PROPHETS OF RAGE
YOUR BAND HAS TAKEN A STANCE POLITICALLY, IN YOUR OWN WORDS HOW DOES YOUR NEW SINGLE UNFUCK THE WORLD LINK TO THE CURRENT STATE OF WORLD POLITICS?
Prophets of Rage: This man right here Tom Morello says the world will not fix its self it’s like going to your lawn and saying, ‘the trash won’t throw its self out’ so our song answers to that. Basically we have to get up and do something about this world if it’s fucked up and the world is fucked in many ways
ARE YOU GOING TO RELEASE AN ALBUM TOGETHER?
Prophets of Rage: Our album is coming out September 15, ‘Unfuck the World’ is the first single from that album and we are very excited to be putting out this new music. It’s very Rock, but speaks about what is going on today in the world not just back home in the United States. The album was produced by Brendan O’Brian who we’ve worked with before for Rage Against the Machine and Audio Slave. This European tour is to make the world rage again, this record is a continuation of that we are, the sonic resistance, every resistance movement needs a sound track and our record will provide that.
WITH THIS REVIVAL BETWEEN RAP AND METAL WITH BANDS LIKE BODY COUNT WHAT’S YOUR POINT ABOUT THE REVIVAL OF RAP METAL IN 2017?
Prophets of Rage: For us it wasn’t really about playing a particular style, it was about playing important songs. Eventually as we were playing these songs, we felt we had an undeniable chemistry and we decided let’s take that chemistry into the studio. We wrote a brand new album that speaks to today with a sound that would become our own sound and it just happens that it is hip hop along with punk metal and funk and a very strong mixture. You know the others that are coming back into this type of fusion more power to them. Music is universal, it doesn’t matter how you make it and there’s always somebody who wants to hear it and this was very powerful with hip-hop and metal fusion. Rock rap isn’t an easy style to do you have to be the right person to do it and we are.
I have to say we aren’t reviving shit, this is Rage Against the Machine, Public Enemy and Cypress Hill. I mean these are three of the most potent artists to ever stick a toe into that water so I don’t look at it as a revival this is a brand new beginning.
DO YOU FEEL THE WORLD IS WORSE THAN 20 YEARS AGO? AND WHAT TYPE OF TOOLS TO DO A GREAT REVELATION RIGHT NOW?
Prophets of Rage: While some things have changed in the last 20 years the struggle for human liberation pre-dates the Trump administration and will continue long after its gone. So were one of the links in the chain many people in many different locations who are fighting for a more just and humane planet. We happened to be musicians, so we do it through our music but there plenty of people from the streets the United States and the streets of Paris who are standing up for their rights and standing up for a better planet.
DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY ABOUT CHRIS CORNELL?
Prophets of Rage: Chris was our musical comrade a very sweet soul and close friend. He’s passing is a tragedy and he was a very close friend and we will forever miss him. He redeemed hard rock and heavy metal, he took the best with Sound Garden the best of the aggressive parts of metal and used it with intelligence and poetry and made it all right for metal heads like myself and us to not leave our brains behind with our musical muscle we will be doing a tribute in today’s show.
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE FACT THAT LESS AND LESS HUMANS ARE POLITICLY ENGAGED?
Prophets of Rage: That’s why we are in the trouble we are in because people are less engaged because there’s a disconnect between the politician and the people they lie to every year for their votes. Their positions and legislation mean that and all that people have lost trust so instead of going out to vote for people who would make their lives better they do nothing and that is a very big problem. People need to engage people need to be aware of what’s going on, to pass information to others so people can do something and make a change.
WHAT’S THE MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT YOU HAVE TO FACE ON TOUR?
Prophets of Rage: When someone has better weed (in the crowd) than mine.
ARE YOU GLUTEN INTOLERANT BRAD? I AM NOT GLUTEN INTOLERANT?
Prophets of Rage: why do you ask?
That’s because am really caring about health. Well as you see we are six men and fathers and all look after our health slim rock and roll figures still.
