The EMPIRE STRIKES BACK By JAYNE MARGETTS HIS microphone explodes as he screeches ferociously and shatters the mould.His head is thrown back in anguish and defiance, the dreadlocks hang - suspendedin mid-air, and the crowd roars its undying devotion. For antagonists, protagonistsand the underdog alike vocalist Zack de la Rocha is God. With his burnishedskin, his exotic, wild-eyed maniacal stare and his belly full of revolution,Rage Against The Machine are much more than a stomping ground for raw aggressionand frustration. Instead they offer something much more precious - a voicethat fights against the powers that be. Activists on the front line, caustic wordsmiths, exposers of hypocrisy,defenders of culture, realists who spawn and spit at the concept of theAmerican Dream and who shed light on the darkness of greed through theirartillery of sonic guerilla warfare, they spark controversy wherever theirjackboots tread, whether in the confines of the studio that links SaturdayNight Live with the world or in the live pulpits of the world's largestarenas and stages. One moment de la Roche, the ferocious son of a Spanish muralist and LosAngelean political activist facetiously opines: "I wanna be JackieOnassis, I wanna wear a pair of dark sunglasses ..." and the next "I'mswimmin' in half truths and it makes me wanna spit. Ya weigh me on a scale,I'm smellin' burnt skin. It's dark now in Dachau and I'm screaming fromwithin ..." When well-respected American journalist and Billboard editor-in-chief TimothyWhite applauded what he viewed as "these beautifully articulated torrentsof hardcore bedlam and humming murals of din", he perfectly describedthe sensation of staring into the wild and uncompromising eyes of frontmanand vocalist Zack de la Rocha and being on the receiving end of the tension,rejection and intensity of rage unleashed. For highly philosophical, politically charged, sensory and instinctual drummerBrad Wilks, White's observations no doubt further strengthened and reinforcedhis commitment to Rage Against The Machine's motives as "further raisingconsciousness of people. "To me, when Rage Against The Machine were first formed,it was a celebration and a release of anger and frustration which is somethingthat people don't always want to look at too much. It's something that they'drather not think about. But there's definitely a beauty in both anger andfrustration. It's human nature, and it's been there, inherent in human beings,since we first roamed the earth. They are two emotions that have alwaysbeen there," he muses. On the eve of the release of their highly toxic, gutteral and angry EvilEmpire, Wilks sits amid the chaos of the City Of Angels. His spiritsare high and his conspiratory tones revolve around everything from theirsecond album, to the consequences of two and a half years of gruelling touring,the lethargy and anticipation that precludes the release of a long-awaitedalbum and the constant irritation of having to remove misconceptions thatenvelope the band. "We've always been deemed highly controversial," he sniffs, "andit's really not something that we ever think about. It's just the way theband turned out to be. It wasn't something that was forced. It was justa very natural thing and seemed very natural at the time. "Especially in the US, there needs to be a band like this. If you lookat how many bands are singing about getting drunk and having a good time- and I'm not saying that I never get drunk and have a good time. But theratio of those bands compared to bands that are actually saying something- with full credit to Zack and what he's doing - it's kinda astronomical. "When you're talking about the things we're talking about, you're gonnapiss people off, and you are gonna get people who wanna slander you in thepress. And that's fine, because when you have opinions like ours it's gonnahappen." Through the dank and hoary strains of their latest opus magnus Evil Empire(the title was taken from a Reagan speech) they navigate and provokereaction with their thoughts and commentary on the treatment of the ChiapasNatives in Mexico on People Of The Sun, domestic violence on Revolver,condemn racial discrimination and the lack of freedom of speech on DownRodeo, spew venom towards the U.S. military on Bullets On Paradeand generally tear up the tarmac with their riotous and menacing swampyjungles of metallic punk/rap, funk and politics. During the early part of the year, Rage Against The Machinetoured Australia for the first time, performing at the National Big DayOut Concerts. In a musical annihilation and blitzkreig, the moshpits explodedin a sea of bodies and raised fists at the band's arrival on stage. Themulti-racial outfit then tore through their set sending punters into a frenzy;Evil Empire recreates that feeling. Ask Wilks if this is RATM's finest moment to date and his eyebrows knotquizzically. "That's an interesting question," he responds. "Allof the musical tracks and almost all of the lyrics were finished a shorttime ago. And between then and now I've gone through hating the record toloving the record. This period is really hard to be objective with the music.I know when it was done I was really excited and I'm kinda going with thatnow. "This kinda happened on the last record as well," he continues."You kinda start questioning yourself and it's not really a good thing;it's a kind of neurotic thing that we all have, that we can do. But I thinkthis record has more to offer than the last record. For the time right nowwe are capturing an essence of what is going on right now in four people'slives. Four human beings lives ...." RATM's guitarist Tom Morello butts in on the topic of why they chose BrendanO'Brien (Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, Matthew Sweet) to produce, "Wesettled on Brendan because he had the right attitude about recording Rage:do it fast, do it furiously and don't worry too much about crossing theTs and dotting the Is. I guess the whole idea was to capture the spiritof the live show. It was a real comfortable way to record, and we want thisnew album to be a provocation. If it's not we haven't done our job wellenough," he concludes. With many accolades and criticism being hurled their way, EvilEmpire is stirring up opinion and controversy once again, just the wayRATM and their legions of inspirations would like it. Through their shardsof ballistic missiles it's easy to understand why people such as Bad Brains,Malcolm X, Led Zeppelin, Che Gueverra, Minor Threat, Public Enemy and theClash are cited as inspirations. Radical works such as Guevarra's GuerillaWarfare, Mumia Abu Jamal's Live From Death Row, George Orwell'sAnimal Farm, Norman Mailer's Naked & The Dead and DaveMarsh's 50 Ways To Fight Censorship offers further insight into theband. When Rage's first gutteral cries were heard back in 1992, they not onlymade the world sit up and take notice with their self-titled debut album- an explosion of punk-inspired hard rock and politically charged rap, butadded their own pyromaniacy as support acts to Ice-T's rabid Bodycount,Public Enemy and Pearl Jam. They also supported the incandescent folky thrashof Perry Farrell's Porno For Pyros before touring Europe with Suicidal Tendencies.In September of the same year they appeared at Lollapalooza II on the LosAngeles dates. After a gruelling two and a half years touring, Wilks admits that "wehad to get away from each other before we could do our second album. Y'know,when you've lived with the same people for that length of time on a bus,or whatever, it can sometimes become a bit stale and hinder, and make relationshipsnot so great. So, yeah, we took some time off and now here were are - readyto go again." As the hot-blooded Che Guevarra has proved through his revolutionary rebellionand zeal of Guerilla Warfare, the only state that the true rebelcan co-exist in is within the throes of a constant state of flux and volatility. Rage Against The Machine call that very place home and continue to fightfor the right of the individual and an end to the power whores who rulethe Evil Empire .... Tillbaka