Music

Prophets of Rage will 'cause a ruckus' at the Republican National Convention

by Richard Howard

June 6, 2016

'We've come back to remind everyone what raging against the machine really means.'

Despite dismissing the rumblings of the band playing a protest show at the Republic National Convention as “just rumours” a few days ago, the Rage Against the Machine, Public Enemy, Cypress Hill supergroup Prophets of Rage has confirmed they’ll be doing exactly that.

Speaking to Bloomberg Politics, guitarist Tom Morello said that the band (which also features fellow RATM members Brad Wilk and Tom Commerford, Cypress Hill rapper B-Real, and Public Enemy’s Chuck D and DJ Lord) will be””rocking furiously in and around the RNC.” He remained purposely vague on the details of the performance(s), however, explaining:

“[The RNC] will be a perfect place for a band like Prophets of Rage to cause a ruckus, and we will be there on the streets, in the field. We have a venue and there may be… spontaneous venues, it’s hard to say. This is the kind of thing you don’t broadcast to the local authorities prior to arrival.”

Whether their visit to Cleveland in July will include a large venue concert like RATM’s 2008 pre-RNC show in Minneapolis or not remains to be seen. Morello has made clear, however, that Donald Trump isn’t their only target.

“Both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are both constantly referred to in the media as raging against the machine. We’ve come back to remind everyone what raging against the machine really means.”

So can we expect to see Prophets of Rage show up at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia? Unsurprisingly, Morello remained coy on the topic, answering: “Anything’s possible.”