WHEN YOU ALL STARTED A FEW YEARS AGO THE AMERICAN AUTHORITIES TRIED TO MAKE YOU BE QUIET. IS IT EASIER THESE DAYS TO GIVE YOUR OPINION OR ARE YOU STILL CENSORED?
Prophets of Rage: There’s platforms available now, you don’t just have to wait to be interviewed by a magazine there’s so many websites, podcasts a lot of streams you tube, instagram, twitter and all that stuff you don’t have to wait to speak your mind or put out your music or whatever it is whatever content you have to put out it is easier these days to make people aware of what you have going on.
I would say if the authorities or people push back against what you are doing your probably doing something right. If you make music everyone can agree on, you have an opinion that everyone agrees with, then your music is probably shit and your opinions are probably pretty lame. They can only keep your message from being broadcast on free public radio they can’t stop it on the internet or anywhere else so either way people will get the music and information.
YOUR GROUP MEMBERS ARE FROM SOME OF THE GREATEST BANDS IN HISTORY, WITH SO MUCH RAW TALENT IN ONE PLACE DO YOU FIND IT HARD TO BRING TOGETHER A UNIFIED NARRATIVE?
Prophets of Rage: No, but for some reason we all liked and knew each other. When we found out we could do something together we found out that our chemistry works, that our intention is real and that’s a powerful platform for any group we’re a collective.
WHY AREN’T YOU POLARISATIONS IN YOUR COUNTRY?
Prophets of Rage: I worked for two years as the scheduling secretary for United States Senator Allan Cranston and I saw how horrible it was and the things you have to sacrifice of your beliefs and self to be a official politician. We are politicians of rock and roll, our politics are in the mosh pit that’s where the people are so we feel pretty good about that.
HOW ABOUT CYPRESS HILL AND PUBLIC ENEMY AND THE POWER FLOW ALBUM?
Prophets of Rage: he newly formed supergroup Prophets of Rage, consisting of members of Rage Against the Machine, Public Enemy, and Cypress Hill, have announced a North American tour.
The Power Flow album is very cool, he did a spectacular job and the band is very tight and I’m very proud of my brother. Public Enemy and Cypress and also Prophets of Rage are going very strong we are juggling all this stuff. We love what we are doing here, this is a passion of ours, there’s no expiration, on this were going to keep rocking out and spreading our messages there’s no stopping us.
HOW DO YOU CONSIDER PROPHETS OF RAGE AS A PROJECT IS THAT SOME KIND OF NATURAL EVALUATION FOR YOUR BAND OR A WHOLE NEW ENTITY OR A REACTION OF THE DARK TIMES WE ARE LIVING IN?
It began as a reaction an emergency in the world that’s an emergency during the United States election cycle and we thought we couldn’t just tweet about it and Instagram about it. We had to use the six fingered fist of Prophets of Rage to do something about it. We have taken that message to the rest of the world. When we played the Paris Download Festival the other day it was the craziest crowd that Prophets Of Rage have ever played for, so we are looking forward to more of that today and we realised in that process that this is not a project it was a band, something we were going to continue to do and not just this election. Also it needed to be said on our united platform to rock the message across the world.
WOULD YOU SAY TRUMP IS THE WORST PRESIDENT IN THE USA?
Well he makes me want to bring Bush back and I hate Bush.
DO YOU THINK YOUR MESSAGE GETS MORE DIFFICULT WITH YOUNGER GENERATIONS?
What a ban can do is reflect the times and try to change the times. I think in some ways we are following the leads of a lot of young people who are discovering resistance in the United States. The Trump administration (is my hope) will bring into existence a movement that dethrone it. We hope to provide the soundtrack for that movement, in some sense we might be musical leaders of that movement, but I believe the resistance its self is lead by young people who don’t want to see their planet all fucked up. As far as our personal engagement, we have never not been engaged in struggles for social justice. We played eight shows in a row and we gave away 100% of the money from those shows to homeless organizations and activist groups, we played on skid row our first proper show in LA for homeless people. We played in a prison outside of LA we played at the protest, so while the message is important and transmits in the mosh pit and to have a great time and to have a great rock concert that hopefully contain some substance so the real life socialist activist is equally as important.