Transcript
Conor Fowler: Welcome Kate Fogg to Apocalypse Duds Studios here. Kate is an elementary teacher in France and runs a Rage Against the Machine fan account, which is quite awesome and has a lot of photos that I have not seen. Matt and I, of course, are longtime fans of the band.
Conor Fowler: um But it really seems to be a deep ah deep dive into the lore of the band Rage Against the Machine, which is, of course, one of the great bands of all time.
matt: Yeah, ah Kate, I think I, I want to say I found your account just on explore one day when I was like, you know, doom scrolling as we all do. And I was just like, holy shit. Like I'm um huge rage fan, huge inside out fan also.
matt: Um, and hard stance a little bit lower, but still up there. So it's, it's cool. you're You're doing an awesome thing with that.
Kate: Thank you. Thank you. and
matt: Yeah. so So how long have you been running the page?
Kate: I started the to run this page almost two years ago in 2023 in September.
matt: Okay.
matt: Gotcha.
matt: Yeah, and so you're you're in France. what What part, just out of curiosity? and
Kate: I'm in the west of France near the Atlantic Ocean.
matt: Okay, cool.
Conor Fowler: probably a nice part Probably a nice part of France.
Kate: Yes, it's very beautiful, very really beautiful.
Conor Fowler: So I guess we'll just get right into it. um How did you find Rage Against the Machine?
Kate: Well, I instantly became a fan of Rage the first time i heard Freedom on the radio back in 1993.
Conor Fowler: Yes.
Kate: ninety three
Conor Fowler: Wow.
matt: Oh, wow.
Conor Fowler: Wow.
Kate: um
matt: Yeah. Like at the kind of beginning. Fuck. That's awesome.
Kate: Yes, yes, yes. I'd already heard Killing in the Name and I liked it a lot. But freedom came my way at a special time in my life.
Kate: I was going through a difficult family situation with my parents and i was very upset at this time. After a particularly hard and destructive argument, I went up to my room turned on the radio very loudly so as not to hear anything else.
Kate: and It was Zach's voice screaming freedom. And it blew me away, moved me and relieved me. It gave me real emotion that came at the time in my life when I needed to hear it.
Kate: Like you need air to breathe.
Conor Fowler: Right.
Kate: I've often said that this song saved my life and I still think it did. Zach's cry was mine that day. 32 years later, now, every time I hear freedom, I still get ghost bumps.
Kate: No matter what I'm doing, i stop, I listen, I remember, and sometimes I still have tears in my eyes.
matt: Oh, that's
matt: right. Man, that's, that's beautiful, honestly. Uh, and
Conor Fowler: That's how I feel about it too.
Kate: That's a true story.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
Kate: The true story.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
matt: yeah, yeah. It does like in a funny way, because, um, I, I'm, I guess, you know I am a ninety very much a 90s kid. I started listening to alt rock in the in the you know my my kind of like late childhood years from older cousins and things. but like yeah that's That's how music, I feel like, should be for most people.
Conor Fowler: yeah
Kate: Hmm.
Conor Fowler: Yeah, yeah, because of course, when I saw them, ah i just cried. i cried for like 25 minutes. I just wept from their like probably first five songs.
Kate: When.
Conor Fowler: And I feel it right now. even Like I just I have a powerful connection to the band and I have since I heard them really just like you.
matt: Yeah, I think I want to say Bulls on Parade may have been the first song that I heard by them that like, you know, I'm sure I had heard others and didn't really, it didn't really put it together.
Kate: when
matt: But like that and then their cover of Ghost of Tom Jode, like the video for it, like that both of those things live, you know, kind of rent free in my head.
Conor Fowler: Yeah, masterful.
matt: Like and every time I hear either I go back to the moment that I heard the first time.
matt: Yeah. So in 1993, it wasn't really easy to get information on, you know, bands and people and and whatnot. So how how did you start?
Kate: No, big I just listen to them on the radio
matt: How did you start going down that rabbit hole?
Kate: I didn't, I've never seen them. i have i had no idea what they look like. And ah I talk about it later, but it was just on radio at that time.
Conor Fowler: Wow.
matt: Yeah, wow, that's that's kind of even more impressive.
Kate: And it was only Killing in the Name and Freedom. Then it was Bullet in the Head too.
Conor Fowler: Wow.
Kate: Okay.
Conor Fowler: Yeah, and so like the Matrix hadn't come out yet, which I feel was a lot of people's big exposure to Rage Against the Machine. Of course, they had like kind of publicized themselves to a great degree, but I think that them being like kind of the kind of the house band for the matrix movie was really significant for them.
Kate: And then I saw the video and ah that was at that time that I knew what the song was about. Because when I was a kid, I didn't speak English and ah I didn't and immediately understand what the song was about.
Kate: it came later.
matt: Right.
