Tim Commerford

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Tim Commerford
Tim Commerford on stage playing with Audioslave.
Tim Commerford on stage playing with Audioslave.
Background information
Birth name Timothy Robert Commerford
Also known as Timmy C
Y.tim.K.
Tim Bob
TIM.COM
Born February 26, 1968 (1968-02-26) (age 40)
Irvine, California, U.S.
Genre(s) Alternative rock
Rapcore
Alternative metal
Funk metal
Hard rock
Funkcore
Post-grunge
Occupation(s) Musician, Songwriter
Instrument(s) Bass, Backing vocals
Years active 1990 - Present
Label(s) Interscope, Epic
Associated acts Rage Against the Machine
Audioslave
Puscifer
Website ratm.com

Tim Robert Commerford (born February 26, 1968 in Irvine, California), also known by his various monikers/stage names (Timmy C., Y. tim K., Simmering T, Tim Bob, and tim.com) is the bassist/backing vocalist for American rock bands Rage Against The Machine and for now-defunct Audioslave.

Contents

[edit] Personal life

Tim was born the youngest of five children in his middle class California family. His father was an aerospace engineer, and worked on the Space Shuttle and his mother was a teacher/mathematician. When Tim was in fifth grade, he met Zack de la Rocha, when he showed him how to steal food from the school's cafeteria. Around this time, his mother was diagnosed with cancer. Shortly thereafter Tim's father divorced and remarried, his mother was forced to move to Sacramento, California to live with her sister, while seeking treatment. Tim remained with his father, who Tim claims abused him. Around this time (age 15) Zack introduced Tim to bass, and Tim soon found an outlet in music, and poetry. Tim’s mother died of brain cancer in 1988.

In 1993 Tim was introduced to mountain biking by his future father-in-law Jimbo Insko. Tim has since become an obsessive mountain biker, even going so far as to thank all of his bikes in the liner notes for The Battle of Los Angeles.

In 2001 Tim married his longtime girlfriend Aleece Dimas, who is an AIDS activist and medical professional. Tim and Aleece have had two sons together, Xavier and Quentin, the family lives in Malibu, California, which is suited for mountain biking.

Tim is known for his numerous tattoos. His first tattoo was a solid black band around his left arm to remember his mother by. He soon had half of a face tattooed on his back, and various other designs on his arms.[1] In 1993 he began work on an intricate design on his left leg. By 1996 this tattoo evolved into a Maori warrior tattoo that now covers over 65% of his body (covering his arms, left leg, chest, back, and two swirls on his posterior).[2]

Tim is also a vegan.

[edit] Career

[edit] Rage Against The Machine (1991-2000; 2007-Present)

In 1991, guitarist Tom Morello quit his band Lock Up, in the hopes of forming a new outfit. He began to frequent local clubs, and viewed Zack de la Rocha rapping. He soon called Brad Wilk, who had auditioned for Lock Up. Zack de la Rocha convinced his longtime friend Tim to play bass. After frequenting the L.A. club circuit, Rage Against the Machine signed a record deal with Epic Records in 1992. That same year, RATM released their self titled debut. They achieved a phenomenal amount of mainstream success and released three more studio albums.

In late 2000, after Tim’s stunt at the VMA’s, the disgruntled de la Rocha quit the band. On September 13th, 2000, Rage Against the Machine performed their last concert at the Grand Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. The remaining members formed Audioslave with former Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell.

On April 29th 2007, the band reunited at the Coachella Music Festival. This was originally thought of as a one-off show, which later turned out to be untrue. The band later played four shows in the Hip Hop festival Rock the Bells with the Wu Tang Clan, Public Enemy and Cypress Hill, and later an additional night in New York City after the first night sold out in twenty minutes. Rage also played their first (non-festival) concert in 7 years at the Alpine Valley Music Theater in East Troy, Wisconsin, supported by Queens of the Stone Age in August 2007. The band played co-headlining spots at New Orleans' Voodoo Music Experience in late October and the Vegoose Festival in the Las Vegas metropolitan area.

On January 18th 2008, the band played their first show outside of the U.S. since their reunion in Auckland, New Zealand as part of the Big Day Out festival series. The band also played 8 shows in Australia including 2 headlining shows in Melbourne and Sydney. The band continued to Japan to play 3 sold out shows in Osaka and Tokyo.

[edit] Audioslave (2001-2007)

After Zack de la Rocha left Rage Against the Machine, music producer Rick Rubin suggested the three remaining members of Rage get together with former Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell, and "see what happens."

By May 2001, they had began to work in the studio, writing their first song “Light My Way.” By April of 2002, the newly formed band had split due to “outside” pressures, mainly from management companies. They soon got back together though, and on November 19, 2002 they released their eponymous debut, which would attain triple platinum status. Audioslave attained a large amount of success, and released another two studio albums. On May 5, 2005 Tim & Audioslave played a free concert in front of 65,000 Cuban fans, becoming the first American rock band to play a concert within Cuba.

On February 15, 2007, Chris Cornell officially announced his departure from Audioslave, disbanding the band.

[edit] Side Projects

Tim Commerford and drummer Brad Wilk contributed in Maynard James Keenan's side project Puscifer and his album "V" Is for Vagina on the track "Momma Sed."

