“It happens all day,” Tom Morello says, speaking about the number of requests he gets from artists looking for him to sprinkle his secret guitar sauce on new pieces of music. “I do a lot of it, too,” he says. “I’ve donated guitar solos to younger bands. They’re fans of Rage Against the Machine or Audioslave, and they want me on their songs.”

He admits he can’t accept every request that comes across his desk. “Hey, I’ve got a lot going on,” he says with a laugh. “These days, I’m driving my kids to a lot of high school baseball games.”

Recently, the guitarist received an offer he couldn’t refuse when noted video game composer Masayoshi Soken reached out and asked if he’d consider contributing a song for the latest update of Final Fantasy XIV.

Morello admitted that he wasn’t much of a gamer, but he understood the significance of the Final Fantasy franchise, and he was delighted at the prospect of working with Soken.

There was just one problem, however; Morello would have to turn in a ready-to-go track within 36 hours. Fortunately, the guitarist was already working on some new music with producer Tyler Smyth, so the prospect of banging out a banger wasn’t out of the question.

“I said to Tyler, ‘I’ve got a hot riff, and you’ve got some beats. Maybe we can do this,’” he says. The producer then rang up his friend Caleb Shomo, singer with the metalcore band Beartooth, and asked, “Do you want to make a song with Tom Morello right now?”

In no time at all – 48 hours, to be exact – the collaboration yielded the monster jam Everything Burns, a feral blend of rap-metal and electronica that features, one might expect, one hell of a gargantuan riff.

When you’re noodling, do you have some sort of litmus test that makes you go, “That combination of notes does the job”?

It’s not overthought. Sometime around maybe 1991 [or] ’92, I began to be able to write music that I loved, and was able to tap into some of the essence of the Tony Iommi and Jimmy Page-ness of it all. From that time, these big-ass riffs have kind of been low-hanging fruit. It’s like, “Stick to the dots, try a little syncopation and don’t be afraid to be equal parts funky and heavy.”

Is it deceptively easy? One wrong note could make all the difference between a classic riff and one that’s just “eh.”

Oh, sure. Some of the longer riffs through my history, like Testify or Down Rodeo, where there was sort of a more simple version of the riff, I said, “Well, if it’s going to happen four times in a row, perhaps it’s a journey that stays true to coming back to the one, but then adds some extra heavy metal flavor along the way.”

So in the case of Everything Burns, you already had the riff.

It was around in a rudimentary way, and it was sort of looking for a home. I have a lot of riffs hanging around, and this was one that Tyler and I had been tinkering with. When this opportunity came up, I was like, “Okay, hold on one second. Let’s see if Beartooth wants to jump on.”

At what point did you realize that the combination of you, Tyler and Caleb was working?

It was maybe two hours after Tyler reached out to Caleb. Caleb dropped everything to do this. He’s a great singer, and he’s also a producer himself. He’s got a studio. He wrote and produced the vocals to it, came back in about two hours with a first draft, and I was like, “Holy shit, that’s a jam!”

I did notice the lack of a solo. Is that something you wrestled with?

I wouldn’t say “wrestle.” There was, however, a version of it that had sort of a more expansive middle section. At the end of the day when we were mixing, it felt like it didn’t add to the power of the song. It felt more like I was just sticking a solo in.

When I was A/B-ing in my car, I liked the version that, while it doesn’t have a guitar solo, it’s about as guitar-y as anything I’ve ever done. There’s no lack of guitar on this song.

As for solos, there will be plenty more to come, let me tell you. I’m in the midst of working on what will be my first solo rock album. I made some Americana albums and some EDM-influenced records, but I want to make a record that is going to be an unapologetically Tom Morello solo rock record.

Any idea when we might see that?

In this day and age, what is an album? We’ve released three singles from this album over the course of the year and a half. There’s a lot of intense work ahead. I hope I’ve got maybe three or four songs in the can and another sort of five or six in the hamper. I’ve got a lot of touring coming up this summer. I’d love to try to get it out before then.

And you’ve been touring with your son.

That’s something I’m most excited about, continuing the collaboration with my son, Roman, who has become quite a technical guitarist. He’s been a collaborative partner on a couple of songs, and that will continue. [Laughs] One of my favorite parts about working with Roman is that if we have disagreements, I’m able to send him to his room.

You can’t do that with everyone.

No, I can’t. [Laughs]

• This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.

Peter Frampton has announced his first new album in 16 years.

Carry the Light was co-written with his son, Julian, and features an intriguing cast of guest musicians, including H.E.R., Tom Morello, and Sheryl Crow.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer is continuing in spite of his inclusion body myositis (IBM) diagnosis in 2015. That's seen him adapt his playing style to counter the generative disease's effects, while (semi) recent live showings shredding the Beatles with Grace Bowers and Trey Anastasio, and soloing with Pearl Jam in Nashville, prove that the Les Paul-toting legend still has plenty of licks in him yet.

Consequently, Carry the Light extends that sentiment, and Frampton hopes it can usher in a new era for him.

“It was one of my most enjoyable projects ever,” he says. “I got to work with my son Julian – writing and producing together. A first of many for us, I’m sure.”

Its lead single, Buried Treasure, is a tribute to the late Tom Petty, with the song’s lyrics littered with references to the singer-songwriter, and it even features Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont. It’s a driving song, but laid back all the same, with ample space for Frampton’s tasteful lead lines to weave in and around his rasping, thankful vocals.

But Benmount isn’t the only guest on the album. Tom Morello, fresh from working with Måneskin guitarist Thomas Raggi, Fender signature artist H.E.R., Sheryl Crow, Graham Nash, and saxophonist Bill Evans have all heeded Frampton’s call for extra firepower.

“This may be the best album Peter’s ever made,” claims engineer, co-producer, and longtime Mark Knopfler collaborator Chuck Ainlay. “The songs are just so poignant, and his voice has matured in a way that really delivers what he's trying to get across.”

The 10-track album releases on May 15 via UMG Recordings in a host of formats, including 180-gram yellow vinyl and in hi-res, Dolby Atmos audio.

Recently, Frampton has been busy celebrating 50 years since the release of his seminal live album, Frampton Comes Alive! by revealing that, not only did Kiss’ Alive! take inspiration from its name, but it also features a raft of his equipment.

Al Di Meola remembers what he was thinking as he lay in a Romanian hospital after suffering a heart attack on stage in 2023. “My hands were bracing the side of the table,” he says. “Like, ‘Oh boy, is this gonna fucking hurt!’”

Luckily, it didn’t. Luckier still, he fully recovered and got back on the road soon afterwards, releasing his latest album, Twentyfour, a year later. “We don’t harp on the fact that what I went through was excruciating,” he explains.

“When people ask how I’m doing, I go, ‘I’m great!’ because I am. Privately, I do worry – but it’s like 99 percent fine, and I get checked out regularly, which I recommend everyone do.”

After months on the road in 2025, the 71-year-old fusion hero was ready for a break. Instead, along with new friend Tom Morello, he spoke out out in protest after the deaths of Minneapolis residents Renee Nicole Good and Alex Jeffrey Pretti at the hands of ICE.

Di Meola says his health alert, along with his elder statesmen status, opened his eyes.

“There’s more to life than just a guitar. Once you've had a heart attack there’s always that thing in your mind that it could happen again. There’s a fear of mortality now.”

By the looks of it there’s more protest in his future; and there’s also more boundary-pushing music.

“I consider myself a Latin musician first,” he says. “I grew up in Latin clubs and have that sensitivity.

“My goal was to do something new, and not go down the path of making records with jazz standards. I could have done that, but it wasn’t appealing to me.”

In January you hooked up with Tom Morello and Bruce Springsteen in Minneapolis for a benefit concert.

I met Tom last summer on the island of Capri. We kept in touch, and when this thing happened in Minneapolis, and the second person was killed, we were all seeing these ICE agents just getting out of hand. It was really over-the-top. It was just too reminiscent of what we saw with pre-World War II Nazis.

So I called Tom and said, “Man, we should do something.” He goes, “You know what? I’m glad you called me, because it pushed me over the edge to do this.” I said, “Okay, man. I’m down.”

From there, how did the Concert of Solidarity at First Avenue come together?

Tom put it together. I finished my tour and flew to Miami; I have a place there. I was unpacking, like, “Oh, thank God, I’m done with the tour and I can rest.” Then I got a call from his assistant, saying, “You need to be on a flight to Minneapolis tomorrow night.”

I’d do my set, solo and acoustically, then Tom would come on with his band. And then, the assistant was like, “I may as well tell you, but you can’t reveal this – Bruce Springsteen [is taking part].” I said, “Oh, my God, this is gonna be huge!”

That raised the stakes for sure, right?

I’ll tell you the truth: I had a lot of anxiety about it. I’ve never been part of a protest like this. It was a charity event for the families of the people who were killed. But then we were joining a protest parade, so there was a lot of anxiety because it was something new and controversial.

I was concerned that my music, and what I do – which was never expected in that context – might not work. I was going up there and playing a few pieces that I had in mind, but wasn’t sure how it was gonna work with a Tom Morello crowd, which is really high-energy. And in light of what’s going on, everybody was supercharged.

How did the crowd receive you?

That place went crazy. It was like the heyday of fusion, but with an audience times a hundred. They were just bowled over with joy, happiness, and excitement that I did that. I’m not saying everybody was a prior fan – there’s definitely a good percentage that learned about me for the first time.

But the reception I got for making the effort to come there for the cause was through the roof. Then Tom did his set, and Bruce came out and did his new song [Streets of Minneapolis]. Then we did a Woody Guthrie song and a John Lennon song. And after that we marched for a good 30 minutes before we froze to death!

Seeing as you’ve never done something like this before, why was it important for you to become involved?

I hate to use a phrase from Scientology. I was never a Scientologist, but I was in a group with Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke, who were staunch Scientologists. I always heard the term “artists are opinion leaders.”

What does that mean to you?

If you read something by whoever you admire in the arts of film, music, whatever, you’re not going to read it the same way as some guy who works at 7/11 or the gas station. But if an artist you like says something, they can draw more attention.

So I’ve been commenting more than any other guitarist, for sure, online. There’s not one bathroom trip that I’ve taken without sitting on that thing and commenting on something!

Do you see yourself hooking up with Tom again?

Well, Tom said, “This event in Minneapolis was brought together because Al inspired me.” But he did all the hooking up – and he did it within two days! He’s phenomenal. It was a very important thing that I felt we needed to do.

We joined the protest parade – which was peaceful, by the way – and after that we headed to the airport. After that, I was supercharged; I felt inspired, and positive that we were doing something good.

When I got back I kept talking with the guy who put up all the money to make it happen. I said, “We can’t stop now. We have to do something along the lines of what they did in 1970 at the Washington Monument during the Vietnam protests.” It drew one million people.

I said, “We have to do that. We’ll get one million people; we might get two million. If we do it right before the midterms, right in Trump’s backyard. Can you imagine the power of that?” He said, “Al, we’ve already started! We don’t wait.”

Can you imagine the impact of having, anywhere from 10 to 40 Hollywood stars and a bunch of bands, and attracting one or two million people? We’re allowed to do it. The Constitution allows for that kind of protest. He can’t stop that. We’re not Russia yet. We are a fascist country, but not to the point of disallowing that kind of thing – although he may try.

Given the climate, do you have any fear?

I’m at an age where I think my voice has some importance. I couldn’t have done this in my early 20s. I should not have done it in my 20s, even if I was thinking of it. And certainly, in my teens, I couldn’t care less because it was all about the guitar. But at this age, life is a lot more varied. I like to keep the balance, and I’m extremely worried for our country.

How did your heart attack change your outlook as far as the guitar goes?

Well, it’s partially why I’m less afraid. I’m not afraid of doing a protest or saying the things I’m saying in fear of some nut job seeking retaliation on behalf of the criminal Trump. I have less fear about that. It’s the last quarter of the football game for me, you know?

It seems like you’re still working hard. You put out a new record in 2024 and you’ve been touring a lot.

I’m working hard to stay in the game. I don’t think there was ever a period where I wasn’t working hard, but now it’s different because more opportunities have opened up.

I’m doing great, but I have to take certain medications. And I’m not doing anything stupid; I’m not an alcoholic and I don’t do drugs. Promoters want to know that you’re fine, and my wife does all of my social media phenomenally well and puts out there how great we’re doing.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of your solo debut, Land of the Midnight Sun, which you followed up with Elegant Gypsy. Both are landmark albums, but you were very young when you recorded them. Would you change anything?

I know I picked the perfect rhythm section with Steve Gadd and Anthony Jackson. And I even had Jaco Pastorius – the first record he ever recorded, which was amazing. I had Jaco, Anthony, and Stanley Clarke, the three best bass players at that time, all on one record.

I was celebrated in a way at that point, 50 years ago, that I could get these people just by a phone call. But Land of the Midnight Sun was me being thrust into having to write music. I credit Chick Corea for pushing all of us to write music. And I was the least likely to have that desire.

Why is that?

I was like, “I just love playing Chick’s stuff.” Stanley was cracking the surface, but I didn’t really have the urge. Chick was pushing all of us, so I was testing the waters with Land of the Midnight Sun. I wasn’t sure of anything, but I had my full technical abilities. It’s mind-blowing the speed at which we played a song like Short Tales of the Black Forest.

What’s next for you?

I have an orchestra gig that’s putting a lot of pressure on my mind to make sure it’s good. They’re doing a whole night of my music in Amsterdam. They’ve done it with other guitarists, Steve Vai being one. It’s a contemporary orchestra with Vince Mendoza, a premier conductor.

The dilemma is that they have all my charts, but they were written before I made a million changes. You write out music then go into the studio, and you think, “I’ll change this – syncopate it differently.” But you don’t immediately change the chart. Then the tour starts, and it changes more. So they’re sitting with charts from the original time.

I have tours coming up with two bands. My acoustic ensemble covers latter-period compositions from Infinite Desire up to Twentyfour. I’m alternating between that and an electric tour in May or June. That focuses more on the early years to keep that flame alive.

I do it to remind people, “I was the guy back then who did this thing!” But I’m of age now where the road is hard. Though it was never easy. It’s like 50/50 if guys are road dogs or it’s just too hard for them.

• Twentyfour is on sale now.

Måneskin might be this decade’s most rock n’ roll rock n’ roll band – unrepentantly horny, loud and glam – assisted by guitarist Thomas Raggi’s raw, old-school noises, made the way only young fearless musicians can. With his main band taking a break, Raggi has created his solo debut Masquerade, enlisting a team of rock’s finest from the last 40 years. Tom Morello is the producer; drums come from Matt Sorum and Chad Smith.

Vocalists include The Prodgy’s Maxim, The Struts’ Luke Spiller, Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos and Kasabian’s Sergio Pizzorno. The album’s lead single Getcha was co-written with Beck and features vocals from Jet’s Nick Cester.

With a lineup like that you could end up with a directionless hodgepodge – but instead Masquerade has a clear identity. Raggi’s raucous tone and the live vibe unify the record, which carries the carefree and raucous spirit of Måneskin, while venturing into new territory thanks to the diverse collaborators.

Did you worry about making your solo record sound different from Måneskin?

No, everything came very naturally. It was cool to experiment with lots of other artists. But I grew up as a band member, so the approach was the one that I loved – jamming with the guests in this very nice studio and keeping the real sound of the room.