Kate: And when ah when I saw the video, and the
Conor Fowler: Wow.
Kate: i it was a second shock. Because ah it was the first time I'd seen them physically. And the clip is so powerful. And it made me want to understand and to know more about it.
Conor Fowler: Yeah, that's amazing.
Kate: as as think You don't understand me?
Conor Fowler: I'm sorry. I just wrote that down. that you that you didn't, you were not speaking English when you were listening to them for the first time, and you really, like, they were still, you were still sold.
Conor Fowler: Like, it's still, no, I do understand you. I'm saying when you were listening to them first and you didn't even speak English, the band was, like, really big in your face.
Kate: Ah, yes. yes
Kate: Yes. Yes. um
Conor Fowler: So that's amazing. I mean, I think that that speaks to their, That speaks to their broad appeal, basically. I mean, and lots of different people do leverage against the machines.
Kate: Yes. But the first time when I heard them, I didn't know what what it was about. and it was just a few months later that I understand it. but um I want to to make these things clear because ah keeping an neck account on Rage Against the Machine means having to deal with haters every day.
Kate: And yes, and these haters are not directed to me at me personally.
matt: Oh, yes.
Kate: They are directed at the band and Zach. But that that's why i want to make it clear because ah I know exactly what the context of the song, but it was not the case it 1993, because was too young at that you.
matt: Right.
Kate: it because the was
matt: They...
Kate: ah young i was too young at that time
Conor Fowler: Will you say, i don't know.
matt: they
Conor Fowler: I'm sorry. I kind of think of them as an unimpeachable band. So like who is, are people like commenting on your page saying like Ridge Against the Machine sucks? um
Kate: and Yes, there are a lot, a lot, a lot of haters.
Conor Fowler: Really? That's so strange. Cause even, even in the right wing of America, even Republicans in America love Ridge Against the Machine. They don't know what it's about. but they still like it.
Conor Fowler: They think it's good music.
Kate: don't know.
Conor Fowler: So I think that's amazing.
Kate: Yes, so so some people a lot of people are talking about ah vax. A lot of people are talking about rage for the machine. It is very, very stupid.
Kate: People are wasting their time to leave comments on my page, but then don't keep these comments because I want to make yeah people to feel good when they read the comments on my page.
matt: Yeah. I've also noticed, I don't know if it's everything that they post, like from their actual, you know, own account, but nine times out of 10, the comments are turned off, probably because it gets overwhelming with the amount of like bullshits you got to deal with.
Kate: Yes, I'm pretty sure that's the reason. But so I think it's it's good to to to let people leave some comments because so it's so interesting to have some people experience ofs of of different things.
Kate: ah
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
Kate: The first time they heard them, it's is very interesting to to read all that. and all Other people can can read it also. And I don't want to turn off the comments for this reason.
matt: yeah I get it.
Conor Fowler: For nostalgia, like collective nostalgia. And really the thing that we're trying, or one of the things that we're trying to get into is like, why document them in the first place or why, i guess this is kind of what we're driving at here. Like,
Conor Fowler: what is the motive for documenting this specific band?
Kate: Yes. um oh As I said, when I have first listened to Freedom or Killing in a Name, I didn't understand the lyrics because of the language barrier.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
Kate: But thanks to the music videos, I realized that there was they were more to them than the music. And that this band had something very special to bring me.
Kate: um When I read Leonard Peltier's story. I wanted to find out more about the plight of Native Americans. I asked for books at Christmas at my at my parents.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
Kate: And i I was dreaming of going and living there and defending their cause. I remember at that time, my family didn't really know who I was anymore.
Kate: And it was a period in my life who um which I changed a lot and my vision of the world was forged. it It was very important. This band played and a really important part in my view of the world when I was a teenager.
Kate: i was a teenager
Conor Fowler: When you were, it was like, I don't know. I think that what happened at a high level with Rage Against the Machine at the end was that they were thinking people aren't appreciating what we are saying.
Conor Fowler: People are misunderstanding what we're saying and we're maybe making things worse. um But there are a ton of people, the three of us ah and and many, many, many other people who I think are radicalized by Rage Against the Machine, like in large part,
Kate: when when when um at At that time, i only had a very European vision of this whole historical period.
Kate: When the story of the conquest of the West was told at school, um the heroic explorers who made it possible to get to know the world better stopped.
Conor Fowler: Sure.
Conor Fowler: Sure. Christopher Columbus among them.
Kate: The band taught me the truth.
Conor Fowler: Right.
Kate: so The band really taught me the truth. Genocide, colonization, murder. i It's not always easy to put yourself back in the context of the time. What I mean is most people know their story and their message because they went to fame.
Conor Fowler: Mm hmm.
Kate: But they were very new at the time.
matt: Right.
Kate: They had just arrived and a lot of people didn't know them very well. And later, Evil Empire came out. And I learned a lot about Izzy Delen and Chiapas.
