This week, fans were directed a website, Prophetsofrage.com, through a mysterious street marketing campaign and tweets posted through Rage Against The Machine’s account. It led many to believe that the band had big plans for some sort of reunion, and that somehow Public Enemy were involved. Well, it looks like fans were simply wrong…
A source who claims to be close to Rage Against The Machine tells Rolling Stone that whatever the band has been teasing is “not a Rage-specific reunion,” and that “There’s a lot more to it. There are a lot of moving parts, a lot of exciting news to be revealed.” The unidentified source also claims that this “project” does include some members of Rage Against The Machine, and will include live shows. “Whether that’s one show, or five shows, I don’t know,” claims the source. “There are more announcements to come.”
So unless this source is a phony (or simply bluffing, for whatever reason), it looks like Rage Against The Machine are not getting back together for shows or even new music. At this point, whatever “Prophets Of Rage” actually could be is anyone’s guess (until it’s officially revealed on June 1, that is). However, it’s still very likely that at least someone in Public Enemy is also involved in some way (maybe the members of RATM are performing with Chuck D? The rapper has been tweeting a lot of clues lately). Oh well, guess seeing Rage Against The Machine return in 2016 was simply wishful thinking…
UPDATE: Well, looks like the supergroup theory is panning out to be true. According to Billboard’s sources, Prophets Of Rage is actually a new supergroup comprised of Rage Against The Machine’s members (namely guitarist Tom Morello, bassist Tim Commerford and drummer Brad Wilk), Public Enemy’s Chuch D and Cypress Hill’s B-Real. Billboard also claims that the group will make its live debut at Hollywood Palladium on June 3, with a show at L.A.’s Whisky a Go Go also being planned along with a potential tour. As of now, none of the names attached to this project have confirmed this latest update, but it’s only a matter of time till they do (though interestingly, Cypress Hill has also retweeted RATM’s initial tweet with the link to Prophetsofrage.com).
If you’re curious as to what Chuck D fronting Rage Against The Machine might look like, what footage of them performing “Black Steel in Hour of Chaos” back in 1996 at Pinkpop Festival below.
[youtube]https://youtu.be/yQ_zUa4IFsw[/youtube]
