TOM MORELLO On RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE's Last Tour: 'If There's Never Another Show, That' Was 'Quite A Way To Go Out'

In a new interview with Q101 (WKQX),the Chicago alternative station owned by Cumulus Media, Tom Morello reflected on RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE's October 2022 decision to cancel the band's North American tour, three months after singer Zack De La Rocha severed his left Achilles tendon, leaving a mere eight inches of the tendon intact. The guitarist said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, the irony was leading up to that tour, I ruptured my Achilles. So I was in rehearsal on crutches. I was, like, I would have open-heart surgery on stage and not cancel a show. The show must go on. So then Zack — he was in such good shape. Everybody was doing their best to make this thing happen. And sometimes it just happens. And he popped the Achilles and he had sort of seen my journey with it. And we finished the U.S. tour and then sadly canceled all the other stuff after that."

Morello also addressed RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE's future while looking ahead to his November 13 solo concert at the Vic Theatre in Chicago. He said: "Here's the way that I look at it, is RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE was always sort of a volatile situation. And the fact that we got four great records, the fact that we played shows in 2022 and a new generation got to… Even when [Zack] was sitting down at those shows, those were some of the best RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE shows that we ever did and really connect to people. We finished with five sold-out nights at Madison Square Garden. So if there's never another show, then that's quite a way to go out. But in the meantime, cross my heart and hope to die, I am carrying the torch for every one of those riffs and all of the meaning in those songs as well as the other things that I've been in. That music matters so much to me, and what it's about matters so much. And I am bringing that shit to Chicago, baby."

In January 2024, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE drummer Brad Wilk took to his social media to write that the iconic band would "not be touring or playing live again".

Two months earlier, Morello was the sole member of RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE who attended the band's Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Pioneering rapper and BODY COUNT frontman Ice-T inducted Morello, De La Rocha, bassist Tim Commerford and Wilk into the Rock Hall, recalling how RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE opened for him during the band's earliest days.

In his acceptance speech, Morello said: "I am deeply grateful for the musical chemistry I've had the good fortune to share with Brad Wilk, Tim Commerford and Zach De La Rocha. Like most bands, we have differing perspectives on a lot of things, including about being inducted into the Rock Hall.

"The reason we are here and the best way to celebrate this music is for you to carry on that mission and that message. The lesson I've learned from RAGE fans is that music can change the world daily."

The now-61-year-old guitarist continued: "The job we set out to do is not over. Now you're the ones that must testify. If you've got a boss, join a union. If you're a student, start underground paper. If you're an anarchist, throw a brick. If you're a soldier or a cop, follow your conscience not your orders. If you're bummed out that you didn't get to see RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, then form your own band, and let's hear what you have to say.

"When protest music is done right," Morello added, "you can hear a new world emerging in the songs."

When it was first announced that RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE was being inducted into the Rock Hall back in May 2023, the bandmembers shared a lengthy statement thanking the institution for the induction, and recounting the long, radical journey that led up to the honor.

"In 1991 four people in Los Angeles formed a musical group to stand where sound and and solidarity intersect," they wrote. "We are grateful to all of the passionate fans, the many talented co-conspirators we’ve worked with and all the activists, organizers, rebels and revolutionaries past, present and future who have inspired our art."

RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE's Rock Hall induction came after the band appeared on six ballots.

RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE's comeback tour, which was first announced in 2019 and then delayed several times due to the pandemic, marked the first time the reunited rap-metal quartet had hit the road together since 2011.

In late 2022, Commerford revealed that he has been living with prostate cancer.

Back in 2015, Rolling Stone asked Commerford about the band's Rock Hall prospects, to which he quipped: "If RAGE gets inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, it'll be interesting to see who shows up. I think it's pretty obvious. I think there's somebody who's going to show up and somebody who's not going to show up and maybe somebody who's going to show up with an enema filled with food coloring and shit all over the red carpet."