Kate: um
Conor Fowler: Sure.
Kate: All this knowledge I'd never have had if I hadn't listened to rage, or at least not so early in my life.
matt: Right.
matt: yeah So when did you when did you start compiling, you know, kind of what would become your um your fan page for them, like the the archival footage and and photos and things?
Kate: but Sorry, I didn't understand.
matt: Oh, yeah when did you start, you know, finding old archival like videos and photos and things of the band um prior to starting your page?
Kate: um yeah I found a lot of photos and videos on internet. I had already some a lot of photos on my my laptop.
Conor Fowler: so you were like you like have been collecting them all along
Kate: Oh
Kate: um yes.
Conor Fowler: that's so tight yeah that's really awesome that's like and this is like the pure love that this show is about
matt: Yeah, that's that's fantastic.
Kate: I have a lot of magazines and other stuff, but yes, i was I had a lot of so things, the real stories that I was telling so their story to my best friend i every time, every time.
Kate: And one day she told me that I should tell all those stories to other people. And she she told me that I should try on social media.
Kate: And I was like, oh, no, I don't think, I don't know how it works. And I tried. ah tried in September 2023. And next. I didn't
Kate: there so i didn't think that um my accounts should became what is like now
matt: That's cool.
Conor Fowler: Because it's because it's kind of a.
Kate: Sorry, it's not it's not clear.
Conor Fowler: No, no, it is clear. I mean, it's like you, the thing became something that you didn't expect. Yeah.
Kate: Oh no, absolutely not. Because ah i I didn't know Instagram before. I had an account just ah like everybody, but starting to post a photo it was it was incredible to me.
Kate: and when I see a a lot of people starting to follow my page, it was incredible. um ah Really incredible. um
Conor Fowler: yeah
Kate: And I still don't believe it.
matt: Yeah.
Kate: ah
matt: Well, yeah're you've almost become a part of their history just because you are so invested, which is wonderful. Yeah.
Kate: I don't know. i don't really know. I'm one more account.
Conor Fowler: I don't know. I mean, is there is there anyone else doing what you do?
Kate: I don't know.
Conor Fowler: It doesn't seem like it to to me in my limited research abilities.
Kate: I spend a lot of time. That's right. ah
Conor Fowler: Hell yeah.
Kate: A lot of time.
matt: yeah
Conor Fowler: Hell yeah. That's excellent.
matt: Are you still like and right out of curiosity, do you still look for like old magazines and things that feature them that you don't have?
Kate: i
Kate: ah Sometimes I read the old magazines that I have. Sometimes I'm looking for new old magazines on eBay, I don't know, ah to to get more of them.
matt: Yeah. Yeah.
Conor Fowler: Sure.
Kate: ah Sometimes I'm looking still on eBay to to try to get some or nice stuff about them. But it's pretty rare.
Kate: whether What I've not, but I love to have their cassettes with the matchstick, the first cassette of 1992, you know.
matt: Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah.
Kate: a
Conor Fowler: That would be very something.
Kate: i don't i don't have it. it's It's my dream to have it. But in 1992, the cassette was about $5 at the end of the concert.
matt: Yeah.
Kate: concert And now um i've just saw one of them yesterday on eBay and it was $600 or $700. Yes. Yes. don't buy it. don't it.
matt: Oh, good grief.
Kate: or
Conor Fowler: Wow.
Kate: seven hundred yes yes
Conor Fowler: Wow.
Kate: so i don't by it's on but see
matt: Yeah.
Conor Fowler: but Yeah. Well, and that kind of shit, it's just like, you know, what do you it would be awesome to have, but it would be hard to justify.
Kate: Yes. i guess yeah
matt: Yeah. man maybe Maybe you'll get lucky one day at a record store and they won't know what they have.
Kate: There is another thing.
Conor Fowler: Yeah. yeah
Kate: Yeah. Yeah. It's a little treasure. I hope. still keep hope.
matt: Yeah.
Kate: But there's another stuff, another thing I'd love to get. It's an orange t-shirt, fucked t-shirt Zykes was wearing in the clip, pulling in the head.
Kate: You see, MTV UK. No.
Conor Fowler: Mm-hmm.
matt: Oh, I think I've seen this. Yeah.
Kate: so it's um It was the second time ah I was watching at them. um this This clip, I think it was in 1993, but maybe I watched it in 1994.
Kate: um secretly in my parents' bedroom on a small TV. um And it was another shock because i they were very different ah than in a Freedom clip.
Kate: ah Literally, Zach looked like a rapper and he was wearing this orange T-shirt, fucked T-shirt. And it was really a dream to to to have this T-shirt too.
Conor Fowler: but because their merch is pretty like expensive uh the i mean the rare stuff is expensive of course um because i have the i have that shirt that has the cia like malatov manual in the back which i think is like they just really had it going for a time
matt: Right.
