“What’s the state of the guitar?” Tom Morello asks. “How is it? Do people still play?” He’s asking because his 13-year-old son Roman has recently been ripping it up, as evidenced by Soldier in the Army of Love, a song they wrote together.
When told by Guitar World that the guitar is alive and flourishing, he replies: “I’m doing everything I can. Roman will be, too. Somebody's gotta break through. Perhaps this Post Malone song… my thought was it could be like the Beat It of pop.”
But the song he’s talking about – and leads him to compare Malone to his late Audioslave bandmate Chris Cornell – remains unreleased. “If you’ve got Post’s cell number, tell them to finish the song because it's an absolute banger!” Morello says. “People will lose their minds!”
The Rage Against the Machine co-founder has had a busy 2024. He’s made appearances on stage with everyone from Jane’s Addiction to Buddy Guy. “If you look at my history of collaboration, there’s crazy diversity,” he says. “From Pete Seeger to Kirk Hammett to Chuck D…
“I’ve made 22 records now, and I’m in the process of making what will be my first real solo rock record. While there will be some collaborations on it, it’s not going to be dependent on one person. But one person I can guarantee will be on it is Roman Morello.”
While he often changes genres, he’s long since stopped changing his rig, which he perfected out of frustration in 1988. “I was having so much anxiety about trying to get a great sound that I wasn’t writing songs or doing anything with the sound I had,” he recalls.
“So I made markings on my amp for the sound and just stopped thinking about it. Those are the same markings on that amp, for the same guitar. They’re the same markings for every Rage record, every Audioslave record, every Prophets of Rage record and every live show I’ve ever played.
“There's a lesson to be drawn from that: sometimes chasing tone or chasing stuff through gear may not be where your creativity can blossom to its highest degree.”
You’ve said your son Roman can shred circles around you. When did you realize he was so talented?
“During the pandemic, while everybody else was learning to make sourdough bread, he was in a room practicing for hours and hours a day. When it began, my kids were not all interested in playing music. But I said to my son – who likes Led Zeppelin – ‘If you can take a couple of minutes away from Zoom school, or playing Fortnite, I’ll teach you the first three notes of Stairway to Heaven.’”
“He thought he could probably spare five minutes of his day, so I taught him the first three notes, and he did pretty well. The next day I said, ‘How about the next three notes?’ He said, ‘Okay, sure.’ On the third day he asked me if he could continue on the journey, and never got off it. Soon we were learning the guitar solo.
“I took guitar lessons when I was 13, and that convinced me to never play an instrument and to put the guitar down for four years! I learned that the genesis of someone playing the guitar is a very, very fragile time.
“So I wanted to make it totally positive. I knew he liked this song, and we were going to make it bite-sized, so it was fun. It’s an instant accomplishment. He just got going with it, and it’s been so great to watch that journey. Pretty soon he was learning Randy Rhoads solos on his own, and then we started writing together.”
How big of an influence has your style been on Roman’s?
“My kids never really knew what I did for a living. Honestly, they’d never heard of Rage Against the Machine. I never played Rage for them, and I never played Audioslave for them, ever. It wasn’t really until 2022, when we began rehearsing for the Rage tour, that they really knew what Dad did for a living. I was just the guy who drove them to all their Little League games!
“To be exposed to that power and those riffs at a time when you’re learning guitar was important. He’s got that Morellian DNA to begin with – but being exposed to five nights in a row at Madison Square Garden was pretty powerful.”
I sent the movie producers about 25 ideas that were just sitting on my phone, and the one they picked was one of Roman’s!
What’s it been like writing with him?
“He began writing riffs kind of in his dad’s vein, and some of them were pretty good. Over time I would hear something coming out of his room, and I’m like, ‘Can I borrow that?’ That’s how we wrote Soldier in the Army of Love. Those riffs are his and I’m the lyricist; that’s my contribution to the song. The rest of it is him, his riffs and his shredding.
“He’s in sort of a sweet spot, where there are great riffs that are low-hanging fruit. So I've been harvesting that fruit for future collaborations. And more recently he wrote the music for the end title of the Venom movie. I sent them about 25 ideas that were just sitting on my phone, and the one they picked was one of Roman’s!”
There’s talk of an unreleased track you did with Post Malone, who you recently compared to Chris Cornell. That’s heavy praise.
