The Nightwatchman
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| The Nightwatchman | |
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 The Nightwatchman performing at the House of Blues in New Orleans, Louisiana on June 19, 2007.
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Thomas Baptiste Morello |
| Born | May 30, 1964 New York City |
| Origin | Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Genre(s) | Folk, folk rock, acoustic rock, alternative rock, anti folk, protest music |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter, activist |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar, harmonica, mandolin |
| Voice type(s) | Baritone |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Label(s) | Epic |
| Associated acts | Audioslave, Rage Against the Machine, The Freedom Fighters Orchestra, Serj Tankian, Shooter Jennings, Perry Farrell, Axis of Justice, Lock Up, Electric Sheep |
| Website | Official Website |
| Notable instrument(s) | |
| Whatever It Takes Plain body, nylon string acoustic guitar Arm the Homeless Custom built electric guitar |
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The Nightwatchman is the alter-ego and solo act of Rage Against the Machine, ex-Audioslave and Street Sweeper Social Club guitarist Tom Morello, which he created in 2003 as an outlet for his political views while playing non-political music with Audioslave.
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[edit] Career
[edit] Early career
Morello created the identity of The Nightwatchman, to offer the public a pseudo-Bob Dylan of the 21st century when a desire to return to political activism in his music struck him in 2003, after over a year of playing non-activist rock in Audioslave.[1] Morello describes The Nightwatchman as "the black Robin Hood of 21st century music" and "a reaction against illicit wars, a reaction against first strikes, torture, secret prisons, spying illegally on American citizens. It's a reaction against war crimes, and it's a reaction against a few corporations that grow rich [off] this illicit war while people beg for food in the city streets."[2] More specifically, he later elaborated that the format was inspired by long-time activist Billy Bragg. Morello first saw him performing at a concert c. 1994, playing "fearlessly" before a crowd of 8,000 people in a tent alongside big-name rock bands of the time.[3] The Nightwatchman first began playing political acoustic folk music in a Los Angeles coffeehouse before a small crowd,[2] and soon after went on Billy Bragg's Tell Us the Truth tour.[1]
| “ | "The Nightwatchman is my political folk alter ego. I've been writing these songs and playing them at open mic nights with friends for some time. This is the first time I've toured with it. When I play open mic nights, it's announced as The Nightwatchman. There will be kids there who are fans of my electric guitar playing, and you see them there scratching their heads." | ” |
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—Tom Morello |
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The Tell Us the Truth tour was supported by unions, environmental and media reform groups including Common Cause, Free Press and A.F.L.-C.I.O. with the ultimate goal of "informing music fans, and exposing and challenging the failures of the major media outlets in the United States."[4] He has compared The Nightwatchman to Woody Guthrie,[1] Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan.[2] He initially had no plans to record,[5] but later recorded the song "No One Left" for Songs and Artists that Inspired Fahrenheit 9/11. In The Festival of Bonnaroo in 2007 The Nightwatchman performed Guerilla Radio to protest George W. Bush.
[edit] One Man Revolution
In February 2007, he announced a solo album, One Man Revolution, which was released on April 24, 2007 in the US and May 7th worldwide.[2] The Nightwatchman's first headlining gig was played June 17, 2007 at the House of Blues in Dallas, Texas. Morello has toured since the CD was released and said he plans to tour the U.S. again in the fall. After seeing an early screening of the Michael Moore film Sicko Morello wrote the song, "Alone Without You" which featured in closing credits of the film and also with a music video directed by Moore in the DVD release. The song was also made available as an iTunes bonus track for One Man Revolution. Morello toured in support of the album as the opening act for Ben Harper During this tour, Morello joined Harper onstage on several occasions for a cover of Bob Dylan's "Masters of War", on which he plays the electric guitar in the style for which he's best known. Other prominent musicians who Morello shared the stage with during the One Man Revolution tour includes, Serj Tankian, Perry Farrell, Jon Foreman from Switchfoot, Shooter Jennings, Nuno Bettencourt Sen Dog from Cypress Hill, Jill Sobule, Boots Riley, Alexi Murdoch, Wayne Kramer from MC5, and many others.
[edit] The Fabled City
The album The Fabled City was released on 30th of September 2008. Two songs off the record, "Midnight in the City of Destruction" (about New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina) and "King Of Hell" (written about Guantanamo Bay), had previously been leaked on The Nightwatchman MySpace or performed live during live sets.
| “ | "The template is half Dylan and half Hendrix. It’s going to be half acoustic and half electric. Not only will there be the no sell-out, acoustic, three chords and the truth part of the show, but also, with the band I put together called the Freedom Fighter Orchestra, there will be more insane electric playing than I’ve ever done with Rage or Audioslave because it’s not confined to a three-and-a-half minute song" | ” |
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—Tom Morello [6] |
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So far The Satellite Party's Carl Restivo has been confirmed to be part of The Freedom Fighters as a second guitarist.[7] To promote the new album Morello and the band appeared both on the The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and on Late Night with Conan O'Brien before heading out on 'The Fabled City tour', an eighteen stop tour in the United States.
[edit] The Freedom Fighters Orchestra
[edit] Current members
- Tom Morello - Lead vocals, electric and acoustic guitar.
- Carl Restivo - Electric guitar and backing vocals.
- Dave Gibbs - Bass guitar and backing vocals.
- Breckin Meyer - Drums, percussion and backing vocals.
[edit] Other Contributors
- Flea - Played bass at The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
[edit] Discography
| Year | Title |
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| 2007 | One Man Revolution
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| 2008 | The Fabled City
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[edit] Notes and citations
- ^ a b c Wiederhorn, Jon (October 22, 2003). "Tom Morello Rages Against A New Machine On Solo Acoustic Tour". MTV News. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1479880/20031022/audioslave.jhtml. Retrieved on 2007-02-18.
- ^ a b c d Harris, Chris (February 6, 2007). "Nightwatchman, Rage Reunion Have Morello Fired Up For Political Fights". MTV News. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1551733/20070206/morello_tom.jhtml. Retrieved on 2007-02-18.
- ^ Donovan, Patrick (2008-01-25). "Maintaining the rage". The Age: p. Entertainment Guide supplement (p. 4). http://www.theage.com.au/news/music/maintaining-the-rage/2008/01/24/1201025043641.html. Retrieved on 2009-02-03.
- ^ Portner, Matt and Heller, Sarah. Tell Us the Truth Tour. The Boston Underground http://www.thestudentunderground.org/article.php?id=91&issue=46 retrieved 12/14/2007
- ^ Moss, Corey (July 29, 2004). "Audioslave's Morello Says New LP Feels Less Like Soundgarden + Rage". MTV News. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1489715/20040726/audioslave.jhtml. Retrieved on 2007-02-18.
- ^ Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello sets out again as the Nightwatchman
- ^ Carl Restivo MySpace blogg
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Nightwatchman |
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