WHY STAND ON A SILENT PLATFORM?

I've been listening to Rage Against the Machine a lot lately.

The first reason is that they're really, really good. The second reason is that it every few months, there's a two or three day internet cycle that revolves around them, one of their songs gets stuck in my head, and I throw on the self-titled album and drive around pretending I know how to rap, or how to play some of those weird Tom Morello solos on my guitar. I don't know how to do either of those.

One of my favorite RATM internet things that's been happening lately is people doing YouTube reaction videos of hearing them for the first time in 2020/2021. They're so fun to watch, and most of the time, the viewers are caught completely off guard by what they're hearing. They think they're getting a getting a generic rap-rock band, then they hear Morello's guitar, and listen to what Zach de la Rocha is saying and their mind is just blown. It's so fun. I spent so many nights during quarantine just watching people react to "Down Rodeo" for the first time.

My other favorite thing is conservatives suddenly finding out that Rage Against the Machine is a political band who believe the exact opposite of every single thing they hold dear. It's so, so funny seeing Instagram comments from people yelling at them to keep politics out of their music, or "I used to like this band until they started getting political. I won't listen anymore." Which just sort of proves that they never actually listened in the first place.

Rage Against the Machine has been a political band for their entire existence. The cover for the band's demo tape was a clipping from the New York Stock Exchange, and a single match taped to the inside. The first line of their very first single released in 1992 is "Some of those that work forces, are the same that burn crosses." They were not subtle about their views.

The joke for 30 years has been "What machine did people think they were raging against? The washer and dryer?" But it's still true. The majority of people only paid attention to the line "Fuck you I won't do what you tell me" and nothing else. A ton of people heard "Wake Up" at the end of THE MATRIX, and even more kids heard "Guerrilla Radio" on Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, and none of them ever looked into the lyrics.

Rage was supposed to play a bunch of shows last year before the pandemic shut everything down. I wanted to go, but couldn't get tickets and didn't really want to see them in a huge arena. I saw them in a place like that once when they opened for U2, but I would have loved to see them when they played the small conservative town of Spanish Fork, Utah in 1996. But it was 10 days before I turned 16, and had no way to get there. My parents sure weren't going to drive an hour down there to drop me off AND THEN pick me up later. That would be silly.

After three albums and a collection of cover songs, the band broke up in 2000. Morello, bassist Tim Commerford, and drummer Brad Wilk stayed together and formed a couple of different bands. Audioslave, with Chris Cornell singing after Soundgarden broke up, is probably the most well known. They have a few good songs, but it mostly just makes you want to listen to Rage or Soundgarden. Morello has been the busiest, releasing solo albums, playing with Bruce Springsteen, appearing on talk shows, and just generally enjoying himself.

Zach de la Rocha, on the other hand, has been pretty quiet. He attempted a few different solo records, but was never completely happy with them. He recorded somewhere around 20 songs with Trent Reznor, back in 2003, and only one was ever released. Same thing happened with DJ Shadow, and again with El-P. He teamed up with The Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore and made one of my favorite EP's under the name One Day as a Lion. Every few years, de la Rocha will show up doing a guest spot on someone's album, most notably Run the Jewels.

It's all really good, and while I wish there was a full on solo album, it's almost more fun this way. Hearing him pop up out of nowhere every once in a while is so rewarding, that it's probably better to leave everyone wanting more.

The pandemic rescheduled Rage Against the Machine tour is supposed to happen in 2022, but until then here's a playlist of pre and post Zach de la Rocha songs. And like someone on the internet said, "The great thing about Rage Against the Machine is that they're always relevant. The sad thing about Rage Against the Machine is that, well, they're always relevant."

IRON WILL

What do you know about Guillain Barre Syndrome? Let me tell you what it is, because it sounds like a nightmare.

Guillain Barre (gee-YAH buh-RAY*) is a rare disorder in which your body's immune system attacks your nerves. Weakness and tingling in your extremities are usually the first symptoms. These sensations can quickly spread, eventually paralyzing your whole body. In its most severe form Guillain-Barre syndrome is a medical emergency. Most people with the condition must be hospitalized to receive treatment.

My friend Will got hit with this recently, and even worse, it happened while he was in Nepal studying with Tibetan monks. Things went from bad to worse when he got Pneumonia, which started triggering seizures. He had to have an emergency tracheotomy and be put on a ventilator. With COVID still pretty out of control in that area of the world, his family wanted to get him back home to Utah ASAP. Problem is, that with all the complications, the only way to do that safely was with an air ambulance—which is very, very expensive. They started a GoFundMe, and were able to raise a good chunk—enough to get him home—but it still wasn't enough for everything he's facing, recovery wise.

We wanted to help, and the only thing we could come up with (short of sharing the GoFundMe link every chance we got) was to put out some music. The group chat got to work, and we decided to do a few covers, put it up on BandCamp, and donate whatever money we made from it to Will's recovery fund. We chose three songs from some old SLCHC bands from the 80's. Massacre Guys, The Stench, and Insight aren't super well known, but they meant a lot to the Salt Lake scene in the early days. We figured that we could raise awareness for Will, while also showing some people a few of the bands that time sort of forgot. It also didn't hurt that each of the three songs were barely a minute long, making it easier for us to get done in a timely manner.

