Tom morello he's not your typical guitar god.
At 58, he has lived several lifetimes as a musician, mostly avoiding the trappings of rock's gilded halls in search of sounds that are as radical as his politics.
Tom was born in Harlem, New York on May 30, 1964. His mother, Mary Morellomet his father, Ngethe Njoroge. as Nairobi, Kenya. They then moved to Harlem, Where was he born. When the guitarist was about 18 months old, his parents separated and his mother got a job as a teacher in Libertyville, Ill. where he grew up
As a teenager, he fell in love with both rock music and politics, and was almost entirely self-taught on the guitar (in fact, he learned more about the instrument while practicing up to eight hours a day for a stint at the University of California). Harvard, where he majored in political science).
After graduating, Morello moved to the area of The Angels, where he decided to try a career in music (making ends meet by working for a time as a secretary to a senator from California). In the late 1980s, Morello was a member of the rockers of los angeles lock up, who signed a contract with Geffen and released a solo album, Something Bitchin' This Way Comes 1989. When the album sank without a trace after its release, the group broke up.
Few rock guitarists in the 1990s have been as innovative as he was, as he was the one who incorporated a myriad of styles into his own playing, which spanned through a series of bands and solo projects into the XNUMXst century. .
His characteristic style of. elastic shocks, atmospheric distortion and effects that resembled the scratching of a turntable, were a crucial component of the rap-metal sonic attack de Rage Against the Machine in the late '90s, which helped launch Morello and the band to global success.
His career has been defined by exploring the limits of what a guitar can do, seeking to discover new mysteries within an old instrument.
From the beginning, his music and his activism have been intertwined.
He has also worked with some of the most powerful political voices in music and eventually became one of them.
As a member of Industrial Workers of the World, has used his music for social protest, which has also led him to perform in various places as part of the movement Occupy, has also fought against the use of his music to torture detainees in the Bay of Guantánamo and founded Ax of Justice, a social justice group that supports immigrant rights and the abolition of the death penalty.
In the 1990s, Rage Against the Machine created a new template for the politically minded rock, infusing riffs heartbreaking With a rhythm that could only come from hip-hop.
When that group disbanded and became Audioslave, Morello channeled his activist streak into the solo acoustic folk project Nightwatchman, writing union songs and performing at open mic nights and rallies.
And as the country's presidential election approached in 2016, he brought together the supergroup Prophets of Rage with Chuck D and B-Real to remind people of the dangers he had been fighting all this time.
Over the years, his speech has remained forceful and eloquent, referring to his journey as a "uniquely american history of strange vectors that have forged this patchwork career and life".
Morello today is taking some time to reflect on his unlikely path, all the while continuing to produce, making a resilient musician over time.
His own history as a music fan is littered with songs and artists who may or may not identify as political, but helped shape his view of the world and the music he would create.
Without a doubt, you can't miss the music of Morello, a musician who learned that he didn't have to be strong to be tough.
