're important historical
Yeah
Moments in time and these wicked films get about
I tend to get a bit bored
I just fall asleep
You know when people say, oh, you should watch this cause it's, it's, it's, it's got important
I look like I've been bored already
Um, do you know, do you watch, watch Severance?
I need to watch that, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
I like that a lot, it's really dark
Yeah
There's no music in it
Well, actually the theme tune, you'll love it
The theme tune for Severance is like really split
There's loads of weird dissonance
Okay
And the way
Yeah
Severed
Yeah, it's bonkers that is
But the whole thing is just, oh, just fantastic
I have to be honest, I probably was off my face on
Paracetamol and cold drugs and whatever else
It's probably the straightest song
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
But I, I, I really enjoyed that
Um, reviews of this album
I think because it was a bit edgy and cool
Yeah
No one dare say anything bad about it
Yeah, yeah, yeah
So when you go back and look at it
This is an album that I don't think got any poor review
And it's interesting because it says the, the critics talk about innovative fusion of rap and metal
Yeah
Well, I mean, you don't have to look very far to see the, you know, the, the same critics deriding bands for, you know, merging rap and metal
Yeah
I guess it was 92, so it's kind of a little bit early, but, you know, the, the same stuff can't be said of like, you know, the, the
Well, it's the way people, the, we did Faith Know All, wasn't it?
Yeah, yeah, yeah
So it sort of happened with a bit of that, where people were like, oh, you know, don't, don't know what it is, just doesn't make any sense
No, exactly, exactly
And then, but I think, I think, I think rage, rage almost got like a free pass, right, for the politics and being edgy and being, do you know what I mean?
Yeah
They were, they were clever as well, and they were good in front of the camera, they were good in interviews
Mm, Tom Rello in particular
Oh, yeah
Yeah, very eloquent guy, yeah
Just, I mean, incredibly articulate
Yeah
But anyway
And Zach obviously had fire and passion and, yeah, had, had something to say
Yeah, they, they were, they were pretty cool
Um, um, yeah, so all, all, all of the reviews were like super positive
Um, eventually, obviously, uh, uh, broke up, right?
So, so they kind of got to that point where they did, um, uh, so they did Evil Empire
And then, I'm just looking at my list of, um, uh, of things that we did
So it was Renegades in 2000, um, and then, that was it, then the, that, that was just kind of the band just, just stopped and it was kind of Zach Della Rocco and the rest of the band just not agreeing on the, the right way to, to go
Um, and that, that's where Audioslave came in, right?
Yeah, it is, yeah
I mean, essentially, it was just, they just got together with Chris Cornell
Yeah
Um, in fact, we should probably, that would be a great one to do
That's next
Yeah, 'cause that's a, um, it is basically just, just rage with Chris Cornell
I mean, it's, you, you, Chris Cornell's one of those people where you, you, you could just copy and paste him into any band and he would just like rock up and be like, yeah, whatever
And, and, and they will be better for, for him being there, you know, um, so, um, but yeah, it's an absolutely phenomenal, um, uh, uh, debut from, um
It was a massive album, I worked in music retail at the time
Oh yeah
I remember it came, came out and it was
That's a shop, right?
Yes, yeah, I worked at a music shop selling records and it was, there was that and there was, um, there was one other that just set everything on fire, like every, like everyone had it, um, it's gone
Strokes, This Is It
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Those were the, there was around that era
The music press just gushed over the strokes
Yeah
I remember that
Yeah, um, but yeah, no, the Audioslave one, I think, uh, we should definitely
Or is it, Is This It? Not This Is It, Is It, Is This It?
Oh, is this it, isn't it?
Yeah, is this it, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
I'm with you
Um, there was a few remasters and that, um, the original sounds better
Mm, mm, mm
I don't, there was no need to book about with it
Yeah
It sounded great
Yeah
Um, so, uh, yeah
If you can get hold of it, that is the thing
That's the one
Yeah, it is the same with all of these things, they pay a producer, they go and make it louder, and then that's the only one you can listen to
But if you have the original, I've got the original vinyl of this one, and I've got an original CD as well
Um
And that's the one
Yeah, I don't know, this just, it just sounds better
It sounds good
It was better as
It's, it's right, it's from the time, it's what it should, it's what it should have sounded like
It doesn't, I don't think they improved
Yeah, yeah, yeah
The shortening of these songs doesn't improve with the remaster
Yeah
Some they do
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Um, I think, I'm trying to think of albums that have, you know, Ride the Lightning's a good example of that, Metallica's Ride the Lightning
Yeah
I think I prefer the remaster of Ride the Lightning than the original
Um, but I don't know, I think this one was just so good, I think this one did not need a, and I think that we see more of this now, where they, what they do is they get someone to remaster it
Yeah
They compress it a bit
Yeah
And then they sell more vinyls
Yeah
Do you know what I mean? Yeah
Because like, they're no dickheads like me, we'll go and buy it
Do you know what I mean?
