TIM COMMERFORD

'Tim Robert Commerford' (born February 26, 1968 in Irvine, California), also known by his various monikers/stage names ('Y. tim K. ', 'Timmy C. ', 'Simmering T', 'Tim Bob', and 'tim.COM') is the bassist/backing vocalist for Rage Against the Machine and of the seemingly defunct Audioslave. He has also taken to playing the drums and double bass, stating that he is a huge fan of jazz.
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]

Contents

Personal life

Career

Rage Against the Machine (1991-2000; 2007-Present)

Audioslave (2001-2007)

Side Projects

Equipment Overview

Rage Against the Machine Basses & Amplification

Audioslave Basses & Amplification

Effects

Discography

Trivia

References

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 moved to Sacramento, California to live with his sister, while seeking treatment. Tim remained with his father, and has claimed he was abused by 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, where he enjoys mountain biking.

Career

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. The remaining members formed Audioslave with former Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell.
On April 29th 2007, the band reunited at the Coachella Music Festival. It is unknown whether Rage Against the Machine has reformed officially, but they have planned more live events on the "Rock The Bells" tour during Summer 2007.

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, leaving the band's future in question.

Side Projects

Tim Commerford has been listed as a contributing artist in Maynard James Keenan’s side project Puscifer. The extent of Tim’s contributions are unknown thus far.

Equipment Overview

★ '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.

★ 'Basses': Tim has used a variety of instruments throughout his career, all of which have been heavily customized. For Rage Against the Machine’s first studio recording, and ensuing tour, Tim used an Ernie Ball Music Man Stingray. For the recording of Evil Empire, Tim switched to Fender Jazz Basses. It is rumored that he used a Rickenbacker 8-String during the recording of Evil Empire as it is listed in the liner notes. By the time RATM had recorded their last album, Tim was only using Fender Jazz Basses. Tim rarely used an Ovation acoustic bass for performances with Audioslave, such as the 2004 AOL sessions.

★ 'Bass Necks': Tim is known to install Fender Precision Bass neck’s on some of his Jazz Basses. See the descriptions below. ^[1]

★ '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. His RATM era design extended from the bridge pick-up to the edge of the pickguard, with the exception of his “natural” Jazz Bass which had no pickguard. These thumbrests varied in color and were narrower than Fender made models. Tim changed his design for his Audioslave basses, making his thumbrests longer, hence a perfect fit in between the two Jazz pick-ups.

★ '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. ^[1]

★ 'Strings': Tim 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.

Rage Against the Machine Basses & Amplification

★ 'Natural Ernie Ball Music Man StingRay 2EQ': This was the first bass Tim used with Rage Against the Machine, and was used during the recording of their first album, and tour. It can be seen in the music videos for “Bombtrack”, “Bullet In The Head”, “Killing In The Name”, and “How I Could Just Kill A Man”.[3] It is also possible that Tim stripped the original paint off this bass to give it the natural finish, because there are videos from 1992 of Rage Against the Machine playing at California State were Tim Commerford is playing a 2EQ Musicman Stingray that is either black or dark blue.[4][5]

★ 'Natural Vintage Modified Fender Jazz Bass #1': This was Tim’s first Jazz Bass, which he used on tour (1993-1995), and when they recorded Evil Empire. This was Tim's only Jazz Bass without a Badass bridge.

★ 'Natural Vintage Modified Fender Jazz Bass #2': Tim's only RATM bass with a rosewood neck, and it can be seen on RATM's self titled DVD, Rage Against the Machine.

★ 'Natural 1970's Vintage Modified Fender Jazz Bass': This was Tim’s main Bass, until he smashed it at the 2000 MTV VMA’s. It had a “natural” body with the pickguard removed, a maple P-Bass neck, and a Badass bridge. It also had a set of hand wound pick-ups on it, with one white pick-up cover, which made this bass so unique. Also, in 1996, Tim put a green sticker on the front just under the bridge; but later it was removed.[6]

★ 'Black American Fender Jazz Bass': Can be seen in the music videos for “No Shelter”, and “Guerrilla Radio”. Tim also used this bass live, but not usually.