When I was super young I took lots of classes with guitar teachers, and I discovered lots of cool bands from the past. So my approach was to be like the best, stay in the same studio and play live. I hope you hear it on the tracks.

You first worked with Tom Morello in 2023 when he played with Måneskin on Gossip. How did he become your producer?

We have a really good relationship. After we met, he invited me to lots of shows in LA. I’d written lots of different songs and at one point I said, “Okay, maybe I can do a record.” It was very natural to ask to Tom to become part of this trip. He was super excited, actually.

After that I wrote different songs in different sessions. With Serge Pizzorno, for example, it was the first time I’d met him. We were in the studio in London, and we came out with this super cool song. I put the pieces together, went to Tom and we were all together on the whole track. Everything was very, very natural.

What did he bring to the album as a producer?

Lots of stuff – the way to arrange a song, and to put the guitar at the center. The whole songs and the singers are amazing, but my guitar is the main thing that’s connected to all the different vibes. Tom gave me lots of advice. It was super inspiring to have him playing live with me and giving me notes.

What’s the best advice he gave you?

One was to trust the first take. Lots of times I’d find a riff and say, “Maybe this is not the one.” He’s say, “It’s great!” You just have to trust yourself. Lots of times, you’re gonna be overthinking to find the perfect part. Sometimes the magic of the first take is the best.

He’s famous for always using the same guitar tone for everything. Did you do that?

I was super free – Tom gave me the space just to jam and experiment. After that he said, “This is the best of all the takes you did.” It was very cool speaking with him about the gear. I have my setup, of course, but I tried Tom’s pedalboard and amp for some songs. With my approach and Tom’s gear, we found a very cool sound.

Tell us about your own gear.

I have three main guitars – a Telecaster, a Stratocaster, like a relic, and a Squier. My main guitar is the Squier. It’s made in Japan so it's from the 70s. I have a Seymour Duncan SSL-5 in the bridge position. My first guitar teacher gave me that guitar. He was using it for, I don't know, 10 or 20 years. It’s a very important guitar for me.

I have lots of different pedals. I have an OCD, a wah, Strymon Mobius, a Deluxe Memory Man – that’s one of my favorites. Then I have a rotary simulator that gives that cool twist to the songs.

Is that the rotary on You Spin Me Round?

Exactly. Also in the solo of The Ritz; and with Måneskin I use that pedal a lot. I'm trying to find my marker. The fact that you can recognize me thanks to the rotary is a super cool thing.

Another thing I took from Tom is that you can recognize him thanks to the sound he has. I would love to do the same as a next step. I'm trying to find the right pedals so you can hear it and say, “That sounds like Thomas.”

I have two rotary pedals actually. I have one inside the Strymon Mobius, and the other one is the Strymon Lex. So for the recording of Zitti e buoni, the Måneskin song, I used that pedal.

My amp is a 100 watt Marshall Plexi, like Jimi Hendrix used. It’s a reissue. I put a master volume on it so you can turn it down. I have two OCDs. My clean sound is not a properly clean sound – it's more like a crunch, with a little bit of drive from the OCD.

After that I have my rhythmic sound from the second OCD with lots of drive. My solo sound that is the second OCD boosted by an Agata boost by Effeti di Clara. Sometimes, when I have to go very distorted, I use a Rat pedal. That’s a masterpiece.

Did you write the songs with the guests in mind, or did you look at a song and go, “I know who’d be incredible on this song”?

It was both. With Maxim, for example, I had in mind a rock song with some electronic elements. It was the first time I’d met him too. Matt Sorum is a really good friend of mine. I said to Tom, “I’d love to include Matt,” and me and Tom spoke about it. Then we said, “He's gonna be perfect on that song.”

Luke Spiller is a friend of mine and of Tom too. Upsahl is amazing on Lucy, I think she did an incredible job. The whole thing about this album is that we put two generations together. We have Upsahl and Luke, but we have Matt Sorum, Maxim and Chad Smith.

There are lot of solos on this record. Were they improvised?

Yeah, a lot. The approach I have is to improvise, but I like to add three or four important licks into the pile. I would play different solos then Tom would say “Okay, Thomas, come in here.” In the control room we took the best parts of those solos. I love that approach – it's important to me to find a very hooky part in a solo, and not be shredding around. But everything starts from improvisation.

Did you overdub your solos over the live tracks?

I did some overdubs, like in You Spin Me Round, for example. There are some harmonies around, and also in Getcha. But the idea was to have just one lead part, because another guitarist that inspired me a lot is Jimi Hendrix. The cool thing about that generation is that you have a combination between solo parts and chords because it was just one track, of course.

I’m the only guitarist in Måneskin, so as I grew up with the band my approach was like that, basically to cover the whole part with one guitar – like Led Zeppelin and the Red Hot Chili Peppers did. So yeah, I did some overdubs, but there should always be just one guitar to take the main part.

What do you want people to get from this record?

The main mission for me and Tom was to inspire a new generation of people to grab an instrument, the same way we did. I love it when someone tells me, “I love this riff you did, and that’s why I picked up the guitar.” So the mission is to try to create a new scene.

I’m 24 years old, and I’m very lucky, because my dad put me onto the huge bands of the past. But lots of people my age don’t know rock n’ roll is is real –not because they don’t like it, but because they don’t know it.

What are you going to take with you from this album when you go back to Måneskin?

Experimenting with different artists was very cool. But it was hard to find the right spot between my taste and the taste of the guest. I had to go into a new world every time. So I have the feeling that when we make our new record with the band, I'm going to be more open-minded.

Rock music is still the main thing to me, but I think my approach will be different. I can take the vibe from Damiano, Vic and Ethan. I would say “versatile” is the best word.

• Masquerade is on sale now.

With Måneskin, Thomas Raggi may be part of the most distinctly rock ’n’ roll band to explode onto the international scene over the past decade.

After making a name for themselves in their native Italy, which led to a global breakthrough, Grammy nods, collaborations with powerhouse producer Max Martin and Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello, and Rolling Stones support slots.

Faced with Måneskin's hiatus, Raggi has ventured out on his own and made his mark on the guitar world with the release of his debut solo album, Masquerade – a through-and-through guitar album that offers a fresh take on the classic rock guitar genre, thanks to a little help from Morello.

“He had a super-cool vision,” Raggi tells Guitar World in a new interview. “The way to arrange the song, and to put the guitar in the main center. The whole songs are super-cool, the singers are amazing, but at the same time, my guitar is the main thing that is connected to all the different vibes and the different songs.”

One piece of advice the veteran Tom gave the younger Tom “was to trust the first take, because lots of times happened that I would find a riff, and say, like, ‘I don't know, maybe this is not the one.’

“He said, 'Yeah, of course this is great!' You just have to trust yourself on the first stage. Sometimes, exactly the magic of the first take is the best.”

Another challenge for Raggi was his quest to find – and nail – his own signature guitar tone. One of the effects helping him achieve this is a rotary simulator – specifically, the “one inside the Strymon Mobius” and the Strymon Lex.

“I'm trying to find my marker,” he explains. “The fact that you can recognize me thanks to the rotary is a super-cool thing. Another thing that I took from Tom is the fact that you can recognize him thanks to the sound that he has.

“I would love to do the same as a next step. I'm trying to find the right pedals that you can just hear it and say, like, ‘OK, that sounds like Thomas.’”

Guitar World’s full interview with Thomas Raggi will be published in the coming weeks.

Aside from his work with Måneskin, this is not the first time that Morello has collaborated with Raggi. Over the past few years, the two have traded licks on stage – including a standout performance in Verona, Italy, on MC5's Kick Out the Jams.

After last July’s Ozzy Osbourne farewell show, Back to the Beginning, high estimates were reported for how much the mega-event raised for its chosen charities: Acorns Children’s Hospice, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and Cure Parkinson’s.

Media reports, as well as musical director Tom Morello, suggested that Back to the Beginning had grossed over $190 million for the three charities. However, it appears that the reported donation amount has been inflated, with Ozzy Osbourne's son, Jack Osbourne, recently clearing up the rumors on the Punk Rock Sober and Painful Lessons podcast.

“This is how you know the news is probably 90% bullshit, 'cause it was, like, CNN and New York Times was saying ‘Ozzy raised $150 million.’ And it wasn’t that,” he says.

“I think what it came down to was, like, when all was said and done, because it was a charity gig, you still have to pay for the actual gig. No bands got paid, and most of the crew donated their time.”

Osbourne asserts that “when all was [said] and done, each charity got, like, one and a half or two million pounds [approximately $2.7 million] each. So, it was, I think, six or seven million pounds [approximately $9.4 million].”

He continues, “That’s what was donated to the three charities. I mean, we would’ve loved it if it was hundreds of millions. We would have been, like, 'Fuck yeah.’”

Nonetheless, it is still an admirable feat – and Back to the Beginning has gone down in history as arguably the greatest one-day lineup of rock and metal bands ever assembled.

Tom Morello’s 14-year-old son, Roman, has continued to prove himself a chip off the old block by shredding Steve Vai’s finger-burning For the Love of God in Mumbai.

The Rage Against the Machine guitarist and political activist has been championing his son’s talents for a few years now. There have been videos of him shredding at a RATM soundcheck and jamming with Jack Black, and last year, the father-son pair put a song out together as part of Morello Sr.’s first rock-leaning solo album.

Playing a customized Stratocaster, complete with a chrome pickguard and 'Full Power' scrawled on the body above the strings, Roman Morello makes pretty light work of Vai's endurance- and talent-testing track, in a video posted to Instagram by his dad. The post also includes the hashtag #thereishope, with Morello clearly putting his offspring in the same bracket as the two bands he deems the future of rock n' roll.

“For the Love of God, written by Steve Vai and performed by my 14-year-old son Roman in Mumbai, India,” Tom's caption reads. “Happy New Year.”

Cynical viewers might say it isn’t the cleanest performance, but that’s forgetting he’s only 14, less than half the age the already-vastly-experienced Vai was when he wrote the song. I know I couldn’t do that at his age.

The Morellos have been out on tour together, with Tom eager to prove why he once said his son could “shred circles around me.”

Their setlists have pulled from across Tom Morello’s career, spanning Rage Against the Machine cuts to Audioslave’s Like a Stone, alongside a host of well-chosen covers. Mr. Crowley has seen the pair pay tribute to Ozzy Osbourne, while John Lennon’s Power to the People underscores the family’s political values, and Bruce Springsteen’s The Ghost of Tom Joad nods to Morello’s unlikely stint as The Boss’s onstage foil.

It’s not clear at what point on the night Roman took on Vai’s now-35-year-old shredathon – perhaps as a warm-up act – but what’s clear is that his dad’s praise wasn’t just hyperbole. The kid has chops; he’s likely to make news headlines plenty more yet and surely, given time, branch out to stand up on his own two virtuosic feet.

Roman Morello, though, isn't the only youthful shredder to have mastered the song. One Hungarian guitarist nailed a performance of it at his prom, a feat that even got the approval of Mr. Vai. There is hope indeed.

It started life as the worst guitar its owner had ever played, and was modified with a grab bag of parts from bargain bins. It features arguably the most provocative slogan to be scrawled on a guitar since Woody Guthrie added “this machine kills fascists” to his acoustics in 1943. And it’s covered in cartoon hippos.

As an instrument, Arm the Homeless is an unlikely candidate for the signature guitar treatment – but 30 years at Tom Morello’s side has cemented it as one of rock’s most iconic electric guitars.

This is the divining rod that brought the world explosive riffs like Bombtrack and the radical toggle-switching technique and whammy whoops in Know Your Enemy, which lit the molotov cocktail that was Rage Against the Machine’s 1991 debut (Killing in the Name came courtesy of Morello’s drop-D tuned Sendero Luminoso Telecaster – surely on the cards for its own replica down the line).

Bulls on Parade, Sleep Now in the Fire, Guerrilla Radio, and Audioslave’s debut album – written before ATH’s successor, the Soul Power Strat, came on the scene – were all chiseled into shape by Morello’s hands on this guitar – or, as he calls it, his “artistic co-worker”.

“We’re collaborative partners,” he tells me over Zoom. “The chemistry that that guitar and I accidentally backed into has forged this career of 22 albums, thousands of shows… and a lot of dangerous music.”

With no brand name to speak of, fans wondered if an authentic Arm the Homeless replica would ever become a reality. Ibanez had previously made a backup version. But Fender ended up winning the gig, after Morello and CEO Andy Mooney met via – what else – a school fundraiser.

The Soul Power Strat was their first collaboration in 2020, bottling the early-noughties magic of Morello’s main squeeze in Chris Cornell-fronted supergroup Audioslave. Mooney hinted that a Fender Arm the Homeless was on the cards. That was five years ago. But the new guitar proved to be a difficult birth: this was no cookie-cutter Stratocaster. It required a whole new approach.

“The challenge with Fender was: ‘How do we recreate something that is so imperfect?’” Morello laughs. “For example, I have no idea what that neck is. It was the one that I got on a particular day. They got a machine over there that makes a bunch of different necks. They don't got one that makes this.”

Fender persevered. After “20-25 iterations”, they mastered the neck, along with the guitar’s many idiosyncrasies: the indestructible killswitch, the Gotoh locking tremolo, EMG pickups and, of course, the hippos, hammer and sickle, and rabble-rousing slogan. Heck, the strings are even uncut at the headstock end – to our knowledge, it’s a first for a production-line guitar.

Like all of Morello’s signature gear, there’s a charitable component to the release. Part of the proceeds will be going to teen homeless shelter Covenant House and LA’s Midnight Mission shelter, where the Morello family volunteer on a regular basis.

“If you're going to put ‘Arm the Homeless’ on a guitar, I want to make sure there's a component of giving back. I want to make sure that there's a Robin Hood factor to this as well – that while we're making this guitar for fans and collectors who want this thing, we're going to be able to give back to people who are in need.”

I sat down with Tom Morello to find out how Fender got the details right and why, for a man who once declared that “gear doesn’t matter”, he’s finally coming round to the importance of his most iconic guitar.

Walk me through the process of recreating Arm the Homeless with Fender: how did it start?

When we were talking about doing the guitar, I said, “OK, this is a bigger challenge because, while the Soul Power guitar is complicated, it uses parts that exist in the world. The Arm the Homeless guitar is from the island of Misfit Toys.”

It has a neck that I found in a used neck bin at some off-brand store. Originally I had it made at a local guitar shop in Hollywood, and it was the worst guitar I'd ever played in my life. I didn't know. I made all the wrong choices with regard to fretboards, frets, whammy bars, electronics, everything about it. Over the course of the next few years, I changed everything out multiple times looking for a sound I never found.

And probably in late 1988 or so, I just gave up. And I was like, “I'm going to stop whining, and I'm going to start creating. I've spent all my money on making this guitar. I had no more money left. This just has to be my guitar. I'm stuck with it. So I'm going to start writing songs.”

And that's exactly the Arm the Homeless guitar. I drew the hippos on it back then. A couple of years later, I scrawled Arm the Homeless on it in Magic Marker, and from that day to this, that's what it is.

I wanted this guitar to be absolutely interchangeable for me. I wanted to use this guitar without losing any miles per hour. The neck on the Fender Arm the Homeless guitar must have gone through 20-25 iterations to get it just right. I was always sending it back. I'm like, “Well, nope, nope, nope.” We finally got that right.

