Music

RATM's bassist and Lance Armstrong team up for song about steroids

by Josiah Hughes

Everyone’s favourite sociopolitical nü-metal rap rock band Rage Against the Machine may be well past their reunion phase, but the group’s members continue to draw headlines. Frontman (and former coreman) Zach de la Rocha recently contributed work to Run the Jewels’ beloved 2014 LP, while Tom Morello fought the power by complaining when an at-capacity restaurant wouldn’t seat him. Now, bassist Tim Commerford has made a song about steroids with disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong.

The four-string plucker most recognizable for his alarmingly thick arm tattoos has been working on a new project called Future User for a little while. Rather than discussing the plight of the Zapatista movement or the unbalanced distribution of the world’s wealth, however, this band seems to be all about sports.

Last year, he shared a video for a song called “Clockwork” which starred tennis legend John McEnroe, and now he’s back with a new song called “Mountain Lion.” Strangely, the song is all about steroid use in sports — and it’s not necessarily against them. Stranger yet is that it features a cameo from disgraced cycling star Lance Armstrong, whose had his share of scrutiny over a decade-long doping scandal.

Speaking with Rolling Stone,  Commerford said that the song is about how people need to chill out about the use of performance enhancing drugs. “The amount of attention given to PEDs is incredible,” he said, “especially when you consider the amount of drugs – recreational, illegal and pharmaceutical – that America supports and profits from.”

The song’s sort of weird — opening with some audio clips of newscasters discussing dope use, the actual track is a mixture of early 2000s, fist-pumping electronica (think budget Atari Teenage Riot) and sneering alt-pop, with hints of Commerford slappin’ da bass.

Weirder yet, however, is the video, which sees a balaclava-sporting skateboarder who rips through the streets performing perfect kickflips thanks to the ‘roids.

There’s also the inclusion of a voicemail from Armstrong, who Commerford describes to Rolling Stone as “a friend, an awesome person and, as far as I’m concerned, a punk rocker.” He adds that the two are “cycle buddies,” saying, “We’ll jokingly leave each other voice messages like, ‘Dude, I’m gonna crush you the next time I see you. I’m gonna take you down.’ I thought it’d be cool to put one of his voice messages in the song.”

Lance Armstrong, whose curse-laden rant about being “yolked” appears at the 4:20 mark of the below video, is still synonymous with the use of illegal steroids. In an interview with the BBC earlier this week, he said he’d probably do everything the same if he could go back in time. “If I was racing in 2015, no, I wouldn’t do it again because I don’t think you have to,” he said, adding, “If you take me back to 1995, when doping was completely pervasive, I would probably do it again.”