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"We are committed to continuing with our efforts to effect change in the social and political arena and look forward to creating more ground-breaking music for our fans. In other words, we'll keep it loud, keep it funky, and most definitely rock on."

GOING ZACK-LESS

Rage To Rock On Without De La Rocha,
Gary Cherone Awaits Phone Call

Rage Against The Machine members—Tom Morello, Brad Wilk and Tim Commerford—have vowed to continue in the wake of singer Zack De La Rocha's departure from the band.

"We're proud of our history and what we've accomplished musically and politically over the last nine years," said a statement from the three, which was released late Wednesday (10/18) after De La Rocha's public announcement of his departure. "We are committed to continuing with our efforts to effect change in the social and political arena and look forward to creating more ground-breaking music for our fans. In other words, we'll keep it loud, keep it funky, and most definitely rock on."

De La Rocha fired the first shot Wednesday (hitsdailydouble, 10/18), citing an irreconcilable breakdown in communication between the band's members.

"I feel that it is now necessary to leave Rage because our decision-making process has completely failed," De La Rocha's statement said. "It is no longer meeting the aspirations of all four of us collectively as a band, and from my perspective, has undermined our artistic and political ideal. I am extremely proud of our work, both as activists and musicians, as well as indebted and grateful to every person who has expressed solidarity and shared this incredible experience with us."

Rumors of the group's breakup have swirled for sometime, intensifying at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards where bassist Commerford was arrested after climbing the onstage scaffolding. The group split with managers Gary Gersh and John Silva shortly thereafter.

In the wake of that decision, the band ended up with two managers. De La Rocha signed with Arthur Spivak, while the rest of the band signed with Q-Prime's Cliff Burnstein and Peter Mensch.

If that's not the formula for disaster, what is?

The band's explosive mix of personalities has made it the target of breakup talk very nearly since it debuted in 1991.

Guitarist Morello told Launch in September: "It is a band that is tremendously volatile, and there is always some kernel of truth to any dramatic rumor," he said. "But right now what we're doing is we're making some of the best music we've ever made, we played two of the best shows we ever played at the Grand Olympic [in Los Angeles] that we've miraculously managed to record, and we've got a brand new studio record coming out as well, so it's really exciting."

De La Rocha is currently at work on a solo album. He recently collaborated with The Roots' ?uestlove and Chuck D on a cover of Public Enemy's "Burn Hollywood Burn," which is featured on the soundtrack to the new Spike Lee film Bamboozled.

In speaking with MTV News on Wednesday, Morello agreed with De La Rocha's assessment that "the decision-making process has broken down for everyone. I have no hard feelings, and we wish Zack well with his project. But everyone is excited about the 29 live and cover tracks that we have in the can, and some of it will be released in the fall."

An unnamed source at Epic said that the company is planning to go ahead with the release of a planned studio covers album, recorded with producer Rick Rubin, with a tentative release date of Dec. 5, reports Sonicnet.com. The label hopes to release the band's recently recorded live material next year.

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