The Gotoh whammy bar was not exactly the one that anybody wanted, but that's the one that worked for me. One thing that I ended up loving about it was the imperfections of it. After a while, the actual bar becomes really loose in there. Not what you want with a whammy bar… or do you?

Because I was able to use that to create some sort of helicopter sound, some sort of monkey sound – there was something in that particular whammy bar that, because it's the one that I was stuck with, I made the most of, and it helped me forge my signature sound.

What about the pickups? It’s an unusual configuration.

It's two EMG pickups, and the pickup in the neck position is basically a single-coil pickup disguised as a humbucker, and that is what provided the springiness to the riffs in a lot of those songs, from Fistful of Steel to Sleep Now in the Fire, Guerrilla Radio, and that, I think, really differentiated my sound from a lot of metal players. It allowed the songs to lock in with the rhythm section in a very different way than a lot of metal or nu metal players would.

The bridge pickup was my tip of the cap to my metal roots. It's the distorted sound of Know Your Enemy. It's the outro to Bullet in the Head. It's the sound for all of my guitar solos – when I kick on the echo pedal and just start space-jamming.

The toggle switch, too. The normal toggle switch that is in a Gibson guitar or whatever, if you use it like God intended, which is a lot, it'll burn out. It'll burn out quick. The toggle switch that is in my Arm the Homeless is the one in this, so you can just go to town on that baby.

Did you road-test the guitar at all?

The final prototype that I approved I've been using in concert on the last tour this year. So I feel great about it. It's interchangeable down to the aesthetics of the guitar.

The other day, we were shooting some promos, and I was at Cello Studios where we made a number of Audioslave and Rage Against the Machine records. I put three of the Fender Arm the Homeless guitars and the real one down on the mixing board. And I brought people, and I was like, “Pick the real one.”

And I'll tell you, here's the clue: the only distinguishing characteristic sonically or visually, is that on the real Arm the Homeless guitar, couple decades ago, a dog chewed the headstock. So there are teeth marks on the headstock. I think it was a dog. It's hard to say whether it was a fan or whether it was a badger, but there's teeth marks on the headstock of that one. But other than that, they're absolutely identical.

You say you've been stealth-playing the replica on tour – did anyone notice?

Zero. Zero percent. You'd never know. I mean, I don't know! And as far as feel and tone and whatnot, we got that right a while ago, getting the neck good. That took the longest, because that's a really unique part of it. It's tapered in a way that had allowed me, when I was practicing eight hours a day shredding scales, to be able to do that.

But also, the feel of a guitar ends up suggesting riffs. It ends up suggesting ideas. And if it were more of a thicker neck, it was more of a baseball neck, or wider in the wrong places, it never would have suggested Bulls on Parade. It never would have suggested People of the Sun.

What do you remember about the moment you first wrote ‘Arm the Homeless’ on the guitar?

I scrawled the words on it at a Rage show. It was the afternoon. We were playing at the Whiskey that night. We were opening for two other bands at the Whiskey that night, and that would have been in probably early ’92.

I was sitting on the dirty carpet in my little apartment in West Hollywood, and there were a couple markers around. They happened to be black and red, or it would have been something else at the time. I like slogans that are provocative.

And I love the juxtaposition of something that says “Arm the Homeless” with these cute, smiling hippopotamuses. That feels like multiple facets of my personality – those boxes are checked.

As you say, the Fender recreation looks remarkably faithful. There are a couple of very small changes, though: the Fathead Sustainer on the back of the headstock and the big hippo on the back of the guitar are both absent. What prompted those tweaks?

Well, the Sustainer on the back of the headstock of the real one never did anything. It was a pain in the ass to put that thing on. It was a pain in the ass to take it off. So I just literally never took it off. It literally did nothing. Literally nothing. So we're like, “Oh, like, I'll spare people having that.”

And then the hippo on the back. One of the reasons why I didn't put that on is because one of the features of this guitar through the last 10-15 years is when I'm showboating and playing with my teeth, I will write some sort of city-appropriate or political news cycle-appropriate thing on the back of it, and flip it over and read that so that, to me, didn't feel like it was any important part of the guitar at all.

I should say, another one of the motivations, not the principal motivation, but on the page of motivations, was all of the horrible knock-off Arm the Homeless guitars that exist in the world. There's a bunch of them out there.

People think they're getting my guitar because they're able to get the artwork sort of right, and I just think it's awful to have fans ripped off like that, to think that they're getting something that really is the Arm the Homeless guitar. It's not this one. I am the guy who made the Arm the Homeless guitar. This one is it.

You resisted signature gear for decades. What prompted that shift? Because now you've got pedals and plugins as well.

Because the stuff is exact. Here's the thing that I was always happy to put out and promote in the world: my music, because it's mine. My videos, because they're mine, or my bands, right? My ideas, because they're mine.

I was approached countless times: “Will you endorse this amp or this guitar or this pedal?” And I didn't want to do it because I didn't play it. I'm very conservative with my gear. It's the same guitar from ’87 till now. It's the same amp from ’88 till now. It's the same pedals from ’91 till now. So the only time when I've put stuff out is when it is exactly my gear.

The guitar is built in Mexico. Did you ever consider a high-end Fender Custom Shop version with all the relic’ing and road wear?

No, I didn't. Let the relic’ing and road wear be your own. Here it is. Now it's up to you to let your dog bite it.

The guitar must have been through its fair share of scrapes over the years. Dog bites aside, do any others stand out?

Oh, I mean this guitar has been at every show that I have ever played, outside of maybe a handful of Nightwatchman protest solo acoustic shows. So it’s seen it all. Some people get very emotional about their guitars, like, “Oh, this is my baby.” And I was always like, “This is a tool. This is an instrument. This is a battering ram for justice and big riffs.”

And over time, I gotta admit, I've become somewhat emotional about it. I play at night [at home], and I'm like, “We've been through a lot.” It is a long, long relationship that I have with this guitar, and it really is a relationship.

It's not just a thing; the way that it is, and the unique journey of how it arrived, is what helped me find my sound in the world, is what helped me become the artist that I am. And everything that's flowed from that, from the bands that I've been in to the ideas that I've been able to get out in the world, from the solos I've been able to shred standing next to Bruce Springsteen. You know, it's not just, “Hey, I'm doing this.” We are collaborative partners.

Does that mean you'll be retiring the original Arm the Homeless?

Well, it's taking a step back. Like the Jerry Garcia guitar or Prince’s guitar or Bruce Springsteen’s, the Arm the Homeless guitar is a working guitar in a real punk-rock context.

I play a lot of shows. Yes, there are festival headlining shows. Yes, there are shows with crews and whatnot. But I play a lot of shows for the people. And we were doing something in New Jersey within the last year, where I was walking backstage, a bunch of people walking around, I just saw the Arm the Homeless guitar, like, in a hallway, and I just went “Ah!” If I had wanted to steal it, I could have walked right out the door with it right then.

So I thought that the [original] Arm the Homeless guitar needs to maybe come out for special occasions. I used it the other day. I played Purple Rain at the Hollywood Bowl with a celebration of Black music and film. And it came out for that one, but now it's gonna come out for special occasions.

Musically speaking, what can we expect next from you? Can we ever expect to see you in a full-band context again, like Rage and Audioslave?

I'm in the midst of working on my first solo rock album, poaching riffs from my son, Roman, who's got the hot hand these days. And over the course of the next couple of months, releasing some more singles from that upcoming record. There's a full fall of acoustic, electric shows in Canada, East Coast, North American Tom Morello and friends tour playing in India at the end of the year.

I wrote a musical that's opening in Chicago called Revolutions, which has some songs from my career that Arm the Homeless guitar has created. And so it's a very, very busy time. I feel very, very comfortable in not being in a band. You know, if something comes up, I'm always willing to look at it, but I've got a lot of stuff on the docket as it is.

• The Fender Tom Morello “Arm The Homeless” Guitar is available now. See Fender.com for more.

After years of speculation, Fender has granted Tom Morello fans’ wishes and announced a replica of his Arm the Homeless electric guitar – the misfit six-string that fueled Rage Against the Machine and changed the face of rock guitar as we know it.

Fender has replicated every part of the one-of-a-kind instrument, which was Frankensteined together by Morello after he commissioned a custom guitar and hated every single part of it. Over several years, he would swap everything, settling with the iconic configuration that hasn’t changed over the past three decades.

There’s the EMG pickup combo – an 85 in the bridge, H humbucker-sized single-coil in the neck. The indestructible toggle switch. Gotoh’s Floyd Rose-alike locking tremolo with the rattly whammy bar.

The striking aesthetics are replicated, too: Morello’s hand-drawn hippos, the “Arm the Homeless” slogan in black and red permanent marker, all atop a blue ice metallic finish. And yes, in what’s possibly a first for a production-line guitar, the strings are uncut at the hockey-stick headstock.

In fact, the neck shape was the hardest thing to get right – after all, this was a knockoff Kramer neck that Morello found in a bargain bin. It took 20 to 25 iterations for Fender to nail the formula, but now the replica and the original are so interchangeable that Morello has been stealth-testing it on tour – and no-one, not Arm the Homeless die-hards (guilty) or even his bandmates, noticed.

“Zero. Zero percent. You'd never know. I mean, I don't know!” Morello told Guitar World. “The final prototype that I approved I've been using in concert on the last tour this year. So I feel great about it.

“It's interchangeable down to the aesthetics of the guitar. We were shooting some promos, and I was at Cello Studios where we made a number of Audioslave and Rage Against the Machine records. I put three of the Fender Arm the Homeless guitars and the real one down on the mixing board. And I brought people, and I was like, ‘Pick the real one.’”

But, as he reveals, there is one distinguishing characteristic between the original and the new guitar – and it’s a highly unusual bit of wear.

“On the real Arm the Homeless guitar, a couple decades ago, a dog chewed the headstock. So there are teeth marks on the headstock. I think it was a dog. It's hard to say whether it was a fan or whether it was a badger. But other than that, they're absolutely identical.”

There are a couple of teeny tiny differences on the rear of the guitar, too. There's no Fathead Sustainer on the rear of the headstock (“It literally did nothing”) or giant hippo on the back of the body – but the latter is normally covered up with a political statement that Morello flips to the audience while playing with his teeth.

And, unlike many of Fender’s recent Mexico-built signature models, the guitar is box-fresh and isn’t relic’d in any way. As Morello puts it, “Now it’s up to you to let your dog bite it.”

As per the guitarist’s other signature gear releases, proceeds from sales of Arm the Homeless will go to charity organizations Midnight Mission and Covenant House, which help those experiencing homelessness.

The Fender Tom Morello “Arm The Homeless” Guitar is available now for $1,699. Head to Fender.com for more info.

Read Guitar World’s full interview with Tom Morello.

As I wrote in this space last year, we typically get an early start on our annual end-of-year issue. Therefore – out of necessity – a lot of this issue was put together in late October, including our annual “biggest guitar news of the year” feature.

But, to prove how alive, dynamic and inherently interesting “guitar land” is, I had to update our news feature – literally on the page – almost every day as our printer deadline approached. Whether it was the sale of Eddie Van Halen’s “Kramer Ad” guitar, the Stray Cats’ tour cancellation, Gibson/Epiphone’s Back to the Future ES-345s, Nigel Tufnel’s new Marshall amp or who knows what else, there was always something happening.

Of course, the biggest – and most tragic – piece of “late news” was the death of Kiss co-founder Ace Frehley, a down-to-earth and charismatic guy (not to mention a local boy) who graced our cover several times.

We happened to have an unpublished early-2025 Frehley interview in the can, so it made sense to include that as part of this issue’s 11-page Ace tribute. This "lost interview" conveys everything that made Ace fun to talk to and know – his honesty, his sense of humor and his wealth of detailed memories about the good-ish ol’ days.

This dashing, rectangular and bulbous issue includes...

* Our editors choose the guitarists of the year – 20-ish players who left their indelible mark on 2025, including Nuno Bettencourt, Jake E. Lee, the guys from Mirador, Marcus King, Nigel Tufnel, Noel Gallagher, Stephen Carpenter, Tim Henson and a ton more.

* A recap of the biggest guitar news of the year – including the deaths of Ace Frehley, Ozzy Osbourne and Brent Hinds, plus that massive Back to the Beginning event way back in July, the end of Megadeth, those Modified Marshalls and more.

* The GW gang chooses our favorite new gear of the year, including the EVH SA-126 Standard, the Boss RT-2 Rotary Ensemble, Taylor's new Gold Label acoustics and many, many more things that we'd love to own.

* A plethora of guitar stars – including Don Felder, Brad Gillis, Kiki Wong, Max Cavalera, Herman Li, Vernon Reid, Joe Perry, Keith Urban, Eric Gales, Richard Fortus, Melanie Faye, Steve Stevens and more – choose the year’s best albums, solos, riffs, songs, guitar moments, guitarists of the year and more.

* A tribute to Ace Frehley, including an interview conducted in early 2025 but not published till this issue.

Not so fast! We've got this stuff too

The Gear Hunter checks in with Paul Reed Smith over at PRS Guitars, a company that's celebrating its 40th anniversary.

We also chat with Nuno Bettencourt (one of our guitarists of the year) and transcribe – for the first time in our 45 years on the planet –Young Man Blues from Live at Leeds by the Who. Our other transcriptions are Shinedown's 2025 track Three Six Five and Buddy Holly's Blue Days, Black Nights, featuring the late, great Sonny Curtis on guitar.

Gear-wise, we explore the history and allure of the Gibson SG Standard, and we review all this lovely stuff:

• Ibanez Q54W
• Boss PX-1 Plugout FX
• Sterling by Music Man Kaizen 7
• Fender American Professional Classic Stratocaster
• Warm Audio Throne of Tone
• JHS Pedals 424 Gain Stage

Finally, we have new columns by Joe Bonamassa, Jared James Nichols and Cory Wong, and we introduce a new columnist, Blackberry Smoke guitarist Charlie Starr.

You can buy new issues of Guitar World at Barnes & Noble, Walmart, Hudson News, Books a Million and other stores. But why not save on every issue by subscribing?

Grammy-nominated Italian rock band Måneskin's lead guitarist, Thomas Raggi, has announced his first solo project, Masquerade, for which he's teamed up with Tom Morello as producer and collaborator.

Following the band's last album, 2023's Rush – and lead singer Damiano David and bassist Victoria De Angelis' respective solo projects – Raggi is also going down the solo route with a straight-up rock ’n’ roll album that's due December 5.

Speaking about the record, Raggi says, “It's fueled by the desire to share my story through music and to explore new depths within myself through experimentation and discovery. But at the same time, it came together naturally.

“Over the past year, Tom involved me countless times in his live shows and initiatives. It was spontaneous for me to ask him to produce and structure my solo project. Starting this journey was truly magical and further cemented our musical cohesion. And then what happened afterwards was beyond anything I could have imagined.

As Raggi describes it, “I feel as if those who made music history are placing a hand on my shoulder, saying, ‘You’re on the right path.’”

As for Morello, he says that, “It was really exciting to see such a young, skilled guitarist so passionate about the music. From that very first meeting, we made plans to collaborate and explore ideas together.

“For me, it’s another chance to champion rock and roll and show that it still matters. I see this project as part of keeping that tradition alive.”

Alongside Morello, Masquerade features a star-studded list of collaborators, namely, Beck, Jet's Nic Cester, Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos, The Prodigy's Maxim, OKAMOTO’S bassist Hama Okamoto, Kasabian's Sergio Pizzorno, Red Hot Chili Peppers's Chad Smith, former Guns N' Roses drummer Matt Sorum, The Struts' Luke Spiller, and alternative artist Upsahl.

