were wrapping up their truncated 2022 reunion tour with a four-night stand at New York’s Madison Square Garden. In the 18 months since that show, the Rage bassist has gone off the grid, and we mean that in a very literal sense. He now lives in a dirt road, mountaintop California house that is removed from the electric grid. He powers everything via solar panels, and accesses the Internet via Elon Musk’s Starlink.
Commerford had a very different reaction to Polonsky’s talent. He called him to jam alongside Rage drummer Brad Wilk, and they learned he could play guitar just as well as piano. “We felt like we were playing with Hendrix,” he says. “He could play any style, any song. I love those human jukebox-type people.”Years later, when Commerford began thinking about new ways to make music with drummer Mathias Wakrat — who played with him in the short-lived hardcore band Wakrat — he thought of Polonsky.
The 7D7D track “Misinformed” also reflects Commerford’s worldview, even though he admits he’s never voted for president. “I used to be embarrassed of that,” he says. “But there has never been a president that I’ve gone like, ‘Holy shit!’ It sucks that it doesn’t matter anyways, because if I live in California, my vote goes to Biden.
The conversation eventually drifts back to 7D7D and their tour plans. Commerford says the band is “75 percent of the way there” and has practiced eight times. “We’re playing about 10 songs. I really am excited to create 45 minutes of performance art and do it right,” he says. “I feel like shows are going to happen in the couple of months. I want to stick to Cali for now. I want to do it like a new band where we just drive the gear in our car and go and play.
That’s perhaps why he has such a sanguine attitude when it comes to the future of Rage Against the Machine. Frontmanon the second date of the 2022 tour and played the next 17 shows seated on a road case. But the group called off the remaining dates so he could properly heal. “I hate cancelling shows,”“I hate disappointing our fans. You have all waited so patiently to see us and that is never lost on me.