Today spin.com has reported that last month Rage Against the Machine‘s bassist Tim Commerford showed his latest side project 7D7D which has the band’s first single “Capitalism.” The song’s upbeat music fists well with the paradox to the anti-capitalist message at the heart of its lyrics. “I want to make music that isn’t political, but I just can’t,” he tells me. “I don’t know why, but I just can’t.”
Along with working on 7D7D, Commerford spent the summer touring with Rage Against the Machine for the first time in 11 years. The tour dazzled fans’s minds all over North America by proving that the band’s music is just as meaningful as when it was originally released three decades ago.
Despite the positivity the band brought to their fans, The Rage tour almost ended apart when lead singer Zack de la Rocha tore his Achilles tendon during a performance in Chicago. No matter how painful the injury was De la Rocha finished the concert by performing sitting down. Also it wasn’t just de la Rocha dealing with challenges because fans did not know that Commerford was battling a huge challenge of his own.
“I’ve been dealing with some pretty serious shit,” Commerford said. “Right before I was about to go on tour with Rage, I had my prostate removed, and I have prostate cancer.” With the support of Commerford‘s girlfriend and two sons, musician is a rockstar who is facing the toughest battle of his life. “I’ve been someone that’s taken a lot of pride in being in shape and taking care of myself “But it’s something where either you’re either lucky or not.”
Before the interview with spin.com the only people who knew about Commerford’s condition were his family, bandmates and a tight circle of close friends. Also despite the hardships the musician is facing, he is remaining excited and positive about the launching 7D7D and touring with Rage Against The Machine.
“You can find yourself in a situation like I’m in where it’s like, fuck, my whole life changed. With everything that happens to me now, I wonder, am I feeling this way because I have cancer? Am I losing my hair because I have cancer? Whatever it is, it makes me wonder if it’s happening because I have cancer. And prostate cancer is a very, very, very tough one because it’s connected to your sexuality. It’s hard to disconnect from that and when you’re forced into that situation, it’s a brutal psychological journey.”
Commerford continues with
“I’ve been trying to find support groups, and it’s hard to find people and hard to talk about it. The suffering part of it, the physical suffering after the surgery, I’ve never felt pain quite like that. I have metal plates in my head and cadaver parts in my body. I’ve done a lot of damage through sports and mountain biking and this sort of thing and I’ve always felt like I had a really high tolerance for pain, and that shit brought me to my knees. After the pain went away, I still haven’t really been able to get up, even though I’m working out and doing shit, but psychologically, the damage is severe. It’s very hard for me to not break down and get emotional.”
Photo Credit: Marv Watson
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