Last year, Raggi joined Morello on stage in Italy for a special rendition of MC5's Kick Out the Jams, after the Rage Against the Machine guitarist lent his chops to the Måneskin track, Gossip, in 2023.

Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath’s final show, Back to the Beginning, featured some of hard rock and metal’s best-known talents performing their own renditions of both seminal and deep-cut Sabbath and Ozzy tracks.

Halestorm were one of the bands that made up the historic lineup, which also included Mastodon, Anthrax, Tool, Alice In Chains, Guns N' Roses, and Metallica, to name a few. However, as they reveal in a recent interview, the show's set list wasn't cemented until just a few weeks before the event.

"When we got the call, ‘Sharon's asking you to be a part of this,’ we're like, is this real?” Lzzy Hale tells Guitar World's Paul Riario.

“There was this email. It was like, ‘Hey, Sabbath is gonna play one last gig with the original four members, and maybe Metallica might be there. Do you guys wanna be on the show?’” relates lead guitarist Joe Hottinger.

“We're like, ‘Well, yeah, of course.’ And that's all we knew about it. Then they announced it, and we were like, ‘Oh, this is a whole thing.’”

Halestorm ended up putting their own spin on Perry Mason, from Ozzy's 1995 record, Ozzmosis. However, it wasn't their original choice – or what they had prepared for.

“That wasn't what we were going to be playing until about two weeks out. We were going to be playing A National Acrobat off Sabbath Bloody Sabbath,” explains Hale.

“We worked up A National Acrobat, and then Morello was like, ‘Hey, you can't do that. I think Metallica was gonna [do that]...’ ‘All right, fine,’” continues Hottinger.

“He's like, ‘Tony Iommi hasn't made up the set list... It's up in the air with that one,’” adds Hale.

When A National Acrobat was axed, Perry Mason felt like a natural choice, since, as Hottinger relays, “When we came up, listening to rock ’n’ roll in the ’90s, Ozzmosis was out, [and] that song was the one on the radio.”

In more Halestorm news, Hale recently revealed how a “fluke accident” resulted in her band opening for Heaven & Hell during what would be Ronnie James Dio’s last show before he died.

As the guitar world continues to pay tribute to the late Ace Frehley and the immense legacy he left behind, Tom Morello has honored the Spaceman by sharing how the late Kiss guitarist inspired his musical journey.

On the October 17 episode of SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk, Morello discussed why Frehley was – and still is – his ultimate guitar hero, despite his own playing sounding “nothing like Ace.”

“Kiss was the band that made me love rock and roll, and he was the lead guitar player of that band,” he says matter-of-factly [transcribed by Blabbermouth]

“I mean, without him, I don't know whether I would've ever wanted to play guitar. It was totally formative. Kiss was the supernova that made me light up and think, ‘Oh, this is something I might wanna do for the rest of my life.’”

He continues, “And the lead guitarist of that band, a crucial part of that band, an indispensable part of that band's original chemistry, was Ace Frehley. So I owe not just an artistic debt to him, but just a life debt to him. Every riff that has ever come, every guitar solo that's ever been a part of my life has its origins, the DNA imprint of Ace Frehley.”

Morello has been vocal about the impact Frehley has had on him, taking to Instagram when the Kiss guitarist's death was announced. “The legendary Space Ace Frehley inspired generations to love rock ’n’ roll and love rock ’n’ roll guitar playing,” he wrote.

“His timeless riffs and solos, the billowing smoke coming from his Les Paul, the rockets shooting from his headstock, his cool spacey onstage wobble and his unforgettable crazy laugh will be missed but will never be forgotten. Thank you, Ace for a lifetime of great music and memories.”

Since Frehley's death, a plethora of guitarists have come out and paid their respects, including Nuno Bettencourt, Steve Vai, and Slash, to name a select few.

Guitar World scribe Andrew Daly, who spoke to Frehley on a number of occasions over the past few years, also looked back on why Ace was the true embodiment of rock ‘n’ roll spirit.

Just months after revealing that he and Geddy Lee regularly jam, Alex Lifeson has joined Tom Morello on stage for a surprise guest spot in Toronto, during which they jammed a Rush classic in the band's home city.

The cheers that erupted after Morello uttered the words, “Please welcome Alex Lifeson to the stage,” are palpable, even via YouTube. Aptly donning his Godin Lerxst Limelight, built as a recreation of the Hentor Sportcaster that dominated Rush's early '80s material, Lifeson swiftly rolled back the years as soon as he started playing Limelight's iconic opening bars.

The spot happened at the city's Danforth Music Hall on July 17. Morello is currently touring as a solo artist and, after dedicating The Garden of Gethsemane to the late Chris Cornell and covering Ozzy's Mr Crowley, called upon Lifeson to help kick off the encore.

Proving he is human after all, Lifeson warms into the guitar solo but ends on a high, throwing Morello a wry smile and a shake of the head as he nails the final vibrato. The Canadian legend received another rapturous response upon the song’s end, with Morello beaming, “What a time to be alive.”

He also stuck around for the final song of the night, a cover of the MC5’s Kick Out the Jams, which was also covered by a newly reformed Soundgarden earlier this year.

Lifeson has recently released a second album with his post-Rush band, Envy of None, and it’s a release that has seen him embrace digital gear and reignite his passion for solos.

However, he’s also spoken candidly about his insecurities as a player, saying he’s always struggled from a lack of confidence in his abilities.

The Limeight performance continues Morello's hot-streak of shred-offs. He joined Jane's Addiction and rekindled his fiery partnership with Bruce Springsteen last year, traded licks with Slash in February, and spearheaded the heavy metal Yardbirds at Back to the Beginning earlier this month.

When Back to the Beginning was first announced, not only was it promised to be “the greatest day in the history of heavy metal”, it also vowed to bring together a mind-bending array of special guest guitar heroes for a range of Sabbath-honoring and supergroup sets.

And arguably the most anticipated supergroup of the evening was the ‘metal Yardbirds’ – a reunion of sorts between three electric guitar greats, all of whom grew up in similar musical circles when they were younger, and whose team-up had been teased by Sharon Osbourne back in February.

That hotly anticipated group comprised Tom Morello, Billy Corgan and Adam Jones, who came together for a Rage Against the Machine/Smashing Pumpkins/Tool super-band that performed two tracks on the night.

Morello, Corgan, and Jones – who shared near-identical early experiences growing up in similar music circles, before branching out into their own styles – were flanked at Back to the Beginning by Judas Priest royalty K.K. Downing, and former Ozzy and Dio bassist Rudy Sarzo, for a rampant Breaking The Law, before a Sabbath nod via Snowblind, from 1972’s Vol. 4.

The songs played host to plenty of whammy and wah pedal action, with the Flying V-wielding Downing, and Les Paul wielders Morello and Jones, delivering a bevy of high-octane guitar solos, each one oozing in a classic rock ’n’ roll spirit.

Elsewhere, Corgan was exclusively assigned to vocal duty for the two songs, meaning the wait to hear the six-string triumvirate of Morello, Jones and Corgan regrettably goes on.

Speaking of his connection to Morello and Jones – and the concept of the 'metal Yardbirds' – earlier this year, Corgan had said, “Somebody will get mad at me, but it's the closest thing to Beck, Clapton and Page kind of growing up in the same hood. We have had our influence in what followed.

“If they want to get mad at me, they can, but that's not an insane theory. I find it really fascinating, because what was it in the water that we were all drinking?”

Intriguingly, Jones says Tool originally turned down the chance to get involved with Back to the Beginning, with curator Tom Morello eager to involve his former schoolmate.

Elsewhere, there were some other noteworthy spots. Steven Tyler, who continues to recover from vocal issues that forced Aerosmith's retirement last year, made a triumphant return to the stage and joined Ronnie Wood, Tom Morello, Nuno Bettencourt and Andrew Watt group for three tracks.

Taking to Instagram to reflect on just shy of 10 hours of riffs and tributes, Billy Corgan had some heartfelt reflections.

“Music is the soundtrack to our lives, but yesterday, in my estimation, was something truly special,” he wrote. “As a three-dimensional soundtrack was being crafted in real time. All to celebrate this coming home for the band once known as Earth.

“Every great journey has trials and tribulations, tragedies and surprises. Therein lies the magic, therein lie the tears. I both whooped yesterday in sheer exultation to be in the right spot at the right moment, and I wept silently as my heroes fell on their wizardly, mythic sword to bid us farewell.”

When Sharon Osbourne approached Tom Morello about being Back to the Beginning’s musical director, his response was immediate: “If called, I will serve.” Now the Rage Against the Machine guitarist is helping to assemble what he calls “the greatest day in the history of heavy metal, in honor of the band that started it all.”

The July 5 event will feature an unprecedented lineup of heavy bands including Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Alice in Chains, Guns N’ Roses and Tool. Morello will be directing segments featuring legendary individual musicians like Slash, Billy Corgan, Wolfgang Van Halen, Jake E. Lee, K.K. Downing, Lzzy Hale, Duff McKagan, Rudy Sarzo and more in what he describes as revolving supergroups.

“You’re never going to know what’s going to happen next on this day, trust me,” he says.

How did you go about getting musicians on board for this event?

“People pick up the phone, dude! When you’re able to call up and say, you know, ‘Final Black Sabbath show, with all four original members. Final Ozzy Osbourne show. Happening in the birthplace of heavy metal – Birmingham, England. In the soccer stadium that these guys attended as kids. And we would love for you to come and play some songs…’ People tend to respond positively.”

So it was up to you to reach out?

“I called everybody! I looked at my heavy-metal Rolodex and just called up friends who Ozzy, Sharon and I had talked about wanting to have there. I take this job so seriously as a curator, and I’m looking at who’s gonna be the most impactful, the most meaningful, the most moving, the most fun, the most metal. [Laughs]”

What can fans expect at the show?

“With regards to the individual musicians, there’s going to be time during the day and evening for these revolving supergroups where some of the greatest drummers and guitarists and singers and bass players are going to play in different combinations, which is going to be exciting.”

Any collaborations you’re excited about?

“One thing I’m looking forward to happening is it’s the first time that Billy Corgan, [Tool guitarist] Adam Jones and myself will be playing together. Three dudes from northern Illinois! Adam and I went to high school together. Billy grew up a couple towns over. All of us were so influenced by Black Sabbath, but we’ve never played together. So that’s something I’m really psyched about.”

What is your personal history with Black Sabbath?

“I remember very clearly being scared shitless when I saw the Sabbath Bloody Sabbath album cover as a child… and then I fell in love with the music. Paranoid was the first record I got. Iron Man was the first hook that drew me in, and it began riff imprinting on me. It’s a cornerstone of every song I’ve ever been a part of.”

What sets Tony Iommi apart as a guitarist?

“Along with Jimmy Page, he’s the greatest riff writer of all time. The riffs are so heavy, and there’s also great grooves. I remember an early guitar lesson where I was learning, I don’t know, Sweet Leaf or something like that. And the teacher, who was a bit of a muso, was kind of denigrating Tony’s playing, saying, ‘These riffs are so simple.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, but he wrote them and they’re just awesome!’

“Like, simple doesn’t take it off the awesome scale. [Laughs] I’ve always tried to keep that in mind in my riff writing. Because the more you develop technically as a musician, sometimes you start to think that if it’s not complicated, it’s not good. So I’m constantly bringing myself back to the incredible catalog of Tony Iommi and his great riffs. He is a singular stylist.”

You’ve worked with Ozzy before. Any funny stories?

“There was one time where Ozzy nearly blew up me and Slash. We joined him and his band as guests at the Voodoo Fest in New Orleans [in 2015], and during a part of the show where we weren’t playing, the two of us were sitting behind the stage chatting. And there’s this crew guy at the side of the stage who’s apoplectic.

“He’s gesturing wildly to us, and finally he gets the courage to come over. And he says, ‘You guys are sitting on the pyro!’ So yeah, Ozzy nearly blew us up. Anyway, we survived that.”

Given your history with these guys, how does it feel to be given this responsibility?

“It’s a great honor and I take it really seriously. This is something meant to pay tribute to one of the greatest bands of all time, and it’s going to be a really special day.

“Every day we kind of go through the run-of-show and the stuff that’s changing – who’s added, who’s subtracted and what other elements are going to be there that are going to make it even more spectacular. But it’s a labor of love. I can’t wait for July 5.”

• Black Sabbath's final performance will be livestreamed on July 5. See Back to the Beginning for details.
• This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.

Former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Jake E. Lee has revealed that Tom Morello instigated his impending reunion spot with The Prince of Darkness at the Back to the Beginning show because he couldn’t see it happening without him.

The historic metal event, which takes place at Villa Park stadium in Birmingham, England, next month will see Ozzy and Black Sabbath grace the stage for one last time, with a host of guest musicians starring across both sets.

Sammy Hagar has already revealed the Ozzy song he’ll be performing on the night, while Jake E. Lee has spoken candidly about his position. While the world expects him to play his biggest Ozzy hit, Bark at the Moon, he’s admitted that health issues may force him to resort to plan B.

Furthermore, speaking in Guitar World’s latest print issue in the build-up to the big bow-out bash, Lee says he’s honored to have been invited. He hasn’t crossed paths with the Prince of Darkness since departing from the bad in 1987.

“Tom Morello called me. He said, ‘There's going to be a thing, an original Sabbath performance and Ozzy Osbourne's final performance. I can't see this going on without Jake E. Lee in there somewhere,’” he explains.

Lee was chosen as Ozzy’s full-time guitarist, following the untimely passing of Randy Rhoads, who helped shoot the Sabbath singer to solo stardom with two albums: Blizzard of Ozz (1980) and Diary of a Madman (1981).

Lee's electric guitar exploits featured on two albums, Bark at the Moon (1983), and The Ultimate Sin (1986), before the virtuoso was replaced by Zakk Wylde.

“It's a thrill to be a part of it,” Lee says. “And even more so for me to watch it. I hope Ozzy can get through it. I haven't spoken with him or seen him in decades. I really don't know what condition he's in, but he deserves a final farewell performance.

“No matter how he is, or how well his singing is, he deserves to have that final farewell. I'm happy to be a part of it.”

Another key part of his Ozzy reign was playing Sabbath songs each night. For Rhoads, who wasn’t a Sabbath fan, he put Tony Iommi’s iconic riffs through his own lens. For Lee, it was a chance to doff his cap to one of his earliest guitar heroes.

“I was 13 and had just gotten into the whole rock 'n' roll thing,” he says of his earliest Sabbath experience. “I'd grown up playing classical piano and was a bit of a snob. I thought rock 'n' roll was stupid! Then I heard Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze…

“I love horror films, and that [debut album] opening track [Black Sabbath] was like listening to a horror movie. I don't know if I'd say I was scared, but it overwhelmed me. I'd never heard anything like it.

“[Iommi’s playing] just sounds evil,” he expands. “He bends so [that] it's not quite in pitch. It just made it sound so much better. There are things like that that I found challenging. It's unfathomable how he just kept coming up with riffs!

“Black Sabbath was one of my three favorite bands as a teenager, along with Led Zeppelin and Grand Funk Railroad. Every time I'm trying to set my stuff up to get the sound right, I play War Pigs!”