Kate: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
matt: Yeah. I had a good friend hook me up with a, I believe it's a 90, six or eight tour shirt. the um It's the one with the photo of them in their practice space that a friend of mine had in high school and a buddy of mine found that shirt and like hooked me up pretty hard with it.
matt: So it's a, yeah, one of my prized possessions.
Kate: All
matt: So, okay.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
matt: so Kate, you're, from what I'm, from what I understand from following you for, I guess, like year and a half at this point. um
matt: Zach is your friend is kind of your favorite member, right?
Kate: um right.
matt: Okay. ah So hal did you know how did you hearing them as a kid in 1993 lead you to to the other projects that he'd been involved with?
matt: um when did When did that start to happen?
Kate: um about, sorry, about Rach or about Zach?
matt: oh ah about so like About Zach's other bands, like Inside Out, Hard Stance.
Kate: Oh,
matt: I think he played in 108 for a short period.
Kate: oh yeah.
matt: I've seen you post a video of him in Farside, who is one of my favorite bands.
Kate: Yeah.
matt: you know When did you start to find go that that deep into it?
Kate: Yeah. um
matt: Because this would have been you know pre-internet.
Kate: It was late. Yes, it was really... Yes, it was through internet. So it was later. i knew about those bands, especially Inside Out, but i I had never seen any videos at that time.
Kate: It came later. I don't remember when, but it came later. and the And thanks to my account and to Instagram, it allows me to meet some people who knew some member and who went to some shows and it's really, really interesting to to to talk to them.
Kate: it's ah ae It's the same. that I didn't expect it. so that i I never knew that one day I could talk to those people.
matt: Right. Yeah, that's fantastic.
Kate: And i read the I read some documentary interviews about the band, about Inside Out, Stands.
Conor Fowler: That's living the dream, kind of. Mm-hmm.
Kate: I had a nice conversation with Alex Barreto and to Joey Pirro.
Kate: You know them?
Kate: The drummer, Alex Barreto.
matt: Yes, yeah yes, yes.
Kate: Yeah. Yeah. And Joey Piero was the last drummer of Inside Out in 1991.
matt: Right, right. They went through drummers, that's for sure.
Kate: And they told me some nice stories about the band and it was very interesting. So um I recently learned a lot about the story of Inside Out and Heart Stances.
Kate: And it's it's pretty awesome. i like i like it. um All those people from the hardcore era that I can talk to are very nice and always sir how we' always happy to share their stories.
matt: Yeah.
matt: Yeah, I feel like that's kind of unique to punk and hardcore.
Kate: It's really cool.
matt: um You know, the the oral histories of it are very important to all of us who were involved in some way, shape or form.
Conor Fowler: Certainly less so for, I don't know, more corporate genres of music, which sounds like eye rolling, but you know what I mean?
Kate: oh
Conor Fowler: Like it is a ground up DIY um movement or scene, you know? And so I think that that kind of oral tradition has its has its place here.
Kate: um see I think ah Rage roots are in the hardcore music and punk music because it was the roots of Zach.
matt: Yeah.
Conor Fowler: Sure.
Kate: I think Inside Out is a very you popular band and people, I can see it through the comments, are still very great fans of the band and there's only one EP about the band and
Kate: we we We all would love you to have more about the band, more songs.
matt: yeah
matt: Oh, yeah. And in my opinion, they're very underrated. They don't, you know, they're kind of an if-you-know-you-know band and don't get don't get nearly the the admiration that they deserve.
Kate: I don't know.
Conor Fowler: I'd
Kate: um i what What does really mean the word underrated? I can't really translate this word. um When I try to translate, it's always like a band who didn't have a lot of success.
Kate: I don't know if it's a good translation. I don't know.
Conor Fowler: i'd say that's kind of correct.
matt: Yeah, that's that's pretty correct. Underrated, you know, in my opinion, is is a band that is very much an incredible band, but they don't get talked about. And as you kind of said, like not as much is known about them because they never really, never really exploded in popularity.
matt: it was was kind of people, you know, oh, I found this band.
Kate: Mm.
matt: You should check it out. Instead of like, oh, they're, you know, they're ah like, playing like on a Fugazi type of level.
matt: I don't know if you like Fugazi, but that might be, you know, my idea of the biggest like kind of quote punk hardcore band, you know, like they they were so beloved and Inside Out deserves to be like on a similar level to me.
Conor Fowler: Mm-hmm.
Kate: Mm. oo
Kate: Yeah, I agree. i we agree with that because it's a great band with a great message. And during shows, Zach was doing a great speeches.
Kate: It was really the beginning for him.
matt: Right.
Kate: And um when we listened to the other
Kate: speeches in Rage Against the Machine, You can remember speeches in inside out.
