The band has broken up for a third time
Rage Against the Machine (RATM) drummer Brad Wilk has said his band will no longer perform live. Wilk shared the news on his personal social media channels on Wednesday (Wed, Jan 9th).
“I know a lot of people are waiting for us to announce new tour dates for all the canceled RATM shows,” he writes. “I don’t want to string people or myself along any further. So while there has been some communication that this may be happening in the future… I want to let you know that RATM (Tim, Zack, Tom and I) will not be touring or playing live again. I’m sorry for those of you who have been waiting for this to happen. I really wish it was…”
The band has yet to release a statement about the breakup.
In October 2022, the band canceled its Public Service Announcement Tour after frontman Zack de la Rocha suffered injuries from a torn Achilles tendon while on tour. De la Rocha injured his leg on July 11, 2022 in Chicago, two days after launching the long-delayed tour, and sat for the remainder of the dates the group performed.
In November, RATM was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with guitarist Tom Morello being the sole member to attend. Morello is also on the board of the organization, and appears to be the only member to support their induction.
“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,” Morello shared during his induction speech. “Like most bands, we have differing perspectives on a lot of things, including about being inducted into the Rock Hall.”
In May 2023, the band responded to their induction with a social media message that read, “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.”
This is the third breakup for the band that formed in the early 1990s. Rocha left the band in 2000 with the remaining members forming Audioslave with Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell. In 2007, the group reunited with a Coachella performance but then disbanded in 2011. In 2019, it was announced they had reformed and would tour. However, those plans were put on hold due to the pandemic, but resumed in mid-2022.