“His process was very similar to Chris’ in that, whatever music I threw at him, he would mumble melodies that were pretty damn compelling right off the bat. There was a natural inclination to come up with great melodies; they have that in common.”
Speaking of Chris, what’s the status of the unreleased Audioslave recordings?
“There’s no good reason why they’re not out. Every time this comes up, I get messages from people getting on me! But yeah, there are great songs there. It had to do with band dynamics more than anything else. There’s some great Chris Cornell performances, and great Audioslave songs that are waiting to be unleashed.
“We’ll have to get it together and figure it out. There's nothing preventing those songs from coming out other than us getting our act together and doing it.”
Are there any Rage Against the Machine songs in the vault?
“No, there’s not.”
Over the summer you jammed with Jane’s Addiction and swapped guitars with Dave Navarro. What was that like?
“I’ve been a fan of Jane’s Addiction since they were a club band in Los Angeles, and I’m a huge fan of Dave’s playing in that band. I’ve been on stage with them a number of times. I love the fact that my favorite Jane’s memories are when they're set up in a rehearsal room backstage, where Stephen Perkins and Navarro play through a heavy metal catalog.
“They’re like a jukebox of Maiden, Ozzy, Dio; they know it all and can play it all. Watching them do that was one of my favorite things. But Dave is great – I know we’re both getting up there and we’re just going to shred our butts off together. It’s an honor to rock Mountain Song with those guys any time I have the chance.”
Dave told GW a story about your band Lock Up coming on stage and pretending to be Jane’s way back in the day. What are your memories of that?
“Yeah! Perry Farrell was friends with the singer in my band Lock Up. It was a big New Year’s Eve homecoming show. I think it was ’87 turning into ’88, and the place was packed. Perry asked us to impersonate them and play. I had a Dave Navarro wig, and the singer had these fake braids! I remember coming on, and people were losing it.
“It was the first time I really felt what it was like on stage when someone doesn’t love a band, but the people believe in a band. And I was an imposter out there. I was fake Dave Navarro! We played the song, the lights went out and Jane’s came on and finished it. I think the audience was just bewildered by it, but it was an extremely memorable New Year’s Eve.”
You hopped on stage with Buddy Guy last year. How do you rate your blues chops?
“Buddy Guy is a Chicago staple of history and culture. I was opening up for him in Brazil. His righthand man came over before the show and said, ‘Buddy would like you to join him on stage for a song.’ I said, ‘I would be honored to do so.’
“At 80-something years old, he still has it. He’s a great player, and he has sexual magnetism that is undiminished from his youth – like, ladies are going crazy, you know? But I play a lot of different styles that don’t necessarily litter my records, and it was fun to get up there. I did my best to stay in my box.”
Martyn LeNoble recently offered his memories of you and him working with Layne Staley on The Faculty soundtrack. What are your recollections of making that track?
“That was Layne’s last recording. We were never in the same room, though he recorded his parts up in Seattle. Layne was someone I considered a really good friend, and my memories are ones I cherish. He was so funny; he had such a great sense of humor, he was so smart, and he had this great, self-effacing sense of humor. We would argue laughingly for hours about which one of us was more metal.
I am still crafting and harvesting new and exciting music from the gear I’ve been using since 1988, and some of it from before
“My memory of that was that we put together the track for this thing, and Layne was not in a great place. It was sort of hard to get the vocals finished. I will say that I think he did a great job; it’s his swan song as a recording artist.”
Fender has talked about wanting to produce more replicas of your guitars. Could that include a replica of Arm the Homeless?
“The only time I’ve done an endorsement is when it’s really my thing, like the Soul Power one. They promised me they would make it exactly like the guitar – and they did. It’s crazy just how identical it is to that guitar that played on all the Audioslave records. I don’t have a vast collection of notable guitars, but I’m open to the idea.”
Why don’t you like endorsements?
“I did a distortion pedal [MXR Power 50], and that sounds exactly like the sound of my amp. The thing I don’t like about endorsements is that when I saw them as a kid, my favorite players would be selling a new guitar that was not the brand of the guitar that they played on the albums that I liked. It just didn’t feel right to me.
“So when it’s my song, my book, my movie; when it’s my pedal, when it’s my guitar, I’m happy to endorse it to the moon – but that’s all. Everybody’s got to make up their own mind about what’s for sale and what’s not. Convincing people to buy a product that’s not the one they like on your work always felt a little funny to me.