Conor Fowler: Yeah, there's like a direct line.
matt: Yeah. that would Did you, were you into punk and hardcore as a, as a kid and teenager also, as you were growing up?
Kate: um Yeah, I'm still listening to a lot of punk music.
matt: Fuck yeah. I've heard some really good French hardcore and punk bands over the years.
Kate: Sorry, I didn't.
matt: So I would imagine that there's there's a good scene there.
Kate: i Sorry, I don't listen to do a lot of French music. Sorry.
matt: Oh, interesting.
Kate: where it were
matt: Okay. Yeah.
Kate: okay um I can't tell you what I'm listening to when I'm at home or to spend good time. um
matt: Yeah.
Kate: i'm I'm listening to to a lot of of punk music. um I've been really interested to... the band that influenced Zach when he was teenager too.
Kate: And um I listened to those bands and um Bad Religion, Dead Kennedy, Descendants, Circle Jerk, Rancid, Social Distortion.
matt: Oh, yes.
Conor Fowler: Sure.
matt: Yes.
Kate: oh i forget a lot, but it gives you an idea, I think.
matt: Oh, ah
matt: that's a great, yeah.
Conor Fowler: No, those are yeah, those are the like, yeah, some of the four forbearers.
matt: Greatness.
Kate: i'm i i I listen to French rap from the 90s.
matt: Okay.
Kate: And I listen also to band, I don't know if you know them, lemanau La Mano Negra.
matt: okay
Kate: La Mano Negra.
matt: I don't.
Kate: It's so ah it's um was the first band of Manu Chao.
Conor Fowler: Hmm. I see
Kate: Manu Chau, you know? No?
Kate: You don't know.
matt: No, no, I don't know.
Kate: It's a French singer which has Spanish roots and is very popular popular in South America, Mexico.
matt: Okay.
Conor Fowler: i can see
Kate: And a he sang about Chiapas too. It's very interesting. you You should listen to Manu Chow.
Conor Fowler: We'll put it in the show notes.
matt: Yeah.
Kate: And I listen also to reggae, Bob Marley. But so
Conor Fowler: Mm-hmm.
Kate: i I almost listen to American bands.
Conor Fowler: Did you say you almost listened to American bands?
Kate: Yes. But punk music, not metal music.
matt: Right, right. No, no, no metal.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
matt: Damn. but I'm just gonna
Kate: No, I'm not a middle-head.
Conor Fowler: Mm-hmm.
matt: Uh,
Conor Fowler: i want I wanted to quickly ask you about, you said you're a teacher. um
Kate: Yeah.
Conor Fowler: does Do you incorporate this radical music into your teaching?
Kate: um Not really. and Sometimes may listen to my students some punk music, but not rage.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
Conor Fowler: Mm-hmm.
Kate: ah not so i so I told them ah but about yeah
Conor Fowler: two new bad words.
Kate: ah about the band, but I didn't make them listen to their song. um
Conor Fowler: What do you think they would think if they knew that you ran a rage against the machine account like you do?
Kate: all
Kate: Ah, um I think they wouldn't believe me.
Conor Fowler: Right.
matt: Right.
Kate: and there ah I think it's so crazy. And I don't want to say my real name because I don't want their parents to to see me on Instagram.
Conor Fowler: You don't, yeah, no, no, no, no.
Kate: instagram
matt: right
Conor Fowler: It's a great, it's a great pseudonym for what it's worth. Um, uh, nickname, uh, assumed name, whatever.
matt: ah has anyone that you know found the page and been like, hey, you should check this out. It's all about Rage Against the Machine.
Kate: so If I know someone who would we'll say that?
matt: Yeah, like like someone that didn't know that's your page, you know, a friend that that might have seen it and thought.
Kate: i just Just my best friend. Just one person. my best friend
matt: Okay, gotcha, gotcha. Yeah, that's.
Conor Fowler: You keep it under wraps.
Kate: just one person
Kate: just one person. i i never, never say anyone that I had an Instagram account.
matt: Ha ha ha ha.
Kate: And there's another thing that sir I can say. That in 1993, when I started to be fan of Rage, I hadn't told anyone that I was ah fan of this band.
Kate: um As I said, i watched i was watching ah video secretly. ah My brother and sister were where older than me, then already left home, and none of my friends knew them or listened to this kind of music.
Conor Fowler: Mm-hmm.
Kate: So I kept it to myself.
Conor Fowler: That is so cool.
Kate: and Yes.
matt: Yeah.
Kate: And I just asked for the album to my ah for my birthday, and I remember the stern look um of my family's faces when they saw this man set himself on fire.
Kate: And I remember everyone looking at the album and making comments and I didn't say anything, but I was delighted that people were so surprised.
matt: Right, right. That's that's fantastic.
Conor Fowler: That's wonderful.
matt: Yeah.
