Rage Against The Machine toured this past year marking the first time the band hit the road since 2011. The trek wasn’t without its hiccups, however, as frontman Zack De La Rocha injured his leg forcing him to perform shows while seated. The injury eventually forced the band to cancel its European leg of the tour as well as the remaining dates on their North American jaunt.
Rage Against The Machine bassist Tim Commerford revealed that the band was dealing with an even more serious circumstance, as he told Spin that he has been dealing with prostate cancer.
“I’ve been dealing with some pretty serious shit,” the bassist told Spin. “Right before I was about to go on tour with Rage, I had my prostate removed, and I have prostate cancer. I’ve been someone that’s taken a lot of pride in being in shape and taking care of myself,” he says. “But it’s something where either you’re either lucky or not.”
Commerford said he found out about his diagnosis when he went to get life insurance. “I went to get life insurance but my PSA numbers were up. I couldn’t get it. They wouldn’t insure me. At first, the number was very low — like one-point-something. I watched it over the course of a year and a half, and it kept elevating further. Eventually, they did a biopsy and found out I had cancer, so they took my prostate out.”
Commerford also revealed his family has an unfortunate history of dealing with the disease. “I’m just trying to grab ahold of the reins. It’s gonna be a long journey, I hope. My dad died in his early 70s from cancer and my mom died from cancer in her 40s. Split the difference to 65 and I’ve got 10 years. I’m trying to get to the 100-song mark — I have some goals now. Songwriting has become a catharsis for me.”
Thankfully, the bassist said his current state is much more encouraging. “I just got my six-month test, and it came back at zero,” he said. “I was like, ‘F*ck yeah!’ That’s the best I can feel for the rest of my life. Every day I get closer to that test is like, ‘F*ck man, is this going to be the time when the number is going to go up and I’m going to the next thing, whatever that is?’ I already went through some pain and sh*t. And I’m continuing to go through like, some crazy sh*t.”
Commerford concluded, “It’s been hard for me to imagine cancer and getting anything good out of it. But there’s this little light at the end of the tunnel that I’m seeing right now where I feel like I can get some really solid goodness from it in other areas. I hope there’s one person who reads this and is like, ‘F*ck, I need to get checked out’ when they find out about it. It’s going to be OK because they found out about it, and for me, that’s good enough.”
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