★ 'Vintage Blonde 1970's Modified Fender Jazz Bass': This was another one of Tim’s vintage basses, which was used during the recording of ''The Battle of Los Angeles''. It was his main bass during RATM's 1999-2000 tours and RATM’s final concert in 2000. (It is rumored that this bass was used to record Audioslave’s first album in 2001.) [7]

★ 'Ampeg Pro Series Amplification': 2x Ampeg SVT-2PRO heads, connected to 2x Ampeg 8x10 Cabinets. Usually draped with an upside-down American flag which was occasionally burnt during concerts, most notably at the bands 1999 Woodstock performance during 'Killing in the Name' [8]

Audioslave Basses & Amplification

★ 'Black American Fender Jazz Bass': The origins of this bass are unclear. It has a mirror pickguard and a rosewood neck. It was partially used during the tour of Audioslave's first album.

★ 'Olympic White American Fender Jazz Bass': This is one of Tim’s current basses and one of his two main basses for Audioslave. It has a white body with a tortoise shell pickguard, a maple P-Bass neck and a Gotoh bridge.
(Tim used this bass in Rage Against the Machine's reunion concert in 2007.)
[9]

★ '3-Tone Sunburst American Fender Jazz Bass': This is the other of his two main basses.
It was Tim's main bass while recording "Out of Exile", Audioslave's second album.
It is one of his more clean basses and he doesn't use much distortion while playing the most part of songs with it.
(Tim used this bass in Rage Against the Machine's reunion concert in 2007.)
[10]

★ 'Black American Fender Jazz Bass': The origins of this bass are unclear, it has a Bad Ass Bridge and a tortoise shell. The original maple J-Bass neck was swapped out for a maple Precision Bass neck with a rosewood fretboard, and later fitted with a left-handed P-Bass neck, as Tim said it pulls the B-string tighter. [11]

★ 'Custom Shop Twin-Necked Fender Jazz Bass': This bass was made by Fender especially for Tim. It appears on the booklet of Revelations. The bass is a Red twin-necked Fender Jazz, with a black pickguard, and two ('57 style P-Bass) necks. Tim has not been seen using this bass Live. [12]

★ 'Ovation Acoustic Bass': Tim used this bass for the “Sessions @ AOL” recording.

★ 'Ampeg Pro Series Amplification': 3x Ampeg SVT-2PRO heads, connected to 1x Ampeg 8x10 Cabinet, and 2x Ampeg SVT 4x10 Cabinets.

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.

★ Aphex Punch Factory (Audioslave)

★ BOSS DD-3 Digital Delay Pedal (Audioslave & RATM, heard in 'No Shelter' and 'Ashes in the Fall')[13]

★ BOSS OC-3 Octave Pedal (Audioslave & RATM) [14]

★ BOSS Super Octave (Audioslave)

★ Custom ABY Amp Selector

★ Homemade Overdrive Pedals (Audioslave & RATM)

★ 1x Jim Dunlop 105Q Bass Wah (RATM)[15]

★ 2x Jim Dunlop 105Q Bass Wahs (Audioslave, RATM reunion)

★ Marshall Guv'nor Distortion Pedal (RATM, only on first album)[16]

★ Sadowsky Outboard Pre-Amp/D.I. (Audioslave, used in the recording of Out of Exile)

★ MXR Flanger Pedal (Rage Against the Machine)[17]

Discography

'Studio albums:'

★ '1. ''Rage Against the Machine''' (November 3, 1992)

★ '2. ''Evil Empire''' (April 16, 1996)

★ '3. ''The Battle of Los Angeles''' (November 2, 1999)

★ '4. ''Renegades''' (December 5, 2000)

★ '''1. Audioslave''' (November 19, 2002) Epic

★ '''2. Out of Exile''' (May 24, 2005) Interscope

★ '''3. Revelations''' (September 5, 2006) Epic

Trivia

★ Has cited the Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Brothers Johnson as influences in the early 90’s, he was also a huge fan of Cypress Hill and N.W.A.

★ His first son, Xavier, appeared with him in the 2003 Audioslave video, "Like A Stone".

★ Phoenix based rapper, "T-Money" also uses his stage name.

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