Tom Morello

Rage Against The Machine’s guitar guerrilla on adding firepower to Bruce Springsteen’s 18th studio album

“This whole experience has been such an honour for me. I’m a big Bruce Springsteen fan. Long before we met – this was some time in the early 90s – I saw him dropping off videos at Tower Video on Sunset, and I had to restrain myself from going over and hugging his head,” laughs the man The Boss described as his “muse” for the making of High Hopes, a new studio album that collects a range of covers, outtakes and re-imaginings – and features contributions from the RATM and Nightwatchman axe-slinger on eight or so songs.

“To make a record with Bruce and to be on stage with the E Street Band, it’s pretty phenomenal,” Morello says. “I just try to do my best when called upon. I’ve played a lot of guitar, I’ve been on a lot of records and a lot of stages, and I consider it a very special and unique event when I’m recording on a Bruce Springsteen song or I’m on stage with the E Street Band. I don’t take it for granted for a second, and I just try to be at the top of my game.”

The album’s centrepiece is a re-recording of TheGhostOf TomJoad, a Springsteen song reworked by Rage Against the Machine on their 2000 covers album Renegades, that Morello has performed live with the E Street Band on numerous occasions. The High Hopes version finds Morello trading solos with The Boss, whom he rates highly as a guitarist: “Oh, he’s a fantastic guitar player!” Morello says. “Without a doubt. I think that the guitar playing, particularly on the album Darkness On The Edge Of Town, is some of my favourite lead guitar on a record. It’s fantastic.”

When it comes to touring with the E Street Band, we wonder what it’s like to play those mammoth three-hour sets: “There’s a lot to be said for the epic journey. Every Springsteen show is The Lord Of The Rings Extended Edition,” laughs Morello. “The one thing I can’t believe is how Bruce sings for that amount of time. That is the secret miracle of Bruce Springsteen. It’s an unheard-of thing. Plus, he’s very physical – crowd-surfing, sliding around, standing on the piano – and he’s singing the whole time. That’s astonishing. I do not intend to approach that in my own shows!”