Tom Morello has revealed that working on his upcoming solo album has offered him more “purity” in his work than with a band.
In an interview with NME, the Rage Against the Machine guitarist reflected on striking out solo – not least, with the forthcoming release of his single ‘Soldier In The Army Of Love’.
“I’ve done a number of solo records before, but I love the idea of being in a band because what you get out of being in a band is chemistry,” he said. “Together you create something that none of you could create alone.”
“What you get out of being a solo artist is purity and being able to create something that no one else would be able to create.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Morello stated that the upcoming album will be his “first straight-up rock and roll record with my name on it”.
“I was just letting the music lead the way and the songs that I was writing with [13-year-old son Roman Morello] were like heavy rock songs,” he adds. ““It felt like it was time for me to make this album.”
In 2018, Tom Morello issued his first solo album ‘The Atlas Underground’. That album, along with follow-ups ‘The Atlas Underground Fire’ and ‘The Atlas Underground Flood’ – both released in 2021 – featured an extensive list of guest performers that include Bruce Springsteen, Bring Me the Horizon, IDLES, and Steve Aoki, amongst others.
On the as-yet-titled upcoming album’s first single ‘Soldier In The Army Of Love’, he elaborates: “One day I was walking by his room and these huge drop-D riffs were coming out of there and I said ‘What’s that’ and [Roman] said ‘Oh, I’ve just been working on some riffs, do you think these go well together?’. I was like ‘Son. Those go very well together and we’re about to write our first song together.’”
“So ‘Soldier In The Army Of Love’ is about the redemptive power of rock and roll. It’s got huge Morello riffs from multi-generations and a shredding guitar solo where you have to guess which one of us played.”
‘Soldier In The Army Of Love’ is due for release on June 28. Pre-save the song here.