For those who missed out on a ticket to heavy metal’s hottest event in years, the chaos of the riff-infested frivolities will be available as a live stream.

To read Jake E. Lee’s interview in full, alongside conversations with the rest of Back to the Beginning’s bumper cast, head to Magazines Direct to grab a cop of Guitar World.

The ultimate metal and hard rock extravaganza – i.e. Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath's final show, Back to the Beginning – is fast approaching. The July 5th mega-show will pit together some of the world's most influential names in heavy music at the Church of Sabbath.

Tool's Adam Jones is one such disciple set to be involved. However, as he reveals in the new issue of Guitar World, the band was quite late signing on to the festivities – and he was initially not going to sign on at all.

Like all the other artists involved, Jones and the gang were initially approached by Tom Morello, who's doubling as the show's musical director.

“The four of us [in Tool] were on the phone, or texting – I can’t remember – and someone went, ‘I don’t think I can do it.’ Someone else went, ‘Okay, yeah, I think I’m gonna do this other thing,’” Jones says when asked about his involvement. “I think I even went, ‘Yeah, let’s not do it.’ But it was really an honor that they asked us.”

So what led to his change of heart? It seems like it all boiled down to Morello's persistence (the chance to join an iconic lineup for a historic event didn't hurt either).

“Months later, Tom contacted me and said, ‘Would you be down to play something with me?’ I was like, ‘Hmmm, that could be fun. Yeah!’ He goes, ‘It’ll just be me, you and Billy Corgan.’ He was thinking we could play a tune, so I said, ‘Yeah, that’s fine. But if plans change, I won’t feel bad if you decide that you don’t want me to do it – but let’s do it.’

He continues, “I was again talking to Tom, and I went, ‘Yeah, I’m sorry we all couldn’t do it.’ He goes, ‘Well, you know Dan [Carey, Tool’s drummer] is playing with these guys, and Maynard [James Keenan, Tool’s singer] is playing with these people…’

“I went, ‘I didn’t know that…’ It hit me, and I said, ‘If the three of us are there – and I know Justin [Chancellor, bass] will want to do it…’ I went back to our people and went, ‘Why don’t we just do it? We’re all going to be there.’ That’s how it happened – and why it was announced later.”

As for Morello, he cites teaming up with Jones and Corgan – who he dubs “three dudes from Northern Illinois” – as one of the highlights of the event.

“Adam and I went to high school together,” he told Guitar World. “Billy grew up a couple towns over. All of us were so influenced by Black Sabbath, but we’ve never played together. So that’s something I’m really psyched about.”

And, if you missed out on tickets for the actual show (they sold out in 16 minutes), it was recently announced that a pay-per-view livestream will be available, with tickets – priced at $29.99 – up for grabs from the official Back to the Beginning site.

For more from Adam Jones, plus new interviews with Tom Morello and Jake E. Lee, pick up issue 593 of Guitar World at Magazines Direct.

When Ozzy Osbourne turned to Tom Morello to curate the historic Black Sabbath Back to the Beginning show – which will also be available to livestream when it happens next month – he did so with good reason.

After all, The Prince of Darkness and the Rage Against the Machine electric guitar hero go way back, so there was no one better placed to direct what will be both Ozzy and Black Sabbath's last-ever show. However, their friendship nearly went up in smoke in 2015 – rather literally.

In the new issue of Guitar World, which looks ahead to what is shaping up to be the greatest show in heavy metal history, Morello reflects on his relationship with Ozzy, and recalls the time he almost met a grizzly end while sharing the stage with him and Slash.

“There was one time where Ozzy nearly blew up me and Slash,” Morello responds when asked about his past with Osbourne. “We joined him and his band as guests at the Voodoo Fest in New Orleans [in 2015], and during a part of the show where we weren’t playing, the two of us were sitting behind the stage chatting.”

Ozzy took no prisoners during his all-killer, no-filler 16-song set, launching first into I Don't Know before Morello was welcomed onto the stage to perform Mr Crowley and Bark at the Moon. When he re-emerged several songs later, he brought Slash with him and, alongside Ozzy's then-guitarist Gus G, they delivered a wall of overdriven sound for two Sabbath classics, N.I.B and Iron Man.

The night was a roaring success – lashing rain was the only thing that threatened to dampen the spirits of the band and crowd. But it nearly ended in disaster.

“There’s this crew guy at the side of the stage, who’s apoplectic,” Morello continues. “He’s gesturing wildly to us, and finally he gets the courage to come over. And he says, ‘You guys are sitting on the pyro!’ So yeah, Ozzy nearly blew us up.”

Ozzy shows haven’t been without their casualties – that bat incident was 43 years ago – so its fortunate the two guitarists didn’t add to that folklore.

Both Slash and Morello will grace the stage at Back to the Beginning. Guns N' Roses feature towards the top of the bill, while Morello will be fusing his talents with two other Chicago natives, Smashing Pumpkin's Billy Corgan, and Tool/Beat drummer Danny Carey, for a one-off supergroup.

Morello has had his work cut out trying to fit every band on the bill. GNR were a late addition, as were Anthrax. Scott Ian has revealed he got on the bill after cheekily asking the RATM man if there was room for one more.

Speaking to Guitar Player recently about the upcoming show, Morello said he is trying to devise “the greatest day in the history of heavy metal for the greatest band in the history of heavy metal”. All evidence thus far suggests it will certainly be a special occasion. No wonder every player and his dog wants an invite to the party.

Head to Magazines Direct to pick up a copy the latest issue of Guitar World, which offers an in-depth cover feature on the historic Black Sabbath show.

Tickets for Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath's blockbuster final show, which is being curated by Tom Morello and features a veritable feast of the heavy metal elite, sold out in just 16 minutes. That's a speed equivalent of the first four tracks of Master of Reality. Those who blinked unfortunately missed out.

Thankfully, fans whose fingers (and internet speeds) weren't fast enough to get a ticket the live show amid the rush will still be available to stream the show from the comfort of their homes.

For those who can’t attend in person, a pay-per-view live stream will be available, produced by Mercury Studios – the team behind Metallica Saved My Life and One to One: John & Yoko. Tickets are priced at $29.99, and there’s also a premium package which, for $64.98, throws a special tour shirt into the mix.

The stream starts at 3:00 pm BST (10:00 am EDT, 7:00 am PDT) on July 5th, and the night’s shenanigans and frivolities will be available to rewatch for another 48 hours.

“Mercury Studios [is] incredibly proud to be involved in capturing this monumental milestone at Villa Park,” says managing director Kelly Sweeney. “Back To The Beginning will be an unforgettable experience, and our aim is to deliver this moment to fans worldwide, wherever they are, so they don’t miss out on seeing music history being made.”

Morello’s task for the show is simple: “To curate the greatest day in the history of heavy metal for the greatest band in the history of heavy metal.” It’s only fair then that such a historic day will be televised – and that's now become a reality.

Sabbath's classic line-up – Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward – will make their final bow at Villa Park in Birmingham, England, next month alongside a cast of metal royalty that transcends generations. Bands such as Metallica, Alice In Chains, and Gojira, while individual names, including Wolfgang Van Halen, and Halestorm's Lzzy Hale, will also star.

As for what to expect from the event, Ozzy has already revealed he will only play a bit–part role, and Sammy Hagar has revealed the song he’ll be performing during Ozzy’s solo set.

It is also expected that some of the assembled guest stars will fill-in at various points during Sabbath’s set – WVH, Hale, and Sleep Token drummer II, and Ghost’s enigmatic frontman, Papa V Perpetua, are all seemingly on the bill for that reason.

There will also be a supergroup comprising members of Tool, Rage Against the Machine, and Smashing Pumpkins, with Slash and Duff McKagan joining them for the ride, too.

Scott Ian, meanwhile, has joked about how Anthrax were added to the bill because he got a severe case of FOMO after seeing the gig poster without his band's name on it.

Tickets for the Black Sabbath Back to the Beginning live stream can be purchased from Back to the Beginning.

When the MC5's Wayne Kramer passed in February 2024, punk lost one of its greatest icons. Idolized for his explosive fretwork, gritty, defiant guitar tones and long-running commitment to activism, Kramer’s legacy can now live on in MXR’s new, limited edition Jail Guitar Doors Drive pedal.

The drive unit was designed by Kramer, Jimi Dunlop, and Daredevil Pedals owner Johnny Wator before the MC5 man’s death, and now finally sees the light of day.

The overdrive pedal is named after the late musician’s charity, which uses instruments as tools for inmate rehabilitation and “aims to capture all of the high-voltage energy of Wayne Kramer's sound.”

Built with two uniquely voiced gain circuits, the two can “cascade” together under a singular pot control that holds dominion over their collective output level and the distortion’s saturation. It’s no-nonsense – but that doesn’t mean it won’t bite your head off.

“This is the MC5's roaring distortion sound in a box,” says Tom Morello, a longterm Kramer fan and one of his closest friends. “What they've [also] tried to bake into the pedal is Wayne's attitude, and the grit and the rawness of Detroit, and of the MC5.”

For a super-charged example of what the pedal can do, check out MC5’s 2024 track Heavy Lifting, which featured Morello’s superlative, whammy-loving talents, and a healthy dollop of the Jail Guitar Doors Drive.

“The MC5, with him at the guitar helm along with Fred ‘Sonic’ Smith, invented the template that became punk rock music,” Morello explains. “They played in an unapologetic way, from the heart with their radical politics at the forefront and their radical music going head-to-head with it.”

“The rawest moment in the history of rock and roll is that live recording of Kick Out the Jams [Tartar Field, 1970]. It unleashes itself like the four horses of the apocalypse running wild in a Beverly Hills crystal shop.”

That sound became the template for this pedal. The stompbox comes in two forms, each featuring artwork from artist Shepard Fairey, a well-known figure in the skateboarding scene, and the artist responsible for the Barack Obama 'Hope' poster.

It is not the first time that MXR and Daredevil have linked up, however. In 2023 the partnership instilled a gnarly fuzz circuit into the guts of Dunlop's legendary wah pedal, and the results were wild.

Priced at $199, the MXR Jail Guitar Doors Drive pedal is available exclusively from MXR’s official Reverb store.

Check out Reverb for more.

The 2025 American Music Honors, presented by the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey, honored some bona fide legends with a star-studded event saluting guitarists and singer-songwriters from across the musical spectrum.

Among them was Tom Morello, John Fogerty, Joe Ely, and Emmylou Harris, as well as the multi-hyphenate crooner Smokey Robinson. All honorees were in attendance, except for Ely, who could not make it to the ceremony due to health issues.

Bruce Springsteen himself and members of the E Street Band were also present, with the Boss playing host and wielding his Fender Tele to perform with some of the honorees.

“If I hear my name again, I’m going to fucking throw up,” Springsteen joked when he took podium. “Let’s talk about someone else.”

And with that, the spotlight shifted to the veritable list of honorees. Tom Morello graced the audience with his take on Springsteen’s Woody Guthrie-inspired The Ghost of Tom Joad – using his Arm the Homeless custom guitar – and delivering a searing, rage-filled solo reminiscent of Hendrix's iconic Star-Spangled Banner Woodstock performance.

“That is called ‘playing the shit out of the guitar!’” commented Brian Williams, the evening's official host, right after the Rage Against the Machine guitarist’s performance.

Fogerty performed Creedence Clearwater Revival classics Bad Moon Rising, Proud Mary, and Fortunate Son on a rented black Gibson Les Paul Custom – a performance made even more emotional by his long battle to reclaim the rights to his catalog.

“Inside I knew I loved music, and the rest of it just kind of burned me out," he asserted. "The worst part about it was I didn’t own my own songs. So, it became a lifetime battle… For a long time, I didn’t even sing my own songs because I was so angry or bitter about the whole thing. But I still loved music. Music is my best friend.”

Emmylou Harris was accompanied by Patti Scialfa – who called Harris “one of my favorite artists in the world” – in performing Red Dirt Girl, from the veteran artist's 19th studio album of the same name, while Steven Van Zandt honored Robinson and joined him for a spirited duet of Tears of a Clown.

“I have singer heroes, songwriter heroes, song arranger heroes, and music producer heroes, and when you have all of them in the same guy, you get Smokey Robinson,” said Van Zandt. “One can obviously connect a dozen of my songs to his influence.”

The encore saw Springsteen join forces with both Van Zandt and Robinson for their own rendition of The Miracles' Going to a Go-Go, before 2024's honoree Jackson Browne joined the supergroup for a raucous take on Take It Easy, the Eagles' debut single.

The Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music aims to preserve the legacy of the Boss – while also celebrating the history and breadth of American music. The research center is currently located on the Monmouth University campus, with a new 30,000-square-foot facility scheduled to open in spring 2026.

In other Springsteen news, Shayne Fontayne recently opened up about the challenges of filling the shoes of Steven Van Zandt and Nils Lofgren as the Boss’s guitarist during the 1992–1993 “Other Band” Tour.

Earlier this year, the heavy metal world was sent into a tailspin when it was announced that Ozzy Osbourne would be performing his last-ever live show as part of a historic event that would also see the OG Black Sabbath reunite.

Scheduled for this July, the ‘Back to the Beginning’ concert will feature a solo set by Osborne, as well as special guest performances from a huge bevy of big names, from Metallica, Pantera and Anthrax to Slayer, Alice in Chains, Halestorm and many more.

The entire day is being masterminded by Tom Morello, after the Rage Against the Machine hero was handpicked by the Osbourne camp to serve as musical director for the historic gig.

For Morello, a Sabbath superfan and devout follower of all things heavy metal, it is the MD gig of a lifetime. And as he explains in a new interview with Guitar Player, he’s taking a history-spanning approach to organizing the day – which will also pay tribute to one of Osbourne’s guitarists.

One of the biggest names attached to star in the show is Jake E. Lee – the electric guitar virtuoso who joined Osbourne’s solo band in the early 1980s following the tragic death of Randy Rhoads in 1982.

And, when asked about Lee’s involvement, Morello says he views the event as a tribute to Ozzy’s entire musical lineage – and as such will take the opportunity to honor the memory of Rhoads.

“Yes! Jake E. Lee is going to be there, too, dude! It’s historic on a lot of levels for someone who is a big fan of the Ozzy records,” Morello notes.

“We’re celebrating Black Sabbath, but it’s Ozzy Osbourne’s final show, too,” he continues. “It is, in some ways, also a tribute to the great Randy Rhoads, who was on a poster on my wall when I was practicing eight hours a day.

“That was the musician’s musician. Like, I take the job of curating this day very, very seriously. Not just to honor the living members of Black Sabbath but also Randy Rhoads, who is so important to me personally, and to the genre. To have that be a part of the day, too, is pretty special.”

The Back to the Beginning show is set to take place at Villa Park, Birmingham, UK, on Saturday July 5. Other confirmed guests include Billy Corgan, Duff McKagan, Slash, Sammy Hagar, Wolfgang Van Halen, KK Downing and more.

In related news, Ozzy recently downplayed the role he’ll have during the Sabbath set, saying he’ll only be on hand to do “little bits and pieces” with Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward.

Elsewhere, it was confirmed that the show will play host to a surprise supergroup comprising members of Tool, Rage Against the Machine and Smashing Pumpkins.

Visit Live Nation for tickets.

Billy Corgan recently invited Tom Morello to guest on his new The Magnificent Others interview series. During the conversation, he took the opportunity to voice a long-held theory that concerned him, the Rage Against the Machine titan, and one other electric guitar player who all formed a de facto ‘Yardbirds of metal’ trio.

