Rage Against the Machine’s Tim Commerford Offers Update Surrounding His Cancer Battle

Growing up in the 1960s, Tim Commerford found himself listening to singers and musicians like Gene Simmons and Sid Vicious. As he grew older, the musician turned his love for hard rock into a career as he toured with Rage Against The Machine, Audioslave, and Prophets of Rage. He even landed on the list of 20 Underrated Bass Guitarists by Paste. While continuing to explore a career in hard rock, Commerford revealed he suffered from prostate cancer. With a few years passing since sharing the announcement, Commerford offered an update about his cancer battle. 

While speaking with The Sound Lab, Commerford, who is currently with the group 7D7D, didn’t seem to let his cancer dictate his life. He insisted, “I have cancer and I’m no longer crying about it. That’s a huge thing for me. And to couple that with like being in a band and being proud of it and challenging myself, I feel like my life is full right now and I like it.” 

With Commerford promising that he was “Feeling good”, he added, “I mean, I have it. It’s one of those things. And people will sometimes ask, ‘Is it gone?’ And it’s, like, cancer — I don’t care if you have skin cancer or prostate cancer or lung cancer, and let’s say you get treatment and it goes into remission, you’re not ever going to be saying, ‘Cool, it’s gone. It’s gone. I’m not gonna get it.’ You’re always gonna have it. It’s a dark passenger that you carry with you and you worry about and you have to get checkups and these sort of things.”

[RELATED: Tim Commerford Left Confused and in the Dark Over Rage Against the Machine’s Future]

Tim Commerford Declares “I Am Cancer Man”

Although able to discuss his cancer, Commerford explained how there was a time it was too difficult to mention. “There was about a two-year period where — I wouldn’t have been able to do this interview a few years ago, because I would have just gotten too emotional. You would ask me about cancer and I would have started crying and that was the hardest thing. That was harder than any of the treatment or anything.”

While finding peace and continuing to produce music, Commerford stayed positive about the future. He even told Rolling Stone, “I call myself Cancer Man. I’m in the best shape of my life. The cancer will never be gone though. It’s always going to be there.”

(Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for KROQ)