“The other bands had a top-notch Yngwie-level player, and that’s what I was trying to be. If some awful gig already has two of those dudes, it doesn’t need a third”: Tom Morello on the throwaway club show that changed his guitar playing forever

Tom Morello has had a busy few weeks. He’s dropped a surprise single with Def Leppard, announced his first solo rock album, and been gifted a guitar from While She Sleeps’ Sean Long. Now he’s opened up on the moment that changed his guitar playing forever.

In a new conversation with Guitar Interactive Magazine at Download Festival in the UK, the Whammy-loving electric guitar trailblazer discusses what proved to be a pivotal turning point in his career.

“I was playing solos that sounded like every other heavy metal guitar player. I was really great at it and it didn't matter at all,” he reflects. “So, rather than being a musician, I concentrated on being an artist. Instead of trying to be famous, I made music that was completely authentic.”

As for the moment that encouraged him to pivot away from traditional shredding in favor of the style he is now known for today, he continues: “It was really in the earliest years of Rage Against The Machine that I began to self-identify as a DJ.

“We were opening up for two cover bands in a college on a Wednesday afternoon – a throwaway gig. At soundcheck each of the other bands had a top-notch Yngwie Malmsteen-level shredding guitar player, and that’s what I was trying to be.

“If some awful gig already has two of those dudes, it doesn’t need a third hamster running on that wheel.” His solution? Practice making mistakes.

“I started practicing guitar eight hours a day. I started practicing mistakes. I started deconstructing the instrument. It was just a piece of wood with some wires and some electronics.

Tom Morello on New Single With His Son, The Last Time he Saw Chris Cornell & Beating Simon Cowell - YouTube

Watch On

“And if I can make a noise, then that noise can be the centerpiece of a song or a solo. That was the moment I stopped being a musician and started being an artist.”

That 'eight hours of practice a day' mantra is something Morello has often spoke of over the years.

It’s a work ethic his son, Roman, has taken on board. Morello Sr. has already said how his son can “shred circles around him” on the guitar. Now he’s set to feature on the first single from Tom Morello’s forthcoming solo album.

“There's a shredding guitar solo on there. I wish I could say it was me,” he says of the track. “During lockdown when everyone was baking bread, he was putting in his eight hours a day.

“One day I was walking by his bedroom and he was playing these awesome drop D riffs. He said, 'Dad do you think these riffs go together?' and I was like, 'Yeah! Those riffs go together, let's do this.'

“So he wrote the riffs, and did the solo as well and it's the heaviest single I've released in some time.”

The song, called Soldier in the Army of Love, will drop on June 28, with the full album due for release later this year.