An Interview with Tom Morello

Tom Morello is asked in almost every interview when or if Rage Against the Machine will ever tour/record/write new music. For years the band’s guitarist has answered: there are no plans at this time.

But Morello has become a prolific songwriter/solo artist in his own right as folk-acoustic act The Nightwatchman, has worn various hats as producer, songwriter and collaborator, and even created a comic book, Orchid—a delicate name for the series’ tough female heroine. Earlier this year, Bruce Springsteen hired Morello as an E Street Band fill-in for temporarily absent Steven Van Zandt. And he’s working on a rock solo record that he promises will include a lot of screaming guitar solos.

His music comprises more than just big riffs, however. Morello frequently performs at protests or benefits in support of numerous social and political causes, and his brief Twitter (@tmorello) tag line captures him succinctly: “Feed the poor. Fight the power. Rock the f*ck out.”   

—Robin Grearson

I. TWITTER FEEDS

BLVR: Do you feel that music should be free?

TM: I find it ironic that now water is more expensive than music. Here’s the way I look at it. On the one hand, record companies can’t go crying when they’ve gouged consumers for decades, charging exorbitant prices for CDs that cost 29 cents to make. On the other hand, when music is free, musicians starve.

 I feel fortunate to have made records during an era where people actually bought music. But I have friends in struggling up-and-coming bands now that will certainly never be able to pay the rent, because music has been devalued.

BLVR: You always seem confident in trying new directions. Have you always been a fearless person?

TM: Whenever I set out in a new direction, whether it’s with a new band or being a frontman or writing a comic book or entering into movie scoring or anything like that, I wouldn’t say that I do it fearlessly, but I would say that I do it all the same. I think that new artistic challenges help you grow both as a person, as an artist, and then they feed back into your other work, and tend to magnify it.

BLVR: Would you say that comes from nurture or that anyone can develop that?  It was a theme in Orchid, that the main character, Orchid, doesn’t know what she’s capable of.

TM: That is one part of the blessing of my particular upbringing was, you know, I was raised confident. My mom’s very confident, and even though I was in a town where I did experience racism in school, I...