Here are a couple of excerpts from ArtistDirect.com‘s new interview with Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello.  He discussed the importance of the early 90′s LA rock music scene that consisted of Tool, Rage Against The Machine, Jane’s Addiction, and others.

“Certainly, Tool and Rage Against The Machine were helpful in each other’s formations. First of all, we were good friends. Sometimes, we were roommates and whatnot. There was a healthy competitive edge in the first shows. We played a lot of club shows. Some of the footage on the DVD is us opening for Tool. We’d see the latest batch of songs they’d written, and they would see the latest batch of songs we’d written. Then, we’d play a show together where we’d want to be better than we were the last time. Sometimes, we’d get the better of them. Sometimes, they’d get the better of us. It really helped to sharpen our rock knives on the flint of each other’s bands [Laughs].”

“There wasn’t one scene. There were two competitive scenes. There was the Sunset Strip. It was the end of the hair band scene, but it was still going strong. There was this pay-to-play scene in those clubs. On the Eastern side of town—like Crescent Heights and east, there was the scene that Jane’s Addiction, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Fishbone had begun. There was a second wave of bands with Tool and Rage Against the Machine. We didn’t have to pay money to play. You could develop an audience and maybe make gas money to make it to rehearsal the next day. We used to go out every night and check out every band. Every band would come to our shows. It was a mutually supportive scene. I think Rage Against The Machine and Tool were the last couple of bands that made it out of there.”