Interview with Tom Morello at PinkPop 1993

I got this from a video bootleg of mine, it's after or before a show at the Pinkpop festival in Holland. Some guy from a radio station or something is interviewing Tom in front of a railing by the concert venue. Tom's standing with some guy (explained later) talking to him.

Maybe you could introduce who's this next to you?

This is Robert Pederson our floutest orchestral conducter and sound engineer, as well as the lover of 3 of the members of the band. We refer to him as "big daddy".

So How long have you been guys been together?

In August it'll be just 2 years.

And your from the west coast, right?

Yeah I'm from Los Angeles.

You are from Los Angeles?

Absolutely, absolutely....

Why the name "Rage Against the Machine"?

It just seemed appropriate for that thing it is that we do. Zack came up with the name it was originally gonna be the - Zack played in a hardcore band called Inside Out, and it was originally gonna be the name of the next Inside Out recordbut it seemed very appropriate for the kindof music we were playing and the attitude and the politics that were coming across.

I was wondering which machine the rage is against?

The uh, fax machine, the pinball machine...no the machine can be anything from - sorry, this is a question I've answered many times so I'm gonna switch onto "automatic pilot" and give you the "pre-rehearsed" answer, - the machine can be anything from the police in the streets in Los Angeles who can tear motorists from their car and beat the to a pulp and get away from it, to the overall international state capitalist machinery that tries to make you just a mindless cog, and not to think critically and never confront the system , and to just sortof "behave" and look forward to the next weekend and next six pack of beer.

You really feel there is no change has come since Bill Clinton is there?

No, he can't even do something simple like acknowledge the fact that there are gays in the military, let alone any kind of substative change to improve the life of the underclass - you know?, he has no interest in that why should he? They're not the ones that put him in office, it was Dow Jones and Exxon, so, they're the ones he owes the favors to.

Who do you feel you represent when you say things like this? Like the American, uh, sortof, alternative students?

I don't know...I don't think we represent the American alternative students...all we try to do is represent our own ideas well, and in the music and in the words tell the truth. That's basically it...There's no like - if you know, people are drawn to that, fine.
... fits everybody.
See? By doing that we represent everybody. He's also the band's sage and soothsayer.

Zack your singer puts out alot of energy and emotion, it seems difficult to me to do that everytime again when you do a performance.

...it's not a performance...
Yeah, that's the thing, it's not a performance, it's not entertainment you know it's real. That's why alot of people are surprised by it sometimes. He's exactly the same way he is on stage in rehersal. It's not like some "show" not some big "rock show" that you put on just because there are people out in the audience. It's real.

But on the other hand every night there is a show that needs has to be done, right?

yeah, but the music and the content are things that are real, it's not like some Vegas performance where at this point in the show he yells and he jumps up and at this point you know, we all bang our heads in unison, it's not like that at all...it's real.