RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE's TIM COMMERFORD Bleeds For His Art

With new band FUTURE USER, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE‘s Tim Commerford is giving new meaning to the term “bleeding for your art.”

To celebrate Record Store Day (which takes place on April 18), FUTURE USER is releasing a limited-edition/hand-numbered 12-inch version of debut album “#SteroidsOrHeroin” pressed on 180-gram blood red-colored vinyl…using Commerford‘s real blood (there will also be a limited edition of clear vinyl versions). This special edition will be available at your local retailer and features new album art created for Record Store Day. Go to RecordStoreDay.com for more info.

This isn’t the first time Commerford has sacrificed himself for the band (which he co-founded with Jordan Tarlow). In FUTURE USER‘s recently released “Mountain Lion” video, he injected himself with steroids and then set himself on fire. The clip, which premiered on Rolling Stone, features a cameo by Lance Armstrong and has amassed more than a quarter-million views in just a few short weeks.

Of course, when Commerford isn’t torturing himself, he’s inflicting pain on others, as he did in FUTURE USER‘s debut video “Clockwork”, a polarizing clip about police militarization in which he waterboarded tennis great John McEnroe.

“Mountain Lion” is FUTURE USER‘s fourth video and the first to reveal Commerford as the band’s frontman/bassist. Previous videos featured Commerford as a mask-wielding character named S.W.I.M., which stands for Someone Who Isn’t Me, an Internet acronym often used in online forums.

Other FUTURE USER songs include “Supernatural”, about the NSA/mass surveillance and “Medication Nation”, about the controversy surrounding genetically modified foods. “Supernatural” featured a cameo by comic book legend Stan Lee, who typically only appears in Marvel film blockbusters.

Commerford and Tarlow call the band’s sound prog-tronic, a mix of early prog rock and modern electronics. Commerford, who handles vocals and bass on the album and Tarlow, who does keys and programming, produced the album themselves. They were joined by drummer John Knox and Commerford enlisted a special guest to play guitar: Grammy-winning producer Brendan O’Brien (PEARL JAM, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE). O’Brien plays guitar on every song on the album, but is not officially in the band. The album was mixed by Tom Syrowski (PEARL JAM, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, AC/DC).