As youngsters and aspiring musicians, Corgan and Morello both came from neighbouring areas, and as the Smashing Pumpkins frontman puts it in this new chat, they "grew up in the same atmosphere” and shared similar music experiences.

Corgan also namedrops Tool’s Adam Jones – who famously started a band with Morello during that time – as a third player to have shared social and sonic circles. They all listened to similar music, started rock bands, and wrote riff-driven music.

However, despite having near-identical interests – and having shared such similar experiences – when their careers took off, all three players branched out into significantly different niches.

Morello went down the activist rock route with Rage Against the Machine, Jones went progressive with Tool, and Corgan developed the Smashing Pumpkins’ alt-rock sound. It’s a branching of styles that has baffled Corgan ever since.

“I have this theory no-one seems to pick up on, so I'm bringing it to you,” Corgan says to Morello. “I'm sure I told you about this before, but I do find it fascinating that Adam [Jones] from Tool... obviously you guys had a band together when you were young.

“And there I am, living probably 20 miles away from you guys. We all grew up in the same atmosphere. We all started rock bands that were predominantly riff-driven… and we took music in three completely different directions. I find that really fascinating.”

That the three heavy players would be so closely connected by one shared musical experience, only to then split off and explore their own avenues, is not a new phenomenon.

In fact, almost the exact same thing happened in England, with Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, all of whom grew up in Surrey, UK, and would go on to join the same band. It’s a shared phenomenon that clearly hasn’t gone unnoticed by Corgan.

“Somebody will get mad at me, but it's the closest thing to Beck, Clapton and Page kind of growing up in the same hood,” Corgan goes on of the connection he had with Morello and Jones. “We have had our influence in what followed.

“If they want to get mad at me, they can, but that's not an insane theory. I find it really fascinating, because what was it in the water that we were all drinking?”

Indeed, similarities between the respective trio’s experiences can be drawn. Clapton, Beck and Page will forever be linked by the fact they all had stints in the Yardbirds, before they too embarked down notably differing guitar paths.

Page embraced hard rock with Led Zeppelin, Clapton pursued psychedelic rock and blues through Cream and his solo work, and Beck became revered for his blues rock and fusion style.

Again, the fact these three were all unified by Yardbird tenures that preceded stylistic deviations, is, at least in Corgan’s mind, the same thing he experienced with Adam Jones and Tom Morello.

“The one thing that all three have in common is metal, you know?” Morello says in response to Corgan’s theory. “Adam and I, we were in his truck driving up to the [Judas] Priest shows and the Iron Maiden shows.

“And then I think what's interesting is how that metal DNA appears in all three, but then there's how it branches off.”

While Clapton, Beck and Page only performed together during one magical tour, we have yet to hear what a Morello/Corgan/Jones collab sounds like.

Although, given the news that Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath's final show will play host to a Tool, Rage Against the Machine and Smashing Pumpkins supergroup, it could be on the cards…

Visit Billy Corgan's YouTube channel to watch the full interview.

Tom Morello, Slash, and a host of big names joined forces as The Freedom Fighter Orchestra on Friday (February 7), with the Rage Against The Machine ripper spearheading the second of two performances in aid of the LA wildfire relief.

Members of System of a Down, Wu-Tang Clan, Maneskin, and The Struts also featured alongside Morello’s shred-laden son, Roman, as part of a mammoth set at the Fonda Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard.

Unsurprisingly, it was the Guns N’ Roses man's three-song cameo that stole the show. He joined the set late on, ripping through an original and two classic rock bangers peppered with sweet, bluesy leads.

“Sounds just like Slash, doesn't it,” Morello laughed as the guitarist plugged into a Marshall stack. They quickly turned to Interstate 80, the song the pair wrote over lockdown, which sees them trading blazing solos like they're going out of fashion and neither of them held back here, either.

Next on the bill was MC5’s Kick Out the Jams – previously covered by RATM and, more recently, at Soundgarden’s first show since Chris Cornell’s passing – before rounding out with the snake-hipped AC/DC classic, Dirty Deeds (Done Dirt Cheap).

Again, there are solos aplenty from Slash, wearing a beanie and glasses for the occasion, and shredding like he’s got his feet up in his living room with no one watching – making for a spontaneous, off-the-cuff performance.

That latter track was brought together by a sizable cast, with Måneskin's Thomas Raggi, SOAD bass player Shavo Odadjian, and The Struts singer Luke Spiller all joining in, after Raggi and Spiller had dropped in for Måneskin's Morello-bolstered Gossip earlier on in the night.

Wu-Tang Clan's RZA then stepped in to keep up the momentum, performing Ain't Nuthin' to Fuck Wit, while Roman Morello – a player his father says “can shred circles around me” – stepped up for his dad's career-defining hit, Killing in the Name, alongside Soldier in the Army of Love, the song he wrote with his dad.

The LA Wildfires started on January 7 and have caused widespread damage to the infamous American city. Many musicians, including Iron Maiden’s Adrain Smith and Primus’ Larry LaLonde, have lost their homes and gear.

The industry has responded by putting together a string of benefit shows, initiatives, and raffles to help support those most affected. Fender, Gibson, Guitar Center, and Spiritbox's Mike Stringer have helped raise vital funds.

Another benefit show saw an unexpected Nirvana reunion. The band was fronted by four mega-talented women, including Joan Jett and Grammy-winning shredder St. Vincent.

The idea had come from Dave Grohl, who wanted to use their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame performance to showcase female talent, and that legacy continued in incendiary fashion at the end of January.

“If we can fill the performance with these incredible women singing Nirvana songs, then we’ll have achieved our own revolution,” he had said to Rolling Stone about the Hall of Fame show.

For his revolution, Morello rounded-out his monstrous set with a RATM/Audioslave medley (in E, key fans) and concluded with Power to the People.

All merchandise proceeds and a portion of the ticket sales from the events at Anaheim's House of Blues and the Fonda Theatre have gone to LA Wildfire Relief.

The announcement of Ozzy Osbourne's return – and last-ever live performance – on July 5 marks the historic reunion of the original Black Sabbath members for their first show in 20 years.

Dubbed ‘Back to the Beginning’, this homecoming – and, frankly, celebration of a great legacy – takes Sabbath back to where it all began: Birmingham.

However, instead of a traditional headliner-and-support-style show, this event will bring together some of rock’s most influential, generation-spanning talents – a supergroup, if you will, or a “very supergroup,” as Tony Iommi shared with Planet Rock – for what already looks like an event destined for the history books.

Most intriguing among the lineup is a Tool, Rage Against the Machine and Smashing Pumpkins supergroup, teased by Sharon Osbourne, who appears in the same interview.

“Tom Morello is going to be playing with Billy Corgan and you know the drummer from Tool [Danny Carey]. You wouldn't have thought that you would see those three guys together, but they're all from Chicago, so they're all home guys,” says Osbourne.

“Then you’ll see Slash and Duff [McKagan] and whoever they choose to play with,” she elaborates in an interview with NME. “David Draiman [Disturbed] is going to come up and sing, Jonathan [Davis] from KoRn is going to be here and he could be playing with [Red Hot Chili Peppers’] Chad Smith or whoever! Alice In Chains are coming and they’re playing as the band.”

As Osbourne explains, assembling all these big names was no easy feat – but their willingness to commit is a testament to Ozzy’s legacy and, by extension, Black Sabbath’s.

“People are coming in from all over the world – they're all gigging because it's the summer, so everybody's out doing festivals, and somehow, it worked. Bands like Anthrax, we asked them to be a part of it, and they said, ‘Oh, don't even bother to send us a ticket. We're going to be there no matter what.’”

After all, as Osbourne puts it, “This is a celebration – of the genre and the pioneers who started it and passed it on to all these bands. Usually, this thing is done when you’re dead – so it’s nice that these guys can be alive to be appreciated!”

Tickets for the mega-event go on sale on February 14, with proceeds from the show set to be shared equally between Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and Acorn Children’s Hospice.

Visit Live Nation for tickets.

Before they emerged as two of the biggest progressive and alternative metal guitar players of the ’90s and early ’00s in their respective bands, Tom Morello and Adam Jones were high school buddies.

Morello, who would go on to fight the system with Rage Against The Machine’s change-making rap metal, has now taken to Instagram to reflect on their early friendship and the impact it’s had on their careers.

Jones, it turns out, played bass in Morello’s high school band, The Electric Sheep, named as a reference to a Philip K. Dick dystopian science-fiction novel. It’s anyone’s guess which of the two players coined the name – it could have been either of them, and it’s very fitting.

While Jones – who would later delve into more progressive waters with Tool – provided the band’s low-end, he also taught Tom Morello some valuable tips and tricks that would help shape the player he is today.

“He showed me chords, pinch harmonics, drove us to see Judas Priest at Alpine Valley in his pickup truck for inspiration, and was ceaselessly encouraging to me when I was a beginning guitarist,” says Morello.

And, when Jones needed a place to stay when he first moved to LA, Morello was more than happy to strike a deal that mutually benefitted both parties. Again, Jones’ presence would have a huge impact on Morello’s life.

“Adam was my roommate briefly when he first landed in LA and paid his rent by sharing his extensive (and exotic) VHS collection with us,” he says. “He was also responsible for helping jump-start my career when he dragged me out of bed on a work night to go all the way downtown to Al’s Bar where a great band called Lock Up was playing. I later joined the band and got a record deal.”

As Morello cut his teeth in his pre-RATM bands, Jones formed Tool, a group that, according to Morello, was exceptional from day dot.

“I saw his band Tool at their first show and was stunned,” he recalls. “They arrived fully formed and fully great. They also were kind enough to invite Rage Against the Machine to open for them numerous times in Hollywood clubs which greatly helped grow our following and get us attention.”

In all, he says he’s “proud and pleased that all these years later he and his band are thriving and kicking ass around the world”.

Suffice to say, Morello’s career hasn’t been too shabby, either. He’ll be hoping to channel some of Jones’ paternal care and wisdom upon his shred-crazy son, Roman, who apparently “can shred rings around” his father.

“What’s the state of the guitar?” Tom Morello asks. “How is it? Do people still play?” He’s asking because his 13-year-old son Roman has recently been ripping it up, as evidenced by Soldier in the Army of Love, a song they wrote together.

When told by Guitar World that the guitar is alive and flourishing, he replies: “I’m doing everything I can. Roman will be, too. Somebody's gotta break through. Perhaps this Post Malone song… my thought was it could be like the Beat It of pop.”

But the song he’s talking about – and leads him to compare Malone to his late Audioslave bandmate Chris Cornell – remains unreleased. “If you’ve got Post’s cell number, tell them to finish the song because it's an absolute banger!” Morello says. “People will lose their minds!”

The Rage Against the Machine co-founder has had a busy 2024. He’s made appearances on stage with everyone from Jane’s Addiction to Buddy Guy. “If you look at my history of collaboration, there’s crazy diversity,” he says. “From Pete Seeger to Kirk Hammett to Chuck D…

“I’ve made 22 records now, and I’m in the process of making what will be my first real solo rock record. While there will be some collaborations on it, it’s not going to be dependent on one person. But one person I can guarantee will be on it is Roman Morello.”

While he often changes genres, he’s long since stopped changing his rig, which he perfected out of frustration in 1988. “I was having so much anxiety about trying to get a great sound that I wasn’t writing songs or doing anything with the sound I had,” he recalls.

“So I made markings on my amp for the sound and just stopped thinking about it. Those are the same markings on that amp, for the same guitar. They’re the same markings for every Rage record, every Audioslave record, every Prophets of Rage record and every live show I’ve ever played.

“There's a lesson to be drawn from that: sometimes chasing tone or chasing stuff through gear may not be where your creativity can blossom to its highest degree.”

You’ve said your son Roman can shred circles around you. When did you realize he was so talented?

“During the pandemic, while everybody else was learning to make sourdough bread, he was in a room practicing for hours and hours a day. When it began, my kids were not all interested in playing music. But I said to my son – who likes Led Zeppelin – ‘If you can take a couple of minutes away from Zoom school, or playing Fortnite, I’ll teach you the first three notes of Stairway to Heaven.’”

“He thought he could probably spare five minutes of his day, so I taught him the first three notes, and he did pretty well. The next day I said, ‘How about the next three notes?’ He said, ‘Okay, sure.’ On the third day he asked me if he could continue on the journey, and never got off it. Soon we were learning the guitar solo.

“I took guitar lessons when I was 13, and that convinced me to never play an instrument and to put the guitar down for four years! I learned that the genesis of someone playing the guitar is a very, very fragile time.

“So I wanted to make it totally positive. I knew he liked this song, and we were going to make it bite-sized, so it was fun. It’s an instant accomplishment. He just got going with it, and it’s been so great to watch that journey. Pretty soon he was learning Randy Rhoads solos on his own, and then we started writing together.”

How big of an influence has your style been on Roman’s?

“My kids never really knew what I did for a living. Honestly, they’d never heard of Rage Against the Machine. I never played Rage for them, and I never played Audioslave for them, ever. It wasn’t really until 2022, when we began rehearsing for the Rage tour, that they really knew what Dad did for a living. I was just the guy who drove them to all their Little League games!

“To be exposed to that power and those riffs at a time when you’re learning guitar was important. He’s got that Morellian DNA to begin with – but being exposed to five nights in a row at Madison Square Garden was pretty powerful.”

What’s it been like writing with him?

“He began writing riffs kind of in his dad’s vein, and some of them were pretty good. Over time I would hear something coming out of his room, and I’m like, ‘Can I borrow that?’ That’s how we wrote Soldier in the Army of Love. Those riffs are his and I’m the lyricist; that’s my contribution to the song. The rest of it is him, his riffs and his shredding.

“He’s in sort of a sweet spot, where there are great riffs that are low-hanging fruit. So I've been harvesting that fruit for future collaborations. And more recently he wrote the music for the end title of the Venom movie. I sent them about 25 ideas that were just sitting on my phone, and the one they picked was one of Roman’s!”

There’s talk of an unreleased track you did with Post Malone, who you recently compared to Chris Cornell. That’s heavy praise.

“His process was very similar to Chris’ in that, whatever music I threw at him, he would mumble melodies that were pretty damn compelling right off the bat. There was a natural inclination to come up with great melodies; they have that in common.”

Speaking of Chris, what’s the status of the unreleased Audioslave recordings?

“There’s no good reason why they’re not out. Every time this comes up, I get messages from people getting on me! But yeah, there are great songs there. It had to do with band dynamics more than anything else. There’s some great Chris Cornell performances, and great Audioslave songs that are waiting to be unleashed.

“We’ll have to get it together and figure it out. There's nothing preventing those songs from coming out other than us getting our act together and doing it.”

Are there any Rage Against the Machine songs in the vault?

“No, there’s not.”

Over the summer you jammed with Jane’s Addiction and swapped guitars with Dave Navarro. What was that like?

“I’ve been a fan of Jane’s Addiction since they were a club band in Los Angeles, and I’m a huge fan of Dave’s playing in that band. I’ve been on stage with them a number of times. I love the fact that my favorite Jane’s memories are when they're set up in a rehearsal room backstage, where Stephen Perkins and Navarro play through a heavy metal catalog.

