TOM MORELLO Talks THE NIGHTWATCHMAN In New Interview

Neil Chrisley of Gibson.com conducted an interview with RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE guitarist Tom Morello. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Gibson.com: Is it true that a talent show at a homeless shelter helped inspire THE NIGHTWATCHMAN project?

Morello: Yes. That was very impactful in the sense of pushing me out of the nest, and making me want to do more than just strum around the fireplace at home. It was a Thanksgiving event at a teen homeless shelter called Covenant House, in Hollywood. Each year they have a talent show and a dinner, and I would go there and emcee. There was a 19-year-old kid there who was really down and out, with a troubled past and a potentially troubled future. He didn't have a great voice, but he stepped up to the mic and sang as if the soul of everyone in the room was at stake. He obviously just thought, I've got some ideas in my head, and I can put three or four chords together. What he was doing felt important in a way that a lot of music on the radio doesn't. I thought, "Man, I really want to get involved in something like that." It made me want to go out and do this in front of people.

Gibson.com: Each NIGHTWATCHMAN album has featured more full-band arrangements than the previous album. How did that play out?

Morello: That's true. The first album, "One Man Revolution", is very stark, and very much a "three chords and truth" sort of thing. With "The Fabled City", we moved toward more fleshed out instrumentation. Both those albums were produced by Brendan O'Brien, and he was the principal backup musician on most of "The Fabled City". The short answer is, for the tour for "The Fabled City" I brought a full band with me the FREEDOM FIGHTER ORCHESTRA. It's a great band a group of talented friends who all share a great chemistry. So, for the "Union Town" EP and for "World Wide Rebel Songs", I wanted to bring that band into the studio. I was really happy with the results. There's a lot of electric guitar playing on "World Wide Rebel Songs", and some electric guitar solos, but it keeps intact the Americana vibe of the first two albums. There's just a lot more "Tom Morello" there, to go with THE NIGHTWATCHMAN.

Gibson.com: Both RAGE and THE NIGHTWATCHMAN are fierce advocates for social and political change. RAGE does that loudly, and THE NIGHTWATCHMAN does it quietly, for the most part. Which inspires more action among listeners?

Morello: The message of RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINEZack's lyrics is delivered in a powerful and impactful way. The spoonful of sugar that makes that medicine go down is the thundering, undeniable rock music and funk music that RAGE delivers. That's created rebels around the globe, over the course of the last 20 years. With THE NIGHTWATCHMAN stuff, it's very different. I've discovered that sometimes a whisper can be just as effective as a scream. Certainly the commercial impact of RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE far outstrips the solo stuff, but to me the latter is no less important.

Read the entire interview from Gibson.com.