These songs won't be on Spotify or Apple Music, because the goal is raising money, and $0.003 cents per stream doesn't help anyone. You can buy it through BandCamp though, and all the money will go straight to the recovery fund. You can also donate directly to the GoFundMe by following this link.

Go listen, buy it, share the link, and spread the word.

In other Milk Money news, Craft Lake City is planning for an in-person festival this August (providing that everything keeps moving in the right direction), and we're playing on the first night. We'll keep you posted about it through our IG (@milkmoneyrock) and here, I guess, for the 50 people that still read. It will most likely be our first show since February of 2020, and I'm super excited.

*I added the pronunciation because I've been saying it wrong for like a month.

BLACK ROSE

How is everyone's pandemic going? Still washing your hands until they're sore and disinfecting groceries with Clorox wipes? I sure am—and I've been fully vaccinated for like a month.

Side note: Everyone go get vaccinated. The only dreams I have anymore are of Bill Gates telling me to throw away my iPhone*, but I might be able to play a show and hang out with my friends in a shitty venue this year, so it's a fair trade.

Anyway. A new Milk Money single hit streaming services last week. We worked on it in bits and pieces over the winter, all through group text again. Dan drew inspiration from Sunny Day Real Estate and Obituary, I tried to inject a little Type O Negative, and it just came out sounding like something that AFI might have recorded during the "Sing the Sorrow" session. I finally got to use the little synthesizer I bought like three years ago after a Nine Inch Nails show, so I was pretty excited. Dan also wanted us to record group vocals for the chorus, which was kind of fun. Since five people crowded together in a room yelling into microphone at the same time is still a dicey thing to try, we all had to do it on our own. Drew went to the warehouse at his work, Byron waited until his wife took the kids for a drive, Dan just did it in his vocal booth/kitchen pantry, and neither his kids or wife even batted an eye, because he does that all the time. I waited until my next door neighbor was at work, and my downstairs neighbor left for the gym, then spent 10 minutes yelling at the voice memo app on the phone I hate now.

After all that, we sent it to Scott (the same guy who mixed Howl) and he had it back to us within a couple of days.

It was fun to do, and we've already started trading riffs and demos for what will eventually be Howl II, but I'm so ready to be back in a little room with my friends making noises in real life. We might only be a couple of months away from that, and I can't even tell you how excited I am about it.

Until then, listen to Black Rose wherever you listen to music, favorite it, add it to some playlists, share it with your friends who don't read an outdated blog written by a guy with nothing better to do, and I'll see everyone again next time I'm bored on a Monday night.

*This is 100% a joke, but if you think it's directed at you and your dumb anti-vaxxer conspiracies, it absolutely is, because you're an idiot.

SECOND GENTLEMAN

It's Inauguration Day (finally), and barring some weird last minute call for Civil War from the outgoing crybaby, someone might be able to start pointing this giant ship that is America in the right direction. We're still in the thick of a pandemic that might get worse before it gets better, but let's look at the bright side. Even if it's just for a minute.

Kamala Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff, is about to become the first Second Gentleman, and he's starting things off on a weird note. For the inaugural celebration, he convinced New Radicals to get back together, and play at the party. They haven't been a band for 20 years. You remember New Radicals, don't you? They had that song, "You Get What You Give" where the video was a guy in a bucket hat instigating a flash mob inside a mall about 15 years before anyone knew what a flash mob was.

I guess he used that track as his walkout song at rallies over the summer, and just loves that band. We won't look too hard at the symbolism in the video, where all the punk kids release the caged animals, and then force the adults to take their place locked behind bars. Emhoff has to be smart enough to know that he identifies way more with the corporate suits in that scenario, but again, we're not going too deep on that.

What this whole thing got me thinking about, is what would happen if I had this kind of power for one day? What if my wife/partner/significant other becomes Vice President, and I have the opportunity to get a band back together for one performance? I'd go nuts trying to decide who to get. I mean, it's not even a possibility for me, and I still spent WAY too much time last night thinking about it. So much so, that I made a playlist.

A lot of bands that I never got the chance to see have no prospect of reuniting because at least one member is dead. That made my list both more difficult and less difficult at the same time, but I finally narrowed it down. 

So here we go.

Handsome is a band that was around for like five minutes in the 90's. Hardly anyone knew them then, and even fewer people remember them now. The singer, Jeremy Chatalain, is from Salt Lake, and I used to live next door to him. This band is so good, but will most likely never play another show unless I call them from Air Force Two.

Most people would probably rather see Jawbreaker if we're getting Blake Shwarzenbach our of retirement, but none of those people are married to the Vice President-Elect. So Jets to Brazil it is.

AFI is still currently a band, but this might be the only way we get them to play any songs from Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes, Black Sails in the Sunset, or the 3 1/2 and All Hallows EP's. 

Faith No More is also still currently together, but will 100% be broken up again by the time I'm in a relationship that lasts long enough for her to go through an entire election cycle in a presidential election year.

Jenny Lewis, Henry Rollins, Karen O, and Into Another would probably be honored, excited, and cool enough to make it happen for me.

Inside Out and Fugazi are straight up telling me "No." Zack de la Rocha is probably at least cordial about it, while Ian MacKaye is just going to laugh at me before he hangs up.

Now listen, I'm fully aware that there are A LOT of things that need to happen before any of this becomes a reality, but just go with it here. You never know.