“They’re like a jukebox of Maiden, Ozzy, Dio; they know it all and can play it all. Watching them do that was one of my favorite things. But Dave is great – I know we’re both getting up there and we’re just going to shred our butts off together. It’s an honor to rock Mountain Song with those guys any time I have the chance.”

Dave told GW a story about your band Lock Up coming on stage and pretending to be Jane’s way back in the day. What are your memories of that?

“Yeah! Perry Farrell was friends with the singer in my band Lock Up. It was a big New Year’s Eve homecoming show. I think it was ’87 turning into ’88, and the place was packed. Perry asked us to impersonate them and play. I had a Dave Navarro wig, and the singer had these fake braids! I remember coming on, and people were losing it.

“It was the first time I really felt what it was like on stage when someone doesn’t love a band, but the people believe in a band. And I was an imposter out there. I was fake Dave Navarro! We played the song, the lights went out and Jane’s came on and finished it. I think the audience was just bewildered by it, but it was an extremely memorable New Year’s Eve.”

You hopped on stage with Buddy Guy last year. How do you rate your blues chops?

“Buddy Guy is a Chicago staple of history and culture. I was opening up for him in Brazil. His righthand man came over before the show and said, ‘Buddy would like you to join him on stage for a song.’ I said, ‘I would be honored to do so.’

“At 80-something years old, he still has it. He’s a great player, and he has sexual magnetism that is undiminished from his youth – like, ladies are going crazy, you know? But I play a lot of different styles that don’t necessarily litter my records, and it was fun to get up there. I did my best to stay in my box.”

Martyn LeNoble recently offered his memories of you and him working with Layne Staley on The Faculty soundtrack. What are your recollections of making that track?

“That was Layne’s last recording. We were never in the same room, though he recorded his parts up in Seattle. Layne was someone I considered a really good friend, and my memories are ones I cherish. He was so funny; he had such a great sense of humor, he was so smart, and he had this great, self-effacing sense of humor. We would argue laughingly for hours about which one of us was more metal.

“My memory of that was that we put together the track for this thing, and Layne was not in a great place. It was sort of hard to get the vocals finished. I will say that I think he did a great job; it’s his swan song as a recording artist.”

Fender has talked about wanting to produce more replicas of your guitars. Could that include a replica of Arm the Homeless?

“The only time I’ve done an endorsement is when it’s really my thing, like the Soul Power one. They promised me they would make it exactly like the guitar – and they did. It’s crazy just how identical it is to that guitar that played on all the Audioslave records. I don’t have a vast collection of notable guitars, but I’m open to the idea.”

Why don’t you like endorsements?

“I did a distortion pedal [MXR Power 50], and that sounds exactly like the sound of my amp. The thing I don’t like about endorsements is that when I saw them as a kid, my favorite players would be selling a new guitar that was not the brand of the guitar that they played on the albums that I liked. It just didn’t feel right to me.

“So when it’s my song, my book, my movie; when it’s my pedal, when it’s my guitar, I’m happy to endorse it to the moon – but that’s all. Everybody’s got to make up their own mind about what’s for sale and what’s not. Convincing people to buy a product that’s not the one they like on your work always felt a little funny to me.

“Having said that, I will proudly proclaim my son Roman just became a Marshall endorsee. And I stand behind his decision!”

There’s a lot of new gear out there. The tendency is to want all of it. Is there anything you’re especially jazzed about?

“I don’t have that problem – you say we want to try all of it; frankly, I want to try none of it! I am still crafting and harvesting new and exciting music from the gear I’ve been using since 1988, and some of it from before. If somebody’s got some awesome new pedal or whatever, send it my way and I’ll plug it in; but I’m not looking for new stuff.”

Why haven’t you strayed from that rig?

“I made a personal, artistic decision long ago. I had a Marshall half-stack that got stolen, and I had a recording session the next day. I had to buy something and they had a solid-state head or a tube head. I bought the tube head, which is a 50-watt Marshall 2205 channel switching head.

“They had one 4x12 cabinet, which was a Peavey. That was my gear. And I had a guitar made by a custom maker that I hated everything about. I changed everything except the block of wood, and I couldn't stand my sound. I was trying for a sound in my head that I was never going to get.

“I was so frustrated. I was buying gear, different guitar necks, different pickups. I spent one day – which was a life-changing day – in a rehearsal room on the Eastside of LA, where I worked on my sound for about two-and-a-half hours. I finally gave up. I was like, ‘I’m never gonna love the sound that I get out of this guitar and this amp. I’m gonna stop thinking about it. This is going to be my sound.’”

Steve Stevens recently reminded GW that you had a big hand in getting Randy Rhoads inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And you’ve been championing Iron Maiden of late. What are your feelings about the Rock Hall?

“A lot of great bands have gotten into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame more recently, in part because they’ve had stronger advocates in the room. I’m one of those advocates. I have to give credit to the Hall of Fame – they put me in the room because I complained so damn much!

“When I toured with Bruce Springsteen, at every hotel bar I’d make a case to his manager, John Landau, who’s on the nominating committee for the Hall of Fame. My argument was: if you’re a kid playing little league baseball, your dream is that you might one day end up in Cooperstown, in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

“But if you’re a hard rock guitar player, you don’t care about the Hall of Fame because none of your favorite bands are in there. To John’s credit, he put me in the room and said, ‘Make your case.’ I did for Kiss, Rush, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Judas Priest and Randy Rhoads.

“It really opened the door and people’s minds and hearts to the idea that it shouldn’t be such a precious curated thing, and that an entire genre of music was been overlooked. But I will say that one thing that people get wrong is that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame should be just for rock ’n’ roll bands.

“That’s not what it’s for. Public Enemy is more rock ’n’ roll than 95 percent of all the hair metal bands that ever picked up an instrument, you know? It’s music that has spirit to it, like a youth spirit… I think rock ’n’ roll should have a very, very broad sense. I think there’s room for a lot of different genres.”

So how are you going to get Maiden in?

“I have a hit list! The last one on my extended Mount Rushmore hit list is Iron Maiden. It’s strategic. This year I’m all in on Maiden. I know they don’t care – I don’t care that they don’t care because I think it’s the place where they belong.”

You’ve just played two shows to celebrate Wayne Kramer. What does his music mean to you?

“First of all, MC5 was punk rock before there was a name for it. They were the cornerstone – they built the scaffold on which punk rock exists. Without them, there is no Rage Against the Machine, no System of a Down, no Clash, Sex Pistols, Ramones; none of that.

“Their fearlessness, both musically and politically, was hugely inspirational to me. Their live recording of Kick Out the Jams might be the greatest moment of rock ’n’ roll that's ever been captured. It was the first time anybody cussed on a record and the first time anybody had the audacity to say that human liberation can be found in what we’re doing in this room tonight.

“That’s why I think they got into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year – though sadly it’s after all the members had passed away. But Wayne was a great friend of mine; he was one of the best humans I ever knew. He went from selling drugs, being in prison, and being a real rascal to someone who saved hundreds of people’s lives.

“He created this organization called Jail Guitar Doors. The shows sold out in two minutes, so I’m glad to raise money for a great organization in honor of Wayne.”

• Tom Morello’s new album is due out in 2025.

Tom Morello has a number of iconic electric guitars to his name, perhaps most notably his ‘Soul Power’ Fender Stratocaster, which was his go-to guitar for the entirety of his Audioslave days and beyond.

A stock, off-the-wall Guitar Center purchase, the Soul Power Strat became synonymous with Morello, who still uses the instantly recognizable axe to this day. Such is its popularity, it was revived in 2020 as a like-for-like replica by Fender.

Another iconic instrument in his collection is the ‘Arm the Homeless’ model – another custom build, which has undergone a huge array of mods and upgrades across its three-decade existence.

Unlike the Soul Power model, the Arm the Homeless guitar hasn’t been reissued as a signature guitar – but, as Morello teases in a new interview with Guitar World, that could change at some point in the future.

“I've never done endorsements,” Morello replies when asked about a re-run of his Arm the Homeless guitar. “The only time I've done one is when it's really my thing, like the Soul Power one.

“They promised me they would make it exactly like the guitar – and they did. It's crazy just how identical it is to that guitar that played on all the Audioslave records.”

As for working on a re-run of the Arm the Homeless model, Morello adds, “I'm open to [it]… I don't have a vast collection of notable guitars, but I'm open to that idea.”

As mentioned, the challenge of recreating the Arm the Homeless would be an entirely different prospect in comparison to the Soul Power. After all, Morello has changed just about every spec across the guitar’s life, swapping out hardware, drafting in new electronics, and equipping it with various necks along the way.

Currently, it has a Floyd Rose-loaded alder body with EMG pickups, as well as a graphite knock-off Kramer-style neck and a three-way toggle that serves as a de facto kill switch.

Of course, it’s got a bunch of custom artwork, including four smiling hippos, and the “Arm the Homeless” scrawl that gives the guitar its name. Currently, it’s his main guitar for everything he plays in standard tuning.

However, because of its variously assembled components, it might take a bit of additional retooling in order to produce a like-for-like replica a lá the Soul Power model. And as Morello explains, ensuring the authenticity of any potential Arm of the Homeless signature is paramount in any potential project.

“I did a distortion pedal [MXR Power 50], and that sounds exactly like the sound of my amp,” he concludes.

“The thing I don't like about endorsements is that when I saw them as a kid, every record, my favorite players would be selling a new guitar that was not the brand of the guitar that they played on the albums that I liked. It always sort of felt… it just didn't feel right to me.

“So, when it's my song, when it's my book, when it's my movie, when it's my pedal, when it's my guitar, I'm happy to endorse it to the moon – but that's all. Everybody's got to make up their own mind about what's for sale and what's not.

“But for me, convincing people to buy a product that's not the one they like on your work always felt a little funny to me.”

As a founding member of Porno For Pyros, Martin LeNoble helped usher in the ‘90s alt-rock revolution – but given the expanse of his resume, it’s easy to see why he struggles to say what he’s most proud of.

“But I have any regrets,” he says. “It’s all a journey. Some people will remember me fondly and some people will go, ‘Fuck that asshole – he’s gone.’ I’m good with all of it. I’m just trying to be my authentic self.”

LeNoble does admit to painful emotions regarding his disconnection with Porno For Pyros, because he has zero intention of working with Perry Farrell again – especially after the disaster the vocalist delivered on Jane’s Addiction earlier this year.

“I really do wish Perry the best,” LeNoble says. “He deserves a much more peaceful existence than what he’s put himself through … I don't have that much animosity and anger towards him. I just kind of feel bad.”

Since the death of close friend and collaborator Mark Lanegan, LeNoble has kept out of the limelight – though he plans to honor Lanegan in London on December 5, during an expansive tribute show.

“I’m in a lucky place where I get to pick what I want to do and don’t want to do,” he says. “My focus in the last few years has been on being a wilderness guide. And I’m a wildlife tracker; I’m continuing to focus on being outside in nature and taking people into the woods.”

What inspired you to pick up the bass?

“I started in this little punk rock band. I was living in the Netherlands and a bunch of my friends had a band, but their bass player quit, so I said, ‘I’d like to step in.’ I had to scramble and find a bass.

“It was this horrible Japanese bass – a P-Bass knockoff that cost about $150. It didn’t sound very good but it was good enough to get started. My dad and I built a bass amp; so my rig was a homemade amp and a really bad Fender knockoff.”

Did you model that homemade amp after any particular professional amp?

“We didn’t really model it! It was as cheap as possible and all solid-state. I think it had a 12-inch speaker and was made out of particle board, so it didn’t travel well. It looked kind of like a refrigerator or a laundry – it was white and unfinished!”

Was that what you brought when you moved from the Netherlands to LA?

“No – I switched to Trace Elliott amps in the Netherlands in the ’80s, and that’s what I played when I first moved to the United States. The one in the Netherlands was too much to ship, so I went to buy another at a place called The Bass Center in Los Angeles.

“I had a gig that weekend, but they said, ‘We don’t have one in stock – we can’t get you an amp for your gig.’ This gentleman walked up behind me and said, ‘You can use mine for the gig if you want.’ It was John Entwistle from The Who!”

John Entwistle offered to let you use his amp?

“Yep. He asked me for my address, and he had one of his techs bring it to my place. So the first two gigs I played here were with John Entwistle’s Trace Elliott amp. He was a complete stranger to me and I was a stranger to him.

“But he did say, ‘If you blow it up, I’m going to take the one for you that’s coming next week!’ So there was really no risk for him!”

What basses were you using then?

“I played active basses, but I always put them into passive mode. They had those big, bright pickups with a Music Man Sting Ray kind of sound. It was a brighter sound; I can still do that, but I don’t do a lot of slapping. I go for a more classic bass sound.”

Was that your rig when you joined Porno for Pyros?

“Yeah the G&L basses and Trace Elliott amps. I was really inspired by the movement that was happening at the time with Norwood from Fishbone and Flea. There was more of a funk vibe.”

How did you approach the music?

“I had a lot of space in Porno for Pyros to play and change the chords. I could melodically alter them by changing the bass parts. There was just a lot of room for me to do what I was going to do then.”

Put us in the studio with Perry, Peter DiStefano, and Stephen Perkins were recording Porno for Pyros’ debut album.

“It was interesting – it was really fast. We were practicing at Stephen’s little home studio. We’d worked up a couple of ideas; and when we went in to record, I think Stephen and I did the basics in two to five days.

“We didn’t know what Perry was going to do on top of it, but we were very fast on that first record. The second record [Good God’s Urge], however, took years and years and years. It was the most unproductive process ever.

“I think it had a lot to do with substance abuse. We were just not productive. The process had changed too – we were trying to create in the studio. At some point I stepped out.”

What was it like being in a band with Perry Farrell under those circumstances?

“It was tough. Music, to me, is always a time capsule. If I listen to records now that maybe I didn't like when I was a teenager, it brings back some kind of feeling; this sentimental thing. But Porno for Pyros never brings me good memories. It brings up a lot of painful memories.”

After Porno for Pyros, you worked with Scott Weiland, who had a similar personality and a lot of the same issues as Perry. Did you have trepidation going in?

“Yes, I did. I had to set some very clear boundaries. When we started working on that record [12 Bar Blues], Scott was not using drugs; he was clean. But somewhere during the making of that record he started using again.

How did you deal with that?

“I asked Scott and someone else in the band to leave so that I could work without having that around me. So, I actually kind of kicked Scott out of the studio for a day!”

It seems you wanted to clear the decks when you left Porno for Pyros. Was that the case with your gear and approach?

“First of all, I lost every single piece of equipment and instrument that I had, so I had nothing. Johnny Colt from the Black Crowes gave me a bass guitar, a ‘70s Fender Jazz Bass, so I used it on Scott’s stuff.

“I started using Ampeg amps. In Porno for Pyros, I felt the bass was more in the foreground; but with Scott, and in most other projects I’ve worked on, I tried to be of service to the song. It was a little less flashy.”

How did you end up covering Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2) with Tom Morello and Layne Staley for The Faculty soundtrack?

“Tom put it together and asked me and Stephen Perkins to play. We had different vocalists in mind. We talked about Wyclef Jean and Trent Reznor, but they decided not to do it. So even though I knew he was not in a good way, I said, ‘Hey, Tom, what about getting Layne Staley?’

“Tom ended up flying to Seattle and doing the vocals in a studio with Layne. I never got to see Layne again, but Tom came back and was like, ‘Yeah, it’s really bad. He’s in really bad shape. It’s scary.’ That ended up being the last thing Layne ever recorded.”