Conor Fowler: That's so good.
matt: like i I feel like lot a lot of people that you know get into like alternative music, for lack of a better word, you know like if you if no one around you is listening to it, it's it's your secret.
matt: And it's like your special it's your special thing.
Kate: Yes. and and yes and And I was so young and I was telling it was muck.
matt: Yes, yes. it's It's a special, you know, it's a it's a great feeling when you're, when like, for me, it happened when I was, like, 10 or 11. And I was like, yeah, this, like, I'm cooler than all of you because you don't know what this is.
Conor Fowler: Yeah, it's so funny. It's like... um Because I remember ah talking ah talking about like confiscation of media. um I had my grandmother buy me Blink-182's Enema of the State. i don't know if I've talked about this on the show. I probably have.
Conor Fowler: and It has like a nurse with like a glove, you know like a hot nurse, whatever, and a skirt. And my grandfather sees it and he's like... he can't have that.
Conor Fowler: It's like, he catt just can't have that I'm like 10 or 11. I probably shouldn't have it. That's right. But the point is Rage Against the Machine album cover is that self-immolation from the Vietnam war, which is so fucking different.
Conor Fowler: ah So that's amazing. Really?
Conor Fowler: You know that album cover, Matt?
matt: Yeah, oh, that album cover's fantastic. Like, I remember seeing it, ah you know, in in CD shops when I was a kid and, like, just being blown away by it.
Conor Fowler: Right.
Conor Fowler: So anyway, it's a strange, I don't know. I feel like it's a strange upbringing. It's like your parents and your whatever want you to be a certain way. And then they know that you aren't anymore.
matt: Right. So, what is What is your favorite album, Kate?
matt: Oh, no.
Conor Fowler: We'll pause it.
matt: Yes.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
matt: Yes. What...
Conor Fowler: We're talking about you. What is your favorite rage against the machine album?
Kate: um I said ah I don't like to pick one more than the others because that won't mean like I like the others less, which is not true.
Kate: But if you want me to answer this question anyway, and Freedom is my favorite track, I think, because it holds a special place in my heart.
matt: Right, right.
Kate: And um I also really like What is in the Breath for its energy and what it expresses about Chiapas.
Conor Fowler: I think that's
Kate: um I listen to all the albums really regularly. And I think I listen to the first two a little more often.
Conor Fowler: understandable.
Kate: The first and Evil Empire.
matt: right
Kate: and
matt: Yeah.
Conor Fowler: i think that's yeah i mean i think that's understandable
Kate: I also really...
Kate: Yeah, I don't know, but I also really enjoy listening to the live albums. My favorites are Live and Roar and the live concert at the
Conor Fowler: That's a great show. Yeah. I got that for my birthday when I was like 13. right.
Kate: And there are others albums too, which have a a place of their own as the demo album from 1991 with songs that weren't released on the first album.
Kate: Darkness of Greed, Mindsets of Threat, Clear the Lane, Autologic, The Narrows.
Conor Fowler: great
Kate: And um there are my little favorites too. and You know, the 10-inch People of the Sun from Revelation record Records um on which there are tracks that are
matt: Oh, I forgot about that.
Kate: Sorry?
matt: Oh, I said, I totally forgot about the, that revelation put out that 10 inch.
Kate: Yeah, yeah. On which there are um also um some tracks yeah that are also on live and rare.
matt: Right.
Kate: There are also the 7-inch Evil Empire promotion vinyl from 1996, on which there is a version of a bomb track.
Kate: ah that also features the lyrics of Without a Face. And um and the
Conor Fowler: you You're such an expert. Hell yeah.
matt: Yeah, this is, this is like, I feel like I'm, I'm getting taught a history lesson on a band that I love right now.
Kate: and
Conor Fowler: he yeah
Kate: and it's not Rage, of course, but I want to mention it, the Inside Out EP. It's my little absolute favorite.
matt: Oh yes. Yes.
Conor Fowler: What about renegades that's I know in the questions renegades for those that don't know is rages last album.
Kate: it
Conor Fowler: It's an album of covers that has Tom Joad on it, et cetera.
Kate: and
Kate: It's not the album I listen to the most, but when I do, it's always with of a pleasure. I have some favorite songs on this album.
Conor Fowler: Yes.
Kate: um I could say um In My Eyes,
Conor Fowler: Very good.
Kate: the cover of Minor Street, Down on the Streets, from the Stooges, Kick of the Jam,
matt: Oh, yes, yes.
Conor Fowler: Pissile grip pump.
Kate: The Coast of Tom Jode from Springsteen.
matt: Yes, that's.
Kate: um I like the others too.
matt: Yeah, the ghost of Tom Joad, I said earlier, like it just has a special place in my heart and anytime Like anytime I, I don't know, I go put on that video immediately. I'm just like, fuck yeah.
Kate: Yeah.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
Kate: It's a video from 1997.
Conor Fowler: I remember playing that song for my mother.
