Tom Morello On 13-Year-Old Guitar Prodigy Son Roman: “His Riffs Are Heavier Than Mine”
Following guitarist Tom Morello’s promise of a new single coming up on June 28 called “Soldier in the Army of Love” which he co-wrote with his 13-year-old guitar prodigy son, Roman Morello, the elder Morello promised that Roman is the true talent in the family. In a recent interview that Tom Morello did with TotalRock at Download Festival in the UK, he was asked why he was now releasing his first full-length solo rock album, and he credited Roman as his inspiration, saying (as transcribed by Blabbermouth):
“Well, one of the things that was very inspiring was I have a 13-year-old guitar prodigy son, Roman, who we wrote this song together. And his riffs are heavier than mine, and I’ve been relegated to the rhythm guitar player status in the family. So we did this song, ‘Soldier In The Army Of Love’, together, and it was just so rocking. It was sort of the genesis of this whole idea.”
He then continued and finally explained my burning question as to how the upcoming record counts as his first solo rock album considering how many albums he’s released, both under his own name and as The Nightwatchman:
“I’ve done a lot of records — collaborative records, records laced with hip-hop, electronica, acoustic records, and this is really the first Tom Morello solo rock album, and this song, ‘Soldier In The Army Of Love’, really sort of encapsulates what it’s about.”
As for the style of the new album and whether it will be composed of “all riffs,” Tom Morello promised:
“No. There’s certainly a heavy dose of the Morellian RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE/AUDIOSLAVE riffs — maybe it’s got two feet in that world and one foot in [Bruce Springsteen’s 1978 album] ‘Darkness On The Edge Of Town’, too.”
Despite Morello losing track of how many feet people have somewhere in that sentence, it sounds like an album that will be worth checking out.
Morello is currently touring Europe and maybe, if you’re lucky, you’ll get to hear the new track before it comes out. Here’s the upcoming dates:
06/20 Copenhagen, DEN – Copenhell
06/22 Grenchen, SWI – Summerside Festival
06/23 Maxeville, FRA – Heavy Weekend
06/28 Clisson, FRA – Hellfest
07/01 Budapest, HUN – Budapest Park
07/03 Gdynia, POL – Open’er Festival
07/05 Werchter, BEL – Rock Werchter
07/06 Lucca, ITA – Lucca Summer Festival
07/08 Villafranca di Verona, ITA – Castello Scaligero
07/10 Turin, ITA – OGR Torino
07/12 Madrid, SPA – Mad Cool Festival
07/14 Novi Sad, SER – Exit Festival
07/16 Pireas, GRE – Peace And Friendship Stadium (feat. The Smashing Pumpkins)
07/18 Casa Do Infantado, POR – Super Bock Super Rock
9/27 – Louisville, KY – Louder Than Life 2024
10/13 – Sacramento, CA – Aftershock 2024
