Prophets of Rage, a newly formed rock and hip-hop group, plans to head to “the streets” outside the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this summer, according to group member and Rage Against the Machine member Tom Morello.
The group, composed of members of several existing bands, announced a nationwide tour Monday that will kick off in Cleveland on July 19 — the second day of the RNC.
The group features Rage Against the Machine members Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk, DJ Lord and rappers Chuck D from Public Enemy and B-Real from Cypress Hill. They will be performing songs from the repertoires of all these groups, as well as original tracks.
“Well there’s a thing called the Republican National Convention in July, and that 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,” Morello told Bloomberg Politics last week. “We have a venue and there may be venues that will 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.”
The musicians, known for their leftist views, targeted presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump in their original song, “The Party is Over,” at their debut show last week in West Hollywood. The group is calling their trip the “Make America Rage Again” tour — a dig at Trump’s slogan, “Make America great again.”
“Our nation and the world is on the brink of absolute electoral insanity and environmental insanity around the globe,” B-Real also told Bloomberg Politics. “There’s no music that speaks to what’s going on right now — nothing of substance.”
Asked whether they would also appear at the Democratic National Convention, Morello said that “anything is possible.”
The group also slammed the political process as a whole. Morello said that the “tiny funnel of the electoral process” is offering the people “a racist demagogue” in Trump, a “dreamer” in Bernie Sanders and “the lesser of three evils” in presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
“None of those choices are good enough for us,” Morello said, adding, “There needs to be an alternate voice, one that’s unfiltered, uncompromising and stands apologetically with the people.”
