The Rage Reunion Is On!

Following up this story, MTV News has reported (via the LA Times) that Zach De La Rocha, Tom Morello, Tim Commerford, and Brad Wilk will indeed bring their unique blend of turbocharged activist rock to this year's Coachella festival:

...this year's major coup is a reunion of thrashing political rockers Rage Against the Machine, who have not played together for seven years. The band is expected to get together for a one-off headlining show at the eighth edition of the three-day festival, which they last played in 1999.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Bjork are also expected to be on the bill, although no official announcement has yet been made. Other acts likely to take the stage include: Arcade Fire, Interpol, the Roots, the Decemberists, Arctic Monkeys, Sonic Youth, Kings of Leon, Willie Nelson, Air and a reunited Crowded House, according to the Times. If it all goes down like that, this year's Coachella is set to be one of the best ever, a major accomplishment for the highly respected festival.

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival will take place April 27-29 in Indio, CA, with a three-day pass running you a cool $250 (although for this kind of lineup and that much music, it's certainly worth it). Tickets go on sale Saturday.

This is definitely one of those times where I wish I was on the other coast. Damn. What would your ultimate festival lineup be if you could choose, say, 20 bands over 3 days of music?

The Nightwatchman Cometh and a Possible Rage Reunion

Guitar virtuoso, activist, and multi-faceted rocker Tom Morello will finally release material as his solo side project, The Nightwatchman:

Tom Morello's debut solo album as The Nightwatchman, One Man Revolution, produced by Brendan O'Brien, will be released April 24th by Epic Records. One Man Revolution features thirteen songs, with Tom on acoustic guitar and singing lead vocals for the first time ever. All songs were written by Morello

Meanwhile, Billboard reports on The Nightwatchman's tour plans as well as that of another outfit that Morello was involved in:

Morello will tour this spring, including an appearance at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, in mid-March. But perhaps of most interest to hardcore fans are rumors that Rage Against The Machine may be reuniting for the first time in six-plus years to play the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival this spring.

An event spokesperson was not available for comment on the possibility of a Rage performance.

Tom Morello goes acoustically wild and Rage rekindle the fire? Hot damn! While we anxiously await confirmation of the latter, here are some palette teasers for the former.

If you get into Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylanesque protest rock, you gotta check this stuff out:

The Nightwatchman's MySpace (features the track "Until The End.")

The Nightwatchman on YouTube:







I don't want to tap out everyone's bandwidth so we'll stop there, but there's plenty more Nightwatchman goodness on Youtube.

Official lyrics to The Nightwatchman's songs.