Rage Against The Machine Say Next LP Will Be Worth Long Wait

Political rock band promises surprises on first album since 1996. You might have to wait three or more years between Rage Against the Machine albums, but guitarist Tom Morello said the wait is worth it.

"It's easily our best record," Morello said, referring to the political thrash-rock group's third studio album, due in October.

Speaking backstage at Woodstock '99 on Saturday, Morello wore a black cap with the Unite! logo of the garment-workers association ? which he's worked with to protest sweatshops ? and a red T-shirt with a photo of late Latin American revolutionary Che Guevara. Morello seemed excited to have finished the album, which is still untitled.

"We just got done with it, literally, 48 hours ago," he said. "And we're going to play two songs from it we've never played before today."

Rage played in the middle of a hard-rock triple-bill that closed Woodstock '99's second day, along with Limp Bizkit and Metallica. Among the new material they played was "Broken Man," a slow number that showcased singer Zack de la Rocha's expressive voice. "He lies shaking and starving, praying for someone to turn off the light," de la Rocha softly sang.

The band has toiled on the follow-up to the multiplatinum Evil Empire (1996), which featured such rousing songs as "Bulls on Parade" (RealAudio excerpt), for nearly a year.

Drummer Brad Wilk described the upcoming 12-song album as a departure of sorts for the group, which is known almost as much for its political action on behalf of such controversial figures as convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal as for its strident rock/rap songs.

"[The sound] definitely evolved a lot more [than it did between] the first record and second record," Wilk said before Rage's Woodstock set. "It's branched out in a lot of different ways that will surprise people."

Wilk said the new songs still have the hard-rocking element that fans have come to expect from the Los Angeles band (which also includes bassist Tim Bob), but also some unexpected creative touches. Wilk shied away, however, from describing those elements in detail, saying he preferred to let the music speak for itself.

"It's just the four of us continuing to have different influences musically within the band and bringing those into the situation and somehow making them work," Wilk said. "We somehow keep being able to do that."

Among the other new songs slated for the album are "New Sound" and "Mic Check."

One thing Rage will not be doing is breaking from the traditional drums-bass-guitar-vocals sound that has defined them since their self-titled 1992 debut. "We've got four people in the band; it's still pretty organic like that, and we try and make the music different," Wilk explained. "It comes from our souls and not samples."

Producer Brendan O'Brien agreed that the album takes the band in new directions,

but he declined to get into specifics. "It's got some new stuff, new sounds, different things going on," he said.

O'Brien, who has produced most of Pearl Jam's albums and also worked on Evil Empire, assured fans they will recognize Rage's trademark funk-rock attack.

"They're Rage Against the Machine ? it definitely hits pretty darn hard," he said.

Part of the reason for the long delays between albums, Wilk and Bob said, has to do with the sometimes contentious relationship among the bandmembers.

"The animosities are nice, but f---!" Bob said. "We take time between records so we can rock harder, and it's real. You build it up ? you build up that f---ing aggression and the steam ? and then you blow that sh-- off on the stage and I'm psyched. We don't put giant toilets on our stage and we got it going on. We rock. It's real," Bob said.

The giant toilets were a reference to Limp Bizkit, who played immediately before Rage at Woodstock, and who in the past have emerged for concerts out of a prop toilet.

Bob attributed part of the band's longevity and continuing popularity to the fact that they don't release an album every other year. He said that fans might have gotten sick of the group by now if they'd released four or more albums since their formation in 1991.

"It is [hard] in a way and unique in our situation that people will actually wait that long," Wilk said. "Hopefully, they will. I think we're different than a lot of the other bands you're used to seeing putting out records once a year.

"It's all about the marketing and selling of records rather than music. We're four people that don't always get along that great, so it's difficult for us to push out music."

Rage will play the Mt. Fuji Festival in Japan this weekend and follow that show with gigs in Korea and Japan in August before coming home to mix the album and figure out a title, Wilk said.

"I don't think people could stomach a Rage Against the Machine album every year to be honest with you," he said. "It's too much catharsis."

-- Senior Writer Gil Kaufman reports