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During a 2011 appearance at an Occupy L.A. rally Tom Morello – an original member of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave – wore a cap with the logo of the Industrial Workers of the World, the early 20^th century militant union nicknamed the “Wobblies.”

Why? “Because I’m a Wobbly,” Tom answers matter-of-factly.  Indeed, Morello is becoming the modern-day version of the  IWW songwriter immortalized in the ballad famously sung by Joan Baez at Woodstock: “Wherever workingmen defend their rights, It’s there you’ll find Joe Hill.”

It surely seems that at every Occupy protest, every union protest, perhaps everypublic protest – “it’s there you’ll find Tom Morello.”  Like Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Phil Ochs, Dylan and Springsteen before him, Morello -“The Nightwatchman” – has carefully carved out a space for himself in the pantheon of working-man folk-singers. The singer for the “every man” is simply… “everywhere.”

Read the full article at Rock Cellar Magazine.

Rage Against the Machine’s guitarist blasts Romney’s VP pick and unlikely Rage fan
Last week, Mitt Romney picked Paul Ryan, the Republican architect of Congress’s radical right-wing budget plan, as his running mate. Ryan has previously cited Rage Against the Machine as one of his favorite bands. Rage guitarist Tom Morello responds in this exclusive op-ed.

Paul Ryan’s love of Rage Against the Machine is amusing, because he is the embodiment of the machine that our music has been raging against for two decades. Charles Manson loved the Beatles but didn’t understand them. Governor Chris Christie loves Bruce Springsteen but doesn’t understand him. And Paul Ryan is clueless about his favorite band, Rage Against the Machine.

Read the full article at Rolling Stone.

Sunday’s surprise came packaged in the form of Jack White, who initially thrilled fans by parking his mobile Third Man Records truck in the woods next to a food truck village and a dessert oasis entitled Chocolate Lands. Around 3 p.m. White and his all-female band emerged from a van to perform a guerilla-style pop-up concert. Tom Morello watched from alongside the Third Man Records truck, then stepped in for his own performance. Later Sunday afternoon, White switched gears and brought out his all-male band for his set on the main stage.

Earlier Sunday, during Morello’s set on the Sutro Stage, he caused his typical frenzy when he invited the entire audience up on the stage. Enough people took him up on the offer to make even him a little nervous about the stage’s stability. “We want to make the newspapers for the right reasons, not the stage collapsing,” he said. But he then told security to let them up: “There doesn’t need to be a security check. These are my people.” Morello then placed one person in charge of filming for YouTube while everyone else was encouraged to put away their smartphones and live in the moment. He also offered journalists free advice for a headline: “It Started With a ‘One-Man Revolution’ and It Ended With a ‘Worldwide Rebel Song.'”

Read more at Rolling Stone.

Throughout his 20-year recording career, Tom Morello has been charting new sonic territory. From his groundbreaking electric-guitar techniques with Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave to his contemporary folk as The Nightwatchman, Morello is an artist above all else. Tom graciously invited us to his studio, where we spoke at length with him about his career, writing process, surprisingly modest rig and much more. Best of all, we asked Tom your questions, €”read on and see if yours was selected.

Read the full article at Musician’s Friend.

Backstage at Hard Rock Calling 2012, Tom Morello tells us about his involvement with Occupy Wall Street, his comic book series and his side project The Nightwatchman. Running time: 02:17

Tom will be playing August 12th at 1pm on the Sutro Stage.

View the full schedule at Outside Lands.