Kate: Yeah, it's great video.
matt: Yes. Yes.
Conor Fowler: yeah
matt: Yeah. It was, it was kind of like one of the first videos that I ever saw. i think that had like almost all, if not all live footage and just watching,
matt: Watching the crowd react to the band, i was just blown away.
Kate: me yeah it's a great video
matt: It really is.
Kate: That's right.
Kate: It's from the 1997 in Irvine.
matt: Oh, really?
Kate: and now yeah And yeah, there are green lights on the ah stage and the atmosphere is very special. It's beautiful.
Kate: It's a beautiful video.
matt: It truly is. Do you, out of curiosity, play any instruments? Do you play you know an instrument and pin play rage songs?
Kate: a Not really. ah I learned to play the keyboard ah long time ago, but I never learned to play rage with the keyboard.
matt: Right.
Kate: I'd like to learn to play guitar one day, but I don't know.
matt: Yeah.
Kate: I'm not a great musician.
matt: yeah Well, if you can play keyboards,
Conor Fowler: this
Kate: But I can. i I still play a little on keyboard, very little.
matt: yeah Yeah, I think you could you could transition that into guitar.
Kate: It could be great, but i I need more time to learn the guitar.
matt: Yeah.
Conor Fowler: sister
Conor Fowler: I'm sorry I want to ask about Limp Bizkit. um I feel like there couldn't be Limp Bizkit without Raging Against the Machine, which is an odd thing to say, ah but I think that that's definitely true.
Kate: um
Conor Fowler: so we're wondering if you had any thoughts about Fred Durst's outfit, Limp Bizkit.
Kate: I read
Kate: Not really. I'm not really interested that in that band.
Conor Fowler: That's great. No, you're very fortunate to have no knowledge of that band.
Kate: No.
matt: Yeah, yeah. Us on the other side of the Atlantic are not as fortunate to have never heard Limp Bizkit or not paid attention to it. It sucks.
Conor Fowler: They were as big as Rage Against the Machine, for sure. Perhaps bigger.
Kate: I don't know. I just remember when the... in September 2000 for the MTV show when the Rage Against the Machine were was expecting to win ah for the clip to Sleep Now in the Fire and they didn't win so it was the beginning of the end I don't know if we could say that in in English but sir
matt: Right.
Conor Fowler: Mm-hmm.
Kate: It was September 2000 and Zach left the band one month later.
Conor Fowler: That's right.
matt: Right. Yeah. du As someone that, you know, is so invested in the band, how did that, how did that make you feel that you might not get to ever see them together again?
Kate: um
Kate: i About 2000 or about 2022.
matt: About the the first breakup, you know, when after after the MTV s thing and Zach left.
Kate: The first break.
Kate: Okay. I don't really know if we could call it a a breakup, but just like left the band in October 2000, he phoned Morello to tell him it was all over.
matt: Right, right.
Kate: andza At the time it broke my heart and I cried a lot.
matt: Yeah.
Kate: But over the time, I came to understand that he had these reasons and that it was right to do it.
matt: Yeah.
matt: right
Kate: isummb bla I don't blame him at all. ah For a long time, ah we didn't really know what he was going on to do next.
Kate: And that worried me lot. was always afraid i was always afraid he'd be unhappy, under pressure. We didn't know.
matt: Right.
Kate: And the return of Rage in the late two thousand and along with his new band, One Day as a Lion was a relief, even with Rage, but even if it was only for real Reunion, and there was no new album.
matt: Yeah.
Conor Fowler: Mm-hmm.
Kate: but I think it was right to left.
matt: Yeah, I can see that.
Kate: But... Yeah.
matt: Zach also, he seems like a sensitive person.
Kate: Yeah. He really is. And he was the youngest of the band in the band. And i think he had a very clear idea of what he wanted the band to sound like.
Kate: And he was very influenced his band Inside Out and Hardcore Roots. Over time, Rage was no longer the band he wanted it to be.
matt: right
Kate: And it had become, i think, it had become a ah big popular machine. And I've never... and After their... as it After Rage, there are other bands like Audioslave.
Kate: I've never listened to Audioslave. And... Yeah.
matt: it's it's It's not... they're I think they put out two records.
Conor Fowler: It's fine.
matt: The first record's fine.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
matt: I mean, i love Soundgarden. So Chris Cornell, I love his vocals. But it doesn't it doesn't and never has given me the same fury and and passion.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
Conor Fowler: It doesn't rock this thing either.
Kate: you
matt: Yeah, like, it's not it's not nearly as passionate without Zach at the helm. And, you know.
Kate: and
matt: And i don't I don't think that they would even, you Tom Morello and Brad Wolk and, you know Chris Cornell even, like, I think they would probably tell you the same thing.
Conor Fowler: Because I don't think you can measure up.
