Home >  A & E

Head of Soundgarden, body of Rage

Friday, July 18, 2003

By Scott mervis, Post-Gazette Weekend Editor

No band in the '90s was more politically active or outspoken than Rage Against the Machine, a gang of Los Angeles rap-rockers who used their monster riffs to fight the good fight for peace, justice, tolerance, human rights and all those good things.

	Audislave: (from left) Tom Morello, Chris Cornell, Tim Commerford, Brad Wilk. (Danny Clinch, Sony Music) Click photo for larger image.

They were also fighting their own little civil war within the band. Not long after playing a riotous protest gig outside the Democratic National Convention in August 2000 ("for all the people who feel left out and excluded by the two major political parties"), frontman Alex de la Rocha split over what he called a breakdown in the band's "decision-making process."

Meanwhile, up in the grunge capital of Seattle, members of Soundgarden were the elder statesmen of a scene that nurtured Nirvana, Pearl Jam and sea of flannel. Soundgarden was the darkest, heaviest, grungiest and first to be signed to a major label. Band members were also getting on each other's nerves, and in 1997 they went their separate ways, turning their siren singer Chris Cornell into a solo artist and a free agent.

Fans naturally expected Rage to just hook up with another politically conscious rapper/poet, and get on with it.

Instead, they grabbed Cornell and formed Audioslave, a new creature with the head of Soundgarden and the body of Rage.

"When you are assembling a rock band," explains former Rage, now Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello, "the only way that it can be good is if it's real and it's honest and it's music that's made with integrity. Rage grew in a certain direction because of those four elements and those four musicians. Audioslave did the same thing. I think if you try to shoehorn a singer into a political mindset, the band's not going to be good."

Morello had met Cornell during Lollapalooza in 1996 and was blown away, as most people are, by the power of his vocals.

"Soundgarden and Jane's Addiction were two bands that were influential to me," says Morello, who has a voice like an FM DJ. "They were the first two bands of note that unapologetically combined hard, riff-rock music with intelligent lyrics and underground credibility long before Nirvana. And they really paved the way for all the alternative bands that came in their wake."

Cornell and the members of Rage (Morello, bassist Tim Bob and drummer Brad Wilk) entered a studio in May of 2001 with producer Rick Rubin, and the songs came easily. The unnamed band was booked for Ozzfest in the spring of 2002 when, unexpectedly, word came that Cornell was quitting. By fall he was back, putting the finishing touches on "Audioslave," a self-titled debut that has all the crunch of Rage topped with Cornell's Sabbath-style vocals and quasi-religious lyrics.

Morello says the content isn't the only difference in working with Cornell.

"There's a new degree of camaraderie and togetherness in the band. Chris appears at all of the rehearsals," he says with a laugh, "and that's brand new for us. We're able to have a very exciting and democratic exchange of ideas with all four of us in the same room. With Rage Against the Machine, often the music would be done a year or two before we would hear vocals on the tracks."

Breaking the curse of former supergroups, the Audioslave record has been well received by critics and is already platinum on the strength of "Like A Stone."

But what was lost in the shuffle was one of the few modern bands with a strong political voice, at a time when it was needed more than ever. The 38-year-old Morello, who besides being a bona fide guitar hero is a Harvard graduate and a committed activist (his father was a Kenyan freedom fighter; his Irish-Italian mother formed Parents for Rock and Rap), says he's compensating with Axis of Justice. The nonprofit group he formed with Serj Tankian of System of a Down keeps people posted on political issues and required reading and also connects them to grassroots organizations.

"The genesis of Axis," Morello says, "is that I went to an Ozzfest show about three years ago in San Bernardino, Calif., and there were a lot of white power/Nazi tattoos that people were flying without any shame. And I was thinking this is my music, too. There should be a place to represent for people who are not racist, for people who are in favor of human rights, and peace and economic justice, and that's kind of the genesis."

Morello says that Axis of Justice, which maintains a Web site (www.axisofjustice.com) and "the most educationally intensive 20-by-20 space to ever go out on a rock 'n' roll tour," can pack as much punch as Rage.

"What there's a need for is not just a band singing about things, but people doing something. That's what Axis of Justice is about. I think for 10 years Rage Against the machine very effectively sang and rapped and rocked about the problems facing society, but with Axis of Justice, we're actually doing something about it. There's a lot less talking and a lot more action. What we attempt to do with Axis is answer the question that Rage Against the Machine raised in a lot of young people, which is 'How do I get involved?' Building that bridge to concrete action is a crucial step. Though, I am a fan of political rock music, but you know what? -- the singer quit."

Morello, now on the road with Lollapalooza, has a history with the festival, starting with the side stage with Rage in 1992 in Los Angeles and moving up to the main stage a year later. They also were guest bands at some shows in the South during the '96 tour.

"The music that mattered in the '90s was forged into a community and alternative music was born in large part because of Lollapalooza," he says. "Now, in this time of disposable pop music, one-dimensional rap music and derivative rock music, now is the time for an adventurous tour like Lollapalooza that is completely artist-driven and combines cutting-edge ideas with the cutting-edge music."

As for Audioslave, he says the band is gelling on the Lollapalooza stage and intends to be more than just a one-off project.

"We're planning on making many records and doing many tours and it's a band we couldn't be more excited to be in. We wrote and recorded the Audioslave record without playing a single show. At first we were finding our footing as a live band; now it's really starting to cook."

Scott Mervis can be reached at smervis@post-gazette.com or 412-263-2576.