Tom Morello Addresses The Future Of Rage Against The Machine & Calls Dynamic Pricing An 'Awful Idea'

Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello has been featured in a Rolling Stone exclusive, where he addressed the band's future - will they tour again after Zack de la Rocha’s injury? - and dynamic pricing, which has taken over US ticketed events, among other topics.

Last year saw the iconic rock group reunite for numerous US concerts, but the tour was halted after singer de la Rocha injured his leg on stage last July.

Delving into the US tour, Morello asked journalist Andy Greene if he could “check a couple of boxes surrounding the US tour and some misunderstandings around them.”

The first big misconception was related to Covid-19 vaccine mandates at Rage Against The Machine shows. Morello said, “No fans at any show in the history of Rage Against The Machine have ever had a vaccination requirement to be in the room.”

Then, he was on to dynamic pricing. Rage Against The Machine employed the controversial ticketing option so that all extra money - above the regular ticket prices - would go straight to charities. 

“I think by this point, everybody is familiar with the awful idea of dynamic ticket pricing,” he began. “There was that big uproar with Springsteen and this one and that one. Just to reiterate, every ticket for the show was $125 with the exception of about five to ten % of tickets, which we did the dynamic ticket prices with, and gave away every cent.”

He continued, “Every penny over $125 went to charities in those cities. In New York City, we raised over a million dollars for activist organisation charities.

“There was a total of about six or seven million raised on that tour in what was basically a Robin Hood tactic. I wanted to say those things out loud since there was a lot of misinformation in the world about those two things.”

Morello also attempted to clear the air about the band’s future. 

When Greene asked about future shows and news surrounding the rap-rockers, Morello responded, “Rage Against The Machine is like the ring in Lord Of The Rings. It drives men mad. It drives journalists mad. It drives record-industry people mad. They want it. They want the thing, and they’re driven mad. 

"If there are Rage shows, if there are not Rage shows, you’ll hear from the band. I do not know. When there is news, it will come from a collective statement from the band. There is no news.”

It looks like Australian Rage Against The Machine fans have to wait a bit longer for any news about a local tour.

Read the full interview here.