Yeah, yeah, yeah
And, and, and there's tons of that, I think, with, with this stuff, and, um
Yeah, nostalgia capitalism, yeah
Yeah
And I think, I just, do you know what, just skip the remastery bit, just, you know, we'll buy it anyway
Yeah
We're absolute idiots, we'll just go and buy it, so just dish it out, you know, I'd rather, rather than spend the money on the remaster
I'd rather get some background stuff, or some better liner notes, or something from the studio
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Do you know what I mean? Yeah
I'd rather get some, something that I've never seen before, some, some background photography from the studio, or something like that
But, um, anyway, um, not that it doesn't, to be fair, they didn't ruin the remaster
It's not, like, I don't, I wouldn't turn it off
Yeah
Um, but I just don't think it needed to be done
Which is a shock for me, isn't it?
Um, and that is it for facts for this particular album
Yeah
Um, 1992
Yeah, yeah
I, I, um, as we're doing these, uh, obviously my kids see what I'm reading
You know, you're sitting there, and they're like, oh, what are you doing now?
Um, and they still don't believe that 1992 was real
Do you know what I mean?
They're like, they're like, did you have electricity?
Dad, dad, did you have electricity?
Was TV black and white then?
Yeah, did you have TV?
TV didn't, did TV exist?
And you think, um, yeah, you dickheads
But, I then, there's that lovely thing, isn't there?
Where, you know, back to the future
Yeah
Where they went, where did they go from? 1985 to 1952
Yeah
That's the equivalent of us going back to 1995 today
Is it? Oh my god
And, and that, and my eldest said that to me
And it, like, crushed me inside
Absolutely, totally, and utterly
Because when you're sitting back to the future
When they go back to the 50s
That's the old days
You're like, what?
Yeah
And, and yet, when, I mean, they were, they were
They had pistols, and they were doing
Do you know what I mean?
They rode horses
Well, and then, well, what?
What?
What's going on?
Yeah
Anyway
Yeah
They're the facts
And
We've already decided what we're doing next
So
Yeah, let's just do Audio Slave
Yeah, yeah, yeah
In fact, let's just listen to Chris Cornell
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Like, forever
Yeah
And I do, I do want to talk
I want to sow a seed
Yeah, okay
I've been listening
As I was in Ireland
I started listening to, like, a bunch of British albums
That I'd not listened to for a long time
So, Guns, Gallus, and Swagger
Yeah
And then that sent me down this, like, British albums of that time
Yeah
So, Thunder
Yeah
The Almighty
Yeah
And I just thought, might be quite nice to do
Go, go to that scene for a little while
Yeah, just do a handful of those kind of 90s, like, British albums
Because some of them were just unreal
Yeah
Like, that gun record
Yeah
So, they did, they did Gallus and Swagger
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Which were just incredible
Swagger was the one with Word Up on it
Yeah, yeah, yeah
And, you know, but Gallus was the, Gallus was like the songwriting album for me
It was incredible, really, you know, incredible songs on there
You know, Thunder did Backstreet Symphony
Yeah
And I just think there's a ton of albums around that time
Mm
That we could meander our way through
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Might be quite good fun to be a bit nostalgic
Yeah
For those
But I think let's stay in America Land
Yeah, let's do audience live
Yeah, and then that might
I'm trying to think where that's going to send us next
Because Chris Cornell did a bunch of stuff
Yeah, yeah
Well, we've never done a Soundgarden one
No, that's true
So we should do a bit of Super Unknown or something like that
Something like that
Oh, good God, that's incredible, isn't it?
It's hard to, some albums are kind of still
Mm
I, you kind of can't
You think, how did that happen?
Yeah, yeah
Do you know what I mean?
Yeah, yeah, Super Unknown's definitely one of those
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
There's that one
There's the Radiohead's Okay Computers
Yeah
A bit like that for me as well
And Dillinger did Ayer Works as well
There's a few albums
And I just think, how did you do that?
Yeah
You know, like some albums you think are brilliant
Mm
But you can kind of see how the magic works
Yeah, yeah, yeah
You know what I mean?
You can kind of think
I can imagine them doing that
Yeah
Super Unknown's one that I just
It's just
Where did that come from?
How did you
Do you know what I mean?
How did that
It's just absolute
Black Sabbath as well
They're a bit like that for me
Some of the early Black Sabbath stuff
You just think
Like what was feeding in
Yeah
That led to that coming out
Yeah
And I
Almost like you can't see the
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Do you know what I mean?
You can't see the magic
You can't see where it's coming from
But I think
That's been good
And I'm glad that
We've got through that
Yeah
Because I'm still here
Still upright
I'm sure next week
I'll be more energetic
It's a good one
This is good for me
This is a good
Good album
Yeah
And
Go listen to it
Go find it again
Yeah
If you've not listened to it for a while
It's one of those I think isn't it
Where it's easy to
Think
This is an album I think
It's easy to think you know
Yeah
Because of the singles
That's a great point
Yeah
There's more than
The Alanis Morissette one
Is one that
Reminds me massively of that
Well I thought I knew that
And it was only when we sat down to prep
That I realised I'd never listened to it
Yeah, yeah
You know
And actually
I didn't know it
I knew the big singles
But
I didn't know the rest
And
This is definitely worth a
Bit of time
I think it's a
It's an iconic monster
This one
So
Audio Slave next
Audio Slave
Yeah, Audio Slave
A nap in between
Yeah
And
Love you, bye