Kate: i'
Conor Fowler: I don't think you can measure up to Zack la Roca front man. Like, it's just impossible.
matt: No, no, it's very, very, very, very ah yeah, damn near impossible to.
Conor Fowler: It's like Lane Staley, Kurt Cobain, whatever. it just is like not happening.
Kate: That's right. A lot of people at the time said, oh, it's a return of rage without Zach. And no, it's not rage.
matt: there There is no rage without Zack.
Kate: That's not rage at all.
matt: No.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
Kate: No, no, no Zach, no rage.
matt: Nope.
Kate: And
matt: Yeah, man, this...
Kate: no, I've never listened to two prophets of rage either.
matt: Oh, yeah. I forgot that existed, and I'm goingnna gonna just keep forgetting it exists.
matt: Well, Kate, this has been super fun to just nerd out about this and learn a bunch of new things ah about a band that I love and just to hear your passion. So thank you for thank you for doing what you do.
Kate: Thank you for telling me this.
Conor Fowler: Yeah, for real. It's been i mean, it's this has been like, I don't know, a year in the making, basically, but I think it has turned out really well.
Kate: It's a pleasure.
Conor Fowler: And I think people will be happy to hear it.
matt: Yeah.
Conor Fowler: So thanks for coming.
matt: And somehow we're going to get all of us connected to a member or multiple members of the band. And maybe we can do a podcast, all of us with, with the band.
Conor Fowler: Oh, yeah. Hell yeah.
Kate: I would be.
matt: I'm throwing that one out there into the ether and hoping it, uh, it comes true. don't, I don't i't know. We're, we're just a small show talking about shit that we like.
Conor Fowler: We're just a bunch of dreamers.
matt: Yeah, we are a bunch of dreamers.
Kate: ah shes
matt: But um yeah, so tell our listeners your page and if you would like to shout any, you know, anyone else out, go for it.
Kate: and
Kate: Thank you. Thank you very much.
matt: What for our listeners? What's what's the um the handle of your page?
Kate: The aim, the aim.
Kate: Sorry.
matt: Oh, it's okay. It's okay. what What is the Instagram page?
Kate: I'm not sure I understand. Sorry.
Conor Fowler: It's at
Kate: Oh yeah, my name.
matt: Okay. Okay.
Conor Fowler: Yeah, your name.
Kate: You want to know about my name?
Conor Fowler: Yeah, we want to know about your, we wanted to, we so that people can find it when they hear the show.
Kate: Um, Oh.
Kate: Okay. and You want to know the story about my name? No?
matt: Yeah, i would love to know the story about your name.
Kate: i I opened an Instagram account a long time ago and I didn't want ah people to find me with my real name. So I started to find a first name that looks like a bit like my real name.
Conor Fowler: Mm-hmm.
Kate: and And the last name, I was trying to find something interesting.
Conor Fowler: Mm-hmm. Sure.
Kate: And at that time, with my students, we were reading during the class um a book about Jules Verne m ah around the world 80 with Phileas Fogg.
Conor Fowler: sure
Kate: Phileas Fogg is the main character.
Conor Fowler: Billy Swog, of course, of course. Yeah, there's a guy on this here with that name too.
Kate: Yes. And the book was near my laptop this day, and I decided to take Fogg.
Conor Fowler: Yeah.
Conor Fowler: Very good.
matt: That's great.
Kate: It was, uh, it was,
Conor Fowler: Well, and it's a pun too, right? Because you're obscuring your identity with fog. Ha ha.
Kate: yes. And it was about, uh, five years before, turning this page to a rich page.
Conor Fowler: Rage page. that That's when you can get some some mileage out of Rage page.
matt: That's great.
matt: Yes. And yeah, if you have any interest in Rage Against the Machine, Inside Out, Zack De La Roca's other various projects. It's a fantastic page to follow. One of my favorites, personally.
Conor Fowler: Yeah, seriously. You could go very deep.
matt: We could go very deep. But yes, Kate, one more time, thank you for coming on um and sharing your passion with us. um Everyone, thank you for listening.
matt: I am Matt Smith at Rebels Rogues.
Conor Fowler: And I'm Connor Flower at Connor Flower.
matt: And we will see you next week.
Kate: Thank you Thank you for inviting me.
matt: Anytime. Anytime.
Conor Fowler: Yeah, thank you. The pleasure is ours.
matt: Oh, also, apocalypseduds at gmail.com or Instagram at apocalypseduds.
Conor Fowler: Listen, we'll give you a fucking prize if you email us.
matt: wait
Conor Fowler: How about that?
matt: Yes. Yes. well We'll figure something out. It probably won't be.
Conor Fowler: We'll sweeten the deal for you a little.
matt: Yeah, yeah. well well We'll give you something. Just send us a fucking email. Anyway, thanks for listening.
Conor Fowler: ah That's ominous.
Conor Fowler: Bye-bye.
