TOM MORELLO aka, The Nightwatchman just released his second album, The Fabled City. Though he’s still signing about the common man, this album turns up the rock a but and isn’t as straight forward folk as Morello’s previous album.

For the video to the track, “Whatever It Takes” Morello takes a guerilla approach and goes busking on the streets of LA, showing the multi-cultural aspects of the city. (more…)

Guitarist, activist, general ambasador of badassery, TOM MORELLO has announced he’ll release his second solo album on September 30th. The album, Fabled City will again be released under the moniker THE NIGHTWATCHMAN.

It seems fitting we find out this news on the same day it was announced Rage Against The Machine bandmate/frontman Zach De La Rocha announced a new project to be released on July 22nd.

Serj Tankian is said to be a major contributor to Fabled City.

PURCHASE: The Nightwatchman :: One Man Revolution

“Alone Without You” better known as the theme song to Michael Moore’s documentary, Sicko.

Since many of us in the office are fans of both BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN and TOM MORELLO we had to share this video of the two doing “The Ghost Of Tom Joad” live in Anaheim, CA earlier this week.

With the current state of national politics leaving a fog of tension so thick in the air that you could cut it with a chainsaw – a new documentary is making its way around the film fest circuit called Body Of War. Produced by Phil Donahue, it serves as a startling portrait of what’s happening to the brave men & women of the US Armed Forces – after they come home from our current conflict(s).

From the previews available online, it’s a truly touching story, revolving around Tomas Young, an Iraq War veteran, and his struggle to have something verging upon normalcy after returning home to live the rest of his life in a wheelchair. The film has also sparked an amazing two-disc soundtrack compilation cd, available today in stores – Body of War: Songs That Inspired an Iraq War Veteran.

This set was put together by Young himself, as a collection of songs which he says were – “tracks that inspired, motivated, and at times, literally saved me over the past few years.” All proceeds from sales will go to the non-profit organization IVAW (Iraq Veterans Against the War).

In September, Sire records donated $100,00 to the group in Young’s name, help support the fund’s message of giving a voice to past and current members of the armed forces who are against the war, but are under pressures to maintain silence about it. Shepard Fairey of OBEY fame donated the artwork for the album, and the discs feature a large number of fantastic bands, including Tom Waits, Neil Young, Eddie Vedder, Against Me!, Public Enemy, and more. Hit the jump for a full tracklisting. (more…)

When he’s not doing motion capture for the new Guitar Hero video game, Tom Morello is keeping up his end of the deal when it comes to protests and revolutions. Themes he is best known for exploring with his band Rage Against The Machine. The former Audioslave guitarist did his part to show solidarity for the current Hollywood screenwriters strike.

He picked up his acoustic guitar and set up shop outside Fox’s headquarters Friday morning and entertained about 3,000 picketers. Morello is a big supporter of unions. His recent solo project, The Nightwatchman album One Man Revolution has a song titled “Union Song” where the lyrics seem fitting for the protest at hand.

For our brothers and our sisters
Up and down that picket line
For the unnamed and unnumbered
Who struggle brave and long
For the union men and women
Standing up and standing strong

THE NIGHTWATCHMAN (aka Tom Morello) has released the video for his song “Alone Without You”. The song appears during the end credits of the Michael Moore documentary Sicko. Moore has been a friend of Morello, directing many of his former band, Rage Against The Machine’s videos.

Those of you who attended SXSW last week may have had the opportunity to see Rage guitar shredder-turned-folksman Tom Morello milling around Austin at times with a veritable who’s-who list of renowned rock icons. Sightings caught Tom alongside legends like Wayne Kramer, Slash, Perry Farell, Les Claypool, Patrick Shillenn and Nuno Bettencourt.

I know that right now you’re looking at that list of icons and thinking, “hey hey hey, there’s something fishy about your list of so-called rock legends”, but rest assured, “More Than Words” was a huge hit and Nuno’s music has had more of an impact than you think on not only Boston-based funk-rock, but also American rock music as a whole.

But I digress. Truth be told I was able to not only see Tom play a couple times during the convention, but also to hang out, have a few drinks, and discuss topics ranging from “how awesome is Pan’s Labyrinth?” to “Is Michael the most powerful of all archangels”. You know, light conversation.

To me, this was one of the biggest and best highlights of my trip. Tom Morello is one of my musical idols and someone whose work I’ve looked up to for years. It was almost like one of those Hero Worship columns from the magazines where some young buck gets to interview David Bowie, or Robert Smith or someone. Getting to spend even a small amount of time talking and drinking a whiskey on the rocks, (or even god forbid, one of those disgusting mint-leaf garnished mojito-contraptions that everyone was pounding), was a surreal moment indeed. It’s also pretty amazing how many random people introduce them self to you when you’re sitting at a bar with Tom Morello. He creates somewhat of a gravitational pull on any surrounding music industry types. It was fun to watch everyone reel in, then just kind of circle and orbit him.like moons.

In summation, what did I learn from my happy hour with Tom Morello? Several things including,

1) he likes hot rods, and used to attend car shows in the midwest,
2) Roughly 78% of passers-by claim Rage Against The Machine “used to be my favorite band”
3) The next Michael Moore movie is going to be good,
4) He is not the right person to bug about a new Rage record,
and
5) Michael may in fact be the most powerful of all archangels.

The end.

TOM MORELLO has been hanging around the NYC area a lot as of late. First we caught him at the Sony Offices performing some new songs from his upcoming project The Nightwatchman. Even more recently, he even popped his head into a recent ANTI-FLAG show at Irving Plaza and performed a song with the band. Together they covered Woodie Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land”.

Watch the video now.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8412162813362760481

The Syndicate college radio depart had the distinctive pleasure of being invited to a very private and intimate performance of THE NIGHTWATCHMAN at the Sony Offices last night. The Nightwatchman is the latest project from guitar god Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine, Audioslave).

After about 40 people gathered in the label’s conference room we witnessed Morello perform 2 songs, from his upcoming album One Man Revolution, “House Gone Up In Flames” and “Flesh Shapes The Day”. (more…)