Prophets of Rage Is ‘Not a Rage Against the Machine Reunion’

Rage Against the Machine in 2007. Photo: Flickr user: Penner/CC BY-SA 3.0

In a tweet on Tuesday, Rage Against the Machine directed fans to the website ProphetsOfRage.com that has a countdown clock set for May 31st. Fans connected the cryptic website to a series of posters cropping up around Los Angeles that read: “Clear the way for the Prophets of Rage. The Party’s Over. Summer 2016.”

Among the curious fans are Nikki Sixx and Questlove, who speculated about what all the vague signs mean. “It only took 16 years WTF guys?!” Questlove tweeted. Cleveland.com posited that Rage could be playing an anti-Trump rally at the Republican National Convention. The news generated so much Internet buzz that ProphetsofRage.com nearly crashed.

A source close to the band tells Rolling Stone that the fans ”“ so far ”“ are wrong. “This is not a Rage-specific reunion,” says the source. “There’s a lot more to it. There are a lot of moving parts, a lot of exciting news to be revealed.”

The project will include “some of the members of Rage.” The source also confirms the project will include live shows. “Whether that’s one show, or five shows, I don’t know,” says the source. “There are more announcements to come.”

Rage Against the Machine released their last album Renegades in 2000. That year, singer Zack de la Rocha left the band. In the intervening years, members moved on to other projects. Guitarist Tom Morello released music as the Nightwatchman. Morello, bassist Tim Commerford and drummer Brad Wilk also formed Audioslave with Chris Cornell.

Rage reunited in 2007 for a successful world tour and last played at a one-off concert at L.A. Rising Festival in 2011. Last year, Rolling Stone asked Commerford if the band would ever play again. “Anything’s possible. We are still a band, and we still might play again. We don’t have anything scheduled right now, but you never know what the future will bring.”

Update: Billboard and other publications are reporting that Prophets of Rage is a supergroup comprising Morello, Wilk and Commerford from Rage and two of hip hop’s veteran MCs – Public Enemy’s Chuck D and Cypress Hill’s B-Real. The report adds that the band will perform songs from all three bands’ catalogs, with a debut show set for June 3rd at the Hollywood Palladium and possibly, a summer tour this year.