Rage aren’t ready to record

Busy Morello reveals band aren’t working on album to avoid industry trap that made them fall out in the 90s

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Time machine: Morello

Tom Morello has revealed Rage Against the Machine are not currently working on a new record because they don’t want to fall out again over pressure applied by the music industry.
But the guitarist says they haven’t ruled out working on new material in the future; although they don’t know when it might take place.
Morello tells Banana 101.5 Rocks: “I completely understand people want to hear we’re in the studio making a record. We are not – I’m sorry.
“Everybody in the band gets along great. We just played a festival that was super-fun and a great way to celebrate the first time we were in a room.
“It’s not a band that operated according to album cycles or anything like that. We did that back in the 1990s and it made everybody crazy – we didn’t get along because of it.
“Now when we want to do something, we do it. When we want to do a tour or play a show or write a song, we’ll do it – and we’ll let you know. It’s not going to be kept a secret.”
Morello has worked with iconic vocalists including Chris Cornell, Layne Staley and Serj Tankian – but he still reserves a great deal of praise for Rage frontman Zack de la Rocha.
The guitarist says: “I just think Zack is a tremendous passionate voice for the causes we believe in. If I had to pick one song it’s hard to argue with Killing in the Name.
“That profanity-laced refrain at the end is one that’s become a battlecry around the globe.”
But currently he’s focusing on his new Nightwatchman album, Worldwide Rebel Songs, which is released today. He says: “Now I’ve made as many Nightwatchman records as Rage Against the Machine Records. This is not some vanity project or side project – it’s something I’ve put my heart into.”
The latest release is his first solo title with a full band. Morello explains: “A couple of years ago I played an electric version of The Ghost of Tom Joad with Bruce Springsteen. It was the first time I sang while holding an electric guitar and I realised I could do it.
“I could bridge what I do in Rage without losing the integrity of the folk music stuff. So it’s this kind of punk-folk now, with Morellian shredding on top.”