[edit] Equipment Overview

Tim Commerford performing with Rage Against the Machine at Coachella 2007.
Tim Commerford performing with Rage Against the Machine at Coachella 2007.
  • Amplifiers and Effects: Tim has used a wide variety of effects and amplifier setups throughout his career. Tim began to bi-amp for the recording of Evil Empire, and has since moved to tri-amping in Audioslave onwards. He primarily uses Ampeg speaker cabinets and amplifiers and often drapes an inverted American flag over the setup. He is known to tinker with things, even going as far as to build some of his own effects.
  • Bass Tuning: Tim has used different string tunings over the years. Including E-A-D-G (standard), D-A-D-G (Drop-D), [With the use of Hipshot D-Tuners], and B-E-A-D (Five string bass tuning, minus the G-String.)
  • Bridges: During the RATM era, Tim exclusively used Leo Quan Badass II Bridges. With Audioslave, Tim uses both Leo Quan Badass II, and Gotoh bridges.
  • D-Tuners: Tim uses Hipshot D-Tuners on some of his basses. (D-Tuners allow you to simply flip a switch to tune down the E-string of a bass a D-tuning, then back up when the switch is reversed.)
  • Thumbrests: All of Tim’s basses have a thumbrest installed on them, all of which are presumably homemade.
  • Pick-Ups: Around the time Tim had switched to Fender Bass, he bought a pair of vintage pick-ups, took them apart, and re-wound them by hand. He used this specific pair of pick-ups in his 70’s Natural Jazz Bass. During this time, he is known to have hand-picked each pair of pick-ups for each of his basses. After he smashed that bass, he salvaged the pick-ups, and the Fender Custom Shop made several copies of these pick-ups, he now uses them as backups in his current bass lineup. [2]
  • Strings: Commerford is an endorser for Ernie Ball Slinky Strings.
  • Strap Locks: Commerford does not use conventional strap locks, but rather continues to use the rubber tops of Grolsch beer bottles as he did in his youth, claming they are more reliable than commercial ones.

[edit] Rage Against The Machine Basses & Amplification (1991-2000)

  • Ampeg Pro Series Amplification: 2x Ampeg SVT-2PRO heads, connected to 2x Ampeg 8x10 Cabinets. Cabinets & Heads are mounted in road cases that have graffiti art work pressumely done by Commerford himself. Usually draped with an upside-down American flag which was occasionally burnt during concerts, most notably at the band's 1999 Woodstock performance during "Killing in the Name." [6]

[edit] Audioslave Basses & Amplification (2002-2006)

  • Ampeg Pro Series Amplification: 3x Ampeg SVT-2PRO heads [13], connected to 1x Ampeg 8x10 Cabinet, and 2x Ampeg SVT 4x10 Cabinets. [14]
  • In 2003 he switched amplifiers': Ampeg SVT-2PRO head for dirty distortion, Ashdown Engineering ABM 500RC EVO head for overdrive and Mesa M-Pulse 600 for clean tone [3]

[edit] Rage Against The Machine Basses & Amplification (2008)

  • Lakland Black Joe Osborn Signature (Dual Access Bridge, used on the majority of songs) [15], [16]
  • Lakland 3-Tone Sunburst Joe Osborn Signature (Dual Access Bridge, Rosewood neck) [17]
  • Lakland 3-Tone Sunburst Joe Osborn Signature (Dual Access Bridge, Maple neck) [18]
  • Lakland Sonic Blue Joe Osborn Signature (Dual Access Bridge, Maple neck, used on D-tuned songs)
  • Ampeg Pro Series Amplification: 2x Ampeg SVT-2PRO heads, connected to 2x Ampeg 8x10 Cabinets. Cabinets & Heads are mounted in heavy duty road cases that have graffiti art work pressumely done by Commerford himself. [19]

[edit] Effects

Tim is very secretive of his tone, even going so far as to put effects on his pedalboard that he doesn’t even use, making his own gear, and even removing the labels off of some of his effects. Here are some effects which he has used during his career.

Pedalboard: [20] & [21]

  • Aphex Punch Factory (Audioslave) [22]
  • BOSS DD-3 Digital Delay Pedal (Audioslave & RATM, heard in 'No Shelter' & 'Ashes in the Fall') [23]
  • BOSS OC-3 Octave Pedal (Audioslave & RATM) [24]
  • Custom ABY Amp Selector
  • Homemade Overdrive Pedals (Audioslave & RATM)
  • Jim Dunlop 105Q Bass Wah (1x with RATM & 2x with Audioslave) [25]
  • Marshall Guv'nor Distortion Pedal (RATM, 1991-1998) [26]
  • MXR Flanger Pedal (RATM) [27]

[edit] Discography

Studio albums:

[edit] References

  1. ^ ”Tim Commerford: Audioslave’s bassist talks Fender, touring, Rage, Rush and the Police …” by Fender News http://www.fender.com/news/index.php?display_article=75
  2. ^ ”Tim Commerford: Audioslave’s bassist talks Fender, touring, Rage, Rush and the Police …” by Fender News http://www.fender.com/news/index.php?display_article=75
  3. ^ Tim Commerford With Audioslave
v • d • e
Audioslave
Chris Cornell · Tom Morello · Tim Commerford · Brad Wilk
Albums
Demos
DVDs
Singles
Related articles
v • d • e
Rage Against the Machine
Tim Commerford · Zack de la Rocha · Tom Morello · Brad Wilk
Demo
Studio albums
Live releases
Singles
1993: "Killing in the Name" · "Bombtrack" · "Bullet in the Head"  · 1994: "Freedom" · "Year of tha Boomerang"  · 1996: "Bulls on Parade" · "People of the Sun" · "Down Rodeo" · "Tire Me"  · 1997: "Vietnow"  · 1998: "The Ghost of Tom Joad" · "No Shelter"  · 1999: "Guerrilla Radio"  · 2000: "Sleep Now in the Fire" · "Testify" · "Calm Like a Bomb"  · 2001: "Renegades of Funk" · "How I Could Just Kill a Man"
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