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Fuzz touring w/The Nightwatchman: RATM Fuzz page coming soon
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Fuzz's own Abigail Picache (Fuzz username "Abigail") is currently touring with the Nightwatchman throughout the US this summer to help Tom sell some t-shirts and to help spread the word about Fuzz. Here's a bit of press to whet your appetite for all things Tom Morello. Check out The Nightwatchman Fuzz "News" tab on The Nightwatchman page for all the latest articles from around the world. Look for the Fuzz Rage Against the Machine page coming soon...
Tom Morello: The Nightwatchman
By Kevin C. Johnson
POST-DISPATCH POP MUSIC CRITIC
06/07/2007
Tom Morello
More than four years ago, while noted rock guitarist Tom Morello was knee-deep in the success that was the first Audioslave album, he began taking time off to do his own thing.
For the Rage Against the Machine veteran, that meant scouring newspapers for coffeehouses, hip-hop clubs and anywhere that open-microphone events were happening. He'd show up with his guitar and, billed as the Nightwatchman, perform folk-oriented, politically charged songs.
"Occasionally, people would know it was me," Morello said last week during a tour stop in Berlin. "Every once in a while, someone would go, 'Isn't that Tom Morello?'"
Now, with Audioslave looking done, he's out supporting his Nightwatchman CD, "One Man Revolution" — 13 songs of "bitterness and revenge." Advertisement
"This is something I've always felt compelled to do, but it was quite a challenge," Morello says. "I was always very comfortable playing loud rock guitar in front of 20,000 people, but then I was terrified of playing in front of only 20 people. It was a real leap forward for me."
Morello, who has a political-science degree from Harvard, wanted to do more educating than he'd ever be able to do through Audioslave or his "Axis of Justice" radio show and organization. So he set out to "make music with a purpose and mission in mind."
"It felt imperative for me to balance my arena rocking with Audioslave by playing these songs that are a lot heavier than the rock I was involved in," he says. "I've long been a fan of Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, and Woody Guthrie, and I wanted to write songs in that genre. So I began doing it out of personal necessity, and it grew from there."
He opened for acts such as Billy Bragg and Steve Earle, and found himself getting tear-gassed and arrested along the way for his outspokenness.
"One Man Revolution" includes "Union Song," which Morello describes as a freedom fighting song; "No One Left," the song he feels no one else wrote about 9/11; and "House Gone Up in Flames," which takes a stab at former Secretary of State Colin Powell.
If there's one overriding message he'd like to put out there as the Nightwatchman, Morello says it's found in the album track "Maximum Firepower," on which he sings: "If you take a step towards freedom, it'll take two steps towards you."
"The only way for things to change is for us to act," he says. "That means addressing the dramatic concerns of the environment, and a planet that may become unlivable; the crime of poverty, and people not making a life for themselves; and a war perpetrated by the current administration in an immoral way."
Morello also believes that "bad" presidents make for great music. Indeed, he sees a noticeable increase in protest songs. "It's dramatic, from Bright Eyes to Green Day to Neil Young to Nine Inch Nails, and artists who haven't really spoken out before," he says. "And it's not just artists. It's people across the board."
He says the Nightwatchman music is going over well with fans of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, particularly those who were "fans of those bands for the right reasons. They'll recognize this music is made with the same passion and the same unflinching eye."
Morello sees an indefinite run for the Nightwatchman, especially because Audioslave seems dead and Rage Against the Machine is uncertain. The latter band reunited for a show this spring at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival and will perform at some festivals with rap group Wu-Tang Clan this summer. Beyond that, "there's no plans. But we're not closing the doors."
As for Audioslave: "Chris Cornell quit the band. It's singerless. I'm very busy and content doing the Nightwatchman record. I have a catalog of 50 songs I believe in. This feels important to me. I love the independence of picking up a guitar and going anywhere."
Tom Morello: The Nightwatchman
By Kevin C. Johnson
POST-DISPATCH POP MUSIC CRITIC
06/07/2007
Tom Morello
More than four years ago, while noted rock guitarist Tom Morello was knee-deep in the success that was the first Audioslave album, he began taking time off to do his own thing.
For the Rage Against the Machine veteran, that meant scouring newspapers for coffeehouses, hip-hop clubs and anywhere that open-microphone events were happening. He'd show up with his guitar and, billed as the Nightwatchman, perform folk-oriented, politically charged songs.
"Occasionally, people would know it was me," Morello said last week during a tour stop in Berlin. "Every once in a while, someone would go, 'Isn't that Tom Morello?'"
Now, with Audioslave looking done, he's out supporting his Nightwatchman CD, "One Man Revolution" — 13 songs of "bitterness and revenge." Advertisement
"This is something I've always felt compelled to do, but it was quite a challenge," Morello says. "I was always very comfortable playing loud rock guitar in front of 20,000 people, but then I was terrified of playing in front of only 20 people. It was a real leap forward for me."
Morello, who has a political-science degree from Harvard, wanted to do more educating than he'd ever be able to do through Audioslave or his "Axis of Justice" radio show and organization. So he set out to "make music with a purpose and mission in mind."
"It felt imperative for me to balance my arena rocking with Audioslave by playing these songs that are a lot heavier than the rock I was involved in," he says. "I've long been a fan of Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, and Woody Guthrie, and I wanted to write songs in that genre. So I began doing it out of personal necessity, and it grew from there."
He opened for acts such as Billy Bragg and Steve Earle, and found himself getting tear-gassed and arrested along the way for his outspokenness.
"One Man Revolution" includes "Union Song," which Morello describes as a freedom fighting song; "No One Left," the song he feels no one else wrote about 9/11; and "House Gone Up in Flames," which takes a stab at former Secretary of State Colin Powell.
If there's one overriding message he'd like to put out there as the Nightwatchman, Morello says it's found in the album track "Maximum Firepower," on which he sings: "If you take a step towards freedom, it'll take two steps towards you."
"The only way for things to change is for us to act," he says. "That means addressing the dramatic concerns of the environment, and a planet that may become unlivable; the crime of poverty, and people not making a life for themselves; and a war perpetrated by the current administration in an immoral way."
Morello also believes that "bad" presidents make for great music. Indeed, he sees a noticeable increase in protest songs. "It's dramatic, from Bright Eyes to Green Day to Neil Young to Nine Inch Nails, and artists who haven't really spoken out before," he says. "And it's not just artists. It's people across the board."
He says the Nightwatchman music is going over well with fans of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, particularly those who were "fans of those bands for the right reasons. They'll recognize this music is made with the same passion and the same unflinching eye."
Morello sees an indefinite run for the Nightwatchman, especially because Audioslave seems dead and Rage Against the Machine is uncertain. The latter band reunited for a show this spring at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival and will perform at some festivals with rap group Wu-Tang Clan this summer. Beyond that, "there's no plans. But we're not closing the doors."
As for Audioslave: "Chris Cornell quit the band. It's singerless. I'm very busy and content doing the Nightwatchman record. I have a catalog of 50 songs I believe in. This feels important to me. I love the independence of picking up a guitar and going anywhere."
Comments
I hope he sings about how ALL the politicians of all stripes are ruining this country while we the taxpayers pay for all their salaries, vacations, health care & pensions!!! Meanwhile they tax and regulate all of us into submission!
Now comes Tom Morello and I realize that for many musicians [not all], it is their calling in life to push out the envelope of our social awareness. Music stirs like no other medium and it is the Fuzz platform [by people's choice] that may well be the ideal vehicle selected by this generation of activists to effect change.
So I now say, finally, go for it! Indeed, get on the playing field, or just watch from the sidelines - you decide.