The album’s bold cover art was designed by iconic street artist Shepard Fairey.
Today,
the groundbreaking musicians shared the LP’s politically charged lead track
'Unfuck The World', with a blistering Michael Moore directed video via VEVO. “I am thrilled to once again be working with my old friends and
comrades in the struggle for a just world,” said Moore. “Prophets Of Rage is the right band, saying the right shit, at
this very critical moment. This music video is our collective battle cry
against those who seek to harm the innocent and the powerless. I am proud to
have directed this video and I ask all who see it do their part to unfuck this
world. ALL HANDS ON DECK!” Watch
the video here.
Prophets Of Rage came together during 2016’s tumultuous election to combat the
coming storm, wherever it may lead. Fresh off the road and riled up
following last summer’s highly successful MAKE AMERICA RAGE AGAIN tour, the
group knew it could evolve from protest performance art with a tactical
mission, to a stand-alone entity with creative ideas all its own.
Holed up with longtime Rage collaborator, producer Brendan O’Brien, the band
fused the diverse styles, sonic firepower and hard-hitting social consciousness
of their previous work into an inventive and compelling new musical statement,
completing the album’s twelve tracks in just over a month of recording.
Prophets Of Rage quickly became as much a shared experience between its members
as it was a call-to-action for the world at large.
The sessions created a new space for growth and progression, whether with the
incorporation of DJ Lord’s turntablist elements or B-Real tackling broader
subjects, such as homelessness on the song 'Living On The 110'.
“When we first got together, we were playing
songs from our catalogue, but we were also playing new grooves, with everyone
improvising. And that felt really good,” Wilk remembers. “Soon there was a language that all of us speak.”
“We went on tour and got good as a band,”
Commerford added. “We’re making music in the way that
bands made music back in the day.”
At its core, Prophets Of Rage functions not only on a love of music, but a deep
belief in its power as a tool, and a weapon. “There were
rhythms before there were words,” Morello observes. “Music has both the ability to reflect and transform the times.
There’s a long history of that, from slave spirituals, to ‘We Shall Overcome,’
to the Sex Pistols.”
Woven into the band's DNA are influences as varied as The Clash, KRS-One and
Johnny Cash, as well as the undeniable ideals and aesthetics of its
predecessors: Public Enemy’s frenzied, racing textures, Rage’s jaw-melting
riffs, Cypress Hill’s manically playful party energy.
“The music is the passport to the world,”
Chuck D says, describing the unique bond the group shares. “It’s not always a given to have members who want to go where few
have gone.” As the band states clearly at the end of the
thought provoking and compelling new video, “The world’s
not going to change itself, that’s up to you.”
Prophets Of Rage will take their message of activism and grass-roots change
across the world this year with dates internationally and in the U.S. More
dates will be announced soon.
PROPHETS OF RAGE – ON TOUR:
June 3 Rock Im Park Festival - Nuremburg, Germany
June 4 Rock Am Ring Festival - Vulkaneifel, Germany
June 5 Pinkpop Festival - Landgraaf, Holland
June 7 Zitadelle - Berlin, Germany
June 9 Download Festival - Donington
Park, United Kingdom
June 11 Download Festival - Paris, France
June 13 O2 Academy Brixton - London, United
Kingdom
June 15 Festi’neuch Festival - Neuchatel, Switzerland
June 16 Nova Rock Festival - Nickelsdorf, Austria
June 18 Hellfest Festival - Clisson, France
June 20 Rockhal - Esch/Alzette, Luxembourg
June 22 Copenhell - Copenhagen, Denmark
June 24 Download Festival – Copenhagen, Denmark
June 25 Firenze Rocks - Florence, Italy
June 26 Zagreb Rockfest-SRC Salata - Zagreb, Croatia
June 29 Rock Werchter Festival - Werchter, Belgium
June 30 Open’er Festival - Gdynia, Poland
July 1 Bravalla Festival - Norrkoping, Sweden
Sept 15-17 Riot Fest - Douglas Park, Chicago, IL
Oct. 1 Louder Than Life – Louisville, KY