Rage Against The Machine bassist Tim Commerford has revealed he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
The 54-year-old musician told Spin magazine he had his prostate removed two months before the punk-rock band began their reunion tour in spring.
Only his bandmates and a small circle of friends were aware of his diagnosis.
He said: “Two months before the tour, I had surgery and my doctors said I wasn’t going to be ready. That was brutal.
“I would be on stage looking at my amp in tears. Then you just kind of turn around and suck it up.”
Commerford decided to make his diagnosis public after seeing Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor miss the band’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame amid his own treatment for prostate cancer.
He added: “My life is sort of like that. There are a lot of people who have it.
“There are a lot of people who are like, ‘Where do you go?’ You can’t talk to a therapist. You can only really talk to someone who’s going through it.”
Commerford said his cancer was found after his prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test results rose over 18 months until they reached a level which made it impossible for him to get life insurance.
However, he said he had recently received a six-month test which “came back at zero”.
In October, Rage Against The Machine cancelled their North American tour after frontman Zack de la Rocha injured his leg at a show.
“Because of Zack’s injury, we had planned these little video interstitials that came in between blocks of songs,” he said.
“We were meant to go on stage, play some songs, go off stage, and on to the interstitials for a few minutes. It was seamless.
“Then he got hurt and we couldn’t leave the stage. So during the interstitials, we’re just sitting there. That was surreal.
“I would sometimes sit down and try to not think about certain things. It was weird. I kept it to myself throughout the touring we did and it was brutal.”
The Los Angeles rap and metal outfit became infamous in the UK for their 2009 Christmas number one campaign for Killing In The Name.