“Having said that, I will proudly proclaim my son Roman just became a Marshall endorsee. And I stand behind his decision!”
There’s a lot of new gear out there. The tendency is to want all of it. Is there anything you’re especially jazzed about?
“I don’t have that problem – you say we want to try all of it; frankly, I want to try none of it! I am still crafting and harvesting new and exciting music from the gear I’ve been using since 1988, and some of it from before. If somebody’s got some awesome new pedal or whatever, send it my way and I’ll plug it in; but I’m not looking for new stuff.”
Why haven’t you strayed from that rig?
“I made a personal, artistic decision long ago. I had a Marshall half-stack that got stolen, and I had a recording session the next day. I had to buy something and they had a solid-state head or a tube head. I bought the tube head, which is a 50-watt Marshall 2205 channel switching head.
“They had one 4x12 cabinet, which was a Peavey. That was my gear. And I had a guitar made by a custom maker that I hated everything about. I changed everything except the block of wood, and I couldn't stand my sound. I was trying for a sound in my head that I was never going to get.
“I was so frustrated. I was buying gear, different guitar necks, different pickups. I spent one day – which was a life-changing day – in a rehearsal room on the Eastside of LA, where I worked on my sound for about two-and-a-half hours. I finally gave up. I was like, ‘I’m never gonna love the sound that I get out of this guitar and this amp. I’m gonna stop thinking about it. This is going to be my sound.’”
If you’re a hard rock guitar player, you don’t care about the Hall of Fame because none of your favorite bands are in there
Steve Stevens recently reminded GW that you had a big hand in getting Randy Rhoads inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And you’ve been championing Iron Maiden of late. What are your feelings about the Rock Hall?
“A lot of great bands have gotten into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame more recently, in part because they’ve had stronger advocates in the room. I’m one of those advocates. I have to give credit to the Hall of Fame – they put me in the room because I complained so damn much!
“When I toured with Bruce Springsteen, at every hotel bar I’d make a case to his manager, John Landau, who’s on the nominating committee for the Hall of Fame. My argument was: if you’re a kid playing little league baseball, your dream is that you might one day end up in Cooperstown, in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
“But if you’re a hard rock guitar player, you don’t care about the Hall of Fame because none of your favorite bands are in there. To John’s credit, he put me in the room and said, ‘Make your case.’ I did for Kiss, Rush, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Judas Priest and Randy Rhoads.
“It really opened the door and people’s minds and hearts to the idea that it shouldn’t be such a precious curated thing, and that an entire genre of music was been overlooked. But I will say that one thing that people get wrong is that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame should be just for rock ’n’ roll bands.
“That’s not what it’s for. Public Enemy is more rock ’n’ roll than 95 percent of all the hair metal bands that ever picked up an instrument, you know? It’s music that has spirit to it, like a youth spirit… I think rock ’n’ roll should have a very, very broad sense. I think there’s room for a lot of different genres.”
So how are you going to get Maiden in?
“I have a hit list! The last one on my extended Mount Rushmore hit list is Iron Maiden. It’s strategic. This year I’m all in on Maiden. I know they don’t care – I don’t care that they don’t care because I think it’s the place where they belong.”
You’ve just played two shows to celebrate Wayne Kramer. What does his music mean to you?
“First of all, MC5 was punk rock before there was a name for it. They were the cornerstone – they built the scaffold on which punk rock exists. Without them, there is no Rage Against the Machine, no System of a Down, no Clash, Sex Pistols, Ramones; none of that.
“Their fearlessness, both musically and politically, was hugely inspirational to me. Their live recording of Kick Out the Jams might be the greatest moment of rock ’n’ roll that's ever been captured. It was the first time anybody cussed on a record and the first time anybody had the audacity to say that human liberation can be found in what we’re doing in this room tonight.
“That’s why I think they got into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year – though sadly it’s after all the members had passed away. But Wayne was a great friend of mine; he was one of the best humans I ever knew. He went from selling drugs, being in prison, and being a real rascal to someone who saved hundreds of people’s lives.
“He created this organization called Jail Guitar Doors. The shows sold out in two minutes, so I’m glad to raise money for a great organization in honor of Wayne.”
- Tom Morello’s new album is due out in 2025.