Eventually, you hooked back up with Perry in Jane’s. You recorded the bass tracks for Strays, but Chris Chaney was brought in to redo them at the last minute. What happened there?

“I still don’t really know… I was working with Jane’s. We were in the studio, writing in the studio, which I think is always a terrible idea because it’s expensive. We had Bob Ezrin producing us, and we were playing shows as well.

“We ended up going to Korea and then one show in Japan. Perry was upset during the show, and I tried to talk him down a little bit and he suddenly turned on me.

“He goes, ‘Everything you play sounds like shit. There’s nothing but feedback coming from your amp.’ I was like, ‘Hold on one second – I play bass! There’s no feedback!’ The only time there was feedback was when he held his microphone at arm’s length like he was Whitney Houston.

“His microphone would pick up the bass, and then it would go through his delay, so that was the feedback. He was trying to blame that on me, and I was not having it. Next morning I found myself flying back with a band I was no longer in.”

This scenario sounds strikingly similar to the events at the Jane’s Addiction show in September.

“That’s why I will put my two cents in – because it’s bullshit.”

Given what you went through, can we assume none of what recently happened with Jane’s surprises you?

“No. I don’t want to speak for others. But a few years ago, Perry asked me if I wanted to do Porno for Pyros, which he’d been asking for over a decade. I’d always immediately said, ‘Absolutely no.’

“But for some reason, this time I was like, ‘Maybe we can put a good ending to this chapter that was important to all of us at some point.’ Perry seemed different this time – but that did not last.

“I came in and did a couple of songs in the studio at his house. Then he started talking about doing a tour. I said, ‘I’ll commit to three shows; let’s see how it goes.’ So I’d committed to three shows and three songs. We managed to get three songs out, but the writing was already on the wall.

“Promises were not being kept – the conditions under which I was to return were already not being honored. When the tour got postponed I really felt this sense of relief. It was causing me stress.

“I realized, ‘I’m much happier that I don’t have to go on that tour; it’s already not shaking out the way I wanted.’ I did not want to have background singers. I did not want to have dancers on stage. Those were my conditions, and those were broken immediately.”

“I was able to step away from the tour without any fireworks. It wasn't bad; I just said, ‘Get Mike Watt, do it, and have fun. If you guys take me, it’s not going to be fun because I’m already not enjoying this. You guys don’t deserve that kind of energy from me. Just take Mike.’”

Have you heard from Perry?

“I talked to Perry when I walked away from Porno For Pyros, but I have not talked to him since the blow-up with Jane’s. I do talk to all the other guys… I was just talking to Eric Avery last night, actually. But no, I’ve not talked to Perry since – and I’m not interested in that either.”

What’s your perspective on what’s going on with him? Is it drugs, a crisis of personality – or both?

“I don’t really want to get into it. I just don’t enjoy working with him. Let’s put it like that.”

You did enjoy working with Mark Lanegan; you collaborated with him until the end of his life.

“I’d known about Mark for a lot longer than I’d worked with him. It went in kind of a strange way. I was dating a girl who put on this record, and it was Bubblegum, one of Mark's solo records. I was blown away – I couldn’t believe I missed it when it came out.

“I said to myself, ‘Man, I would love to just play bass behind that voice once, even if it’s just one song.’ No one sounded like that. It’s almost like three layers of distortion on his vocal cords that, to my ear, created undertones instead of just a note.

“Fast-forward: there was this project called Soulsavers, and Mark was doing a record with them. I got a call when they were playing The Troubadour in Los Angeles; they’d run into a problem with their bass player and asked if I was interested in stepping in.

“I went to see them and thought they sounded great. They ended up not firing their bass player and finishing the tour; but the next record, Broken, they asked me to play bass. So I played bass on a record with the Soulsavers and Mark Lanegan. I kept working with Mark on his own stuff. He was a dear friend, and I miss him.”

Do you remember the last time you spoke to Mark before he passed?

“I got a text from him two days before… I’m getting a little emotional; it was kind of a remarkable text. He goes, ‘I’m taking the train from Brussels to Amsterdam, and I’m just thinking about how much I love you.’

“I actually got teary-eyed… I texted him back and said, ‘I love you too, Mark.’ That was it. That was the last time I communicated with him.”

You’re paying tribute to Mark in December. With Porno For Pyros off your docket, is that the focus going forward?

“I’ve actually got very little on the books. Pornos is putting out a vinyl compilation. It’s got three new songs, some best-of stuff and a remix, I believe. That’s happening, though I have very little to do with that anymore.

“And then we have the memorial tribute show. We’ll be playing an evening of Mark’s music and songs with a whole bunch of different singers and musicians.

“I’ll be playing bass and on stage the whole time, and the vocalists will rotate. It’s going to be special no matter what – but it’s a lot of work. We all want it to be fantastic and really honor the legacy of Mark, as our friend and as an artist. I’m really looking forward to that.”

• The Mark Lanegan tribute show is sold out. Follow Martyn LeNoble on Instagram.

He may have spent over four decades in the biz, but Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen is still just as excited about playing guitar in a rock ’n’ roll band as in 1983 when the band dropped its landmark album, Pyromania. And why shouldn’t he be?

Not only is Def Leppard still packing stadiums – and not only was their last record, 2022’s Diamond Star Halos, a smash hit – but now they’ve got another hit on their hands in single Just Like 73, an outtake from the Diamond Star Halos sessions and featuring Tom Morello.

To this, Collen beams, telling Guitarist: “It’s just constantly ongoing. I love the fact that we’re so excited and passionate about it. It kind of takes you to another place, so when people say, ‘Why do you still do it?’ Well, it’s because we love it.”

He adds: “It’s so exciting. You kind of get little-boy enthusiasm, and we’re both two guys over 60 and we can still get really excited. So I can’t wait until we get out on tour. We’re going to record some stuff on tour as well.”

The tour Collen speaks of is Def Leppard’s latest mega-jaunt across the States this summer, which will see the band dropping musical dimes in the form of classic Pyromania cuts, such as Photograph, Foolin’ and Rock Of Ages.

For Collen, memories of Pyromania are particularly sweet, as it was his first record with Def Leppard and is beloved by fans.

Looking back, he recalls: “It was the first time I’d done it… my first gig with Def Leppard was at the Marquee Club and that was it. We were playing half-empty theatres around England and during that tour it blew up.”

It’s hard to fathom a Def Leppard show that doesn’t include a typically shirtless Collen with a Jackson Dinky slung low, waving his fist in the air out front of hordes of adoring fans. But before Pyromania blew the lid off the thing, that’s exactly how it was.

“You had MTV, which was kind of in its infancy,” Collen says. “But it became a very serious medium for people to hear and see music. That was really important.”

As for why Pyromania resonated the way it did, Collen explains: “It was the right time. We’re a hard rock band, but you could sing along to the songs, including the solos – that was the really important part. I’ve always stressed that you can really mess a song up by playing the wrong solo; you can put people off. So it’s important that when you do a solo, it has an emotional feel and melody that’s really captivating.”

Right on through to today, Collen has continued to heed his own warning. But without the lessons learned during his inaugural Pyromania sessions, that might not be the case.

“It’s about enhancing every detail,” he says of what he learned. “It wasn’t just playing guitar; it’s actually way more of an important role. If you’ve got great songs, then you enhance them, make them sound better and add richness, complexity, the nuances of the song – and even all the lyrics pop out more.

“So that’s what I learned, and when I go back and listen to that type of stuff, it’s like, ‘Whoa, this is incredible.’ It still just blows me away.”

Def Leppard has a new track featuring Tom Morello called Just Like 73. How did that come about?

“When we were doing Diamond Star Halos, we were basing it on the music that really changed the world for us. I remember seeing David Bowie and Marc Bolan, so we basically came up with a list of songs while just writing for each other as fans. And then we realised we had an album – and this was during Covid.

“We always refer to that era as ‘hubcap Diamond Star Halos,’ a line from a T.Rex song [Bang A Gong (Get It On)]. It summed up the feeling and vibe. Anyway, we’d done all this stuff and all these songs as tributes to our heroes, and we had so much fun doing it, but there were some songs we didn’t finish…”

Was Just Like 73 one of those unfinished songs?

“Yeah, it was based on sounds we would have heard in ’72 or ’73, but we never finished the song off. Brian Monaco, the president of Sony Music, played the demo to Tom Morello, who is a big Def Leppard fan, and he’s like, ‘This is awesome.’ Brian asked us, ‘Would you like to have Tom play on it?’ We said, ‘Absolutely.’

“You know, I love Rage Against the Machine and I love his vibe. So that was as easy as that. I had a few phone calls with him and I met him, I think, for the first time in 2022 when we went out with Mötley Crüe. We had a blast.

“The hybrid guitar/hip-hop thing, it’s just so real. It was a pleasure to have Tom onboard. He understands the whole Diamond Star Halo thing because he grew up listening to everything that affects us, so that was it in a nutshell.”

Def Leppard hit the road with Journey in North America this summer. When you’re putting your rig together, what pieces of gear prove to be essential?

“I use the Fractal [Axe-Fx] now. I’d use the Fractal on my chorus and delay stuff on stage, and I remember when I was on the G3 tour, John Petrucci had the Fractal Axe-Fx, and he said, ‘Oh, you gotta check this thing out.’ And now, since 2018, me and Vivian [Campbell] have used it.

“They’re really good about upgrading the software and it really makes a difference. My tech, John Zocco, is great because it leaves me in the dust a bit, but he’s into it and technical, so he’s able to make changes, like putting the compressor in the front of all this stuff and all that real geek stuff. My tech thrives with the stuff and is an amazing player as well.”

You’ve got a nifty new Jackson T-style, too.

“I just recently got my new favourite guitar! Jackson made me a ‘Telecaster’[-style model] that’s just amazing. It’s got a [DiMarzio] Super Distortion in the neck position, no whammy bar or Sustainer, and it’s got the fattest neck Jackson has ever made. Joe Williams, who is a luthier at Jackson, said, ‘I’ve kind of made it really big and tried it out…’ I said, ‘Okay, am I going to be able to play this thing?’

“It’s a beast. I love it. It’s easy to play and the tone is just ridiculous. It’s an ash body with a cut-out like a regular Telecaster, but there’s a bit more wood involved because the neck is so heavy and big.

“It’s a prototype, this one, and my tech had to put a couple of bars that are actually old blocks that we took out when we put the titanium ones in, so we have a couple of them to balance this thing out because it’s so big.

“The tone on it is crazy! We recently recorded a live thing for Sirius XM in LA. It’s one of my favourite and best-sounding guitars, and it kind of freaked me out. They’re actually building me another one; I’ll be using that on tour for sure.”

Are there any guitars you’ve had forever that you can’t imagine hitting the road without?

“The Bela Lugosi one [1986 Jackson Dinky]. A lot of people go, ‘You’re crazy for taking that out; it’s from 1986!’ It was in a bunch of our videos: Animal and Armageddon. It’s got massive frets, it’s been refretted, and it’s got a skinny neck because it was from the ’80s. And it’s got the old Jackson pointy headstock with the paint that still glows in the dark, you know, the Bela Lugosi thing.

“It’s a pretty exciting artefact that still sounds amazing. It really is true with old guitars – as the moisture leaves the body, the whole thing actually does make a difference in the sound. The thing really sounds great, even with all that paint on it.”

For the uninitiated, what’s the story behind that guitar?

“It’s gotten better with age; it’s literally one of those stories. Before I lived in California, Grover Jackson said, ‘You know, we can paint anything.’ They’d been at all these different factories and there was this one place and I went down there with a photo of Bela Lugosi from this Forbidden Planet comic store, and they said, ‘We can do a version of that with this paint.’

“What’s really funny is that there was a bat that got into the workshop, so there were drawings of all the specs and everything on the table – and above it there was a bat. They said, ‘It’s a vampire bat,’ which was kind of rare in California. Anyway, that was the story of that.”

What makes it special beyond its looks?

“It went through some changes. It used to have a Kahler [vibrato] on it, but we swapped it out for a Floyd Rose. I usually change the parts, like titanium saddles, and it’s got a DiMarzio Super 3 in it – two of them, actually. It’s got a coil tap… It was all incremental.

“It was all of these geeky little things that we do, and as long as it makes it play, sound and respond better… that’s really what you want with all those upgrades. It’s incrementally gone a lot further without messing up the aesthetic and keeping the original spirit.”

Before your relationship with Jackson, you were very into Ibanez and Japanese shred guitars, right?

“Classically, it was the Ibanez Destroyer, which I actually used to record the Pyromania album. All the solos I did – specifically, Photograph and Rock Of Ages – were done on a Destroyer with three pickups. That guitar was a custom one for me.

“It was kind of like the Peter Frampton or Ace Frehley Les Pauls, you know, the three-pickup DiMarzio Super Distortion thing. So it had that and then it had a Kahler on it, and it sounded great. It’s the one that was in all the videos.

“I love the Ibanez stuff. I’ve even got a knock-off Ibanez V; the thing is a monster. It’s got a beautiful sound and tone to it. Just incredible.

“It’s a wonderful guitar. When we did the Taylor Hawkins benefit at the LA Forum it made an appearance. And Pat Smear, the guitarist in the Foo Fighters, he originally got [a Destroyer] because he’d seen me play one at the LA Forum in ’83.

“Mine was at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland [Ohio], so I got them to send it back, and I didn’t tell Pat, but he played it all night when we played together at the Taylor tribute. That was a lovely thing.

“Jackson made me a version of it. It’s got a sustainer, a kill switch, and it’s made of basswood, so it’s kind of light. Again, the neck is so chunky on that thing. I got that in 2017 and it comes out all the time. It’s my tip of the hat to that era. Everyone has their thing, but, for me personally, I like the Jackson, especially some of the stuff they do for me with the giant necks.”

Pyromania turned 40 last year and features some incredible tones, as always. What were the keys to your sound back then?

“With my favourite guitar players, I’d really get excited about their vibrato – Michael Schenker and Eddie Van Halen early on. That’s why I got a 50-watt head because of Schenker. It wasn’t the master volume one; it was one that you’d have to crank up. I had one in my old band, Girl, and this thing was just beautiful.

“A lot of these old tube amps, for whatever reason, one would be great and one would suck, even though they’d be the same model. Mine was great. And the Def Leppard guys mic’d all these things up with 4x12s and spent ages trying all these different amplifiers.

“But I literally came in, put my 50-watt head on, plugged in and that’s how it sounded. That was it; I never used pedals at all. Even now, it’s all done through the Fractal, so if there are effects, that’s where they come in, from the internal of the Fractal.”

As you recorded Pyromania, was there a particular guitar moment that immediately stood out?

“I guess the first one I did was Stagefright. Mutt Lange, our producer, said, ‘Take this cassette home and see if you can come up with something for this song.’ This was my first recording with the band and I literally plugged the Destroyer straight into the Marshall. It was the only first take on the album. I just plugged in and that’s what came out.

“That was really exciting. I mean, I used my Les Paul on the solo Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop) because there’s a slightly different feel and sound. And again, the one constant was the DiMarzio Super Distortion; I’ve used them on all the models I have forever.”

How did Pyromania change you as a player in a way that’s still present today?

“Mutt Lange taught me that there’s a rule… A lot of rock guitar players don’t really listen to the rest of the band, which is a very self-absorbed approach, so what I learned from him was how to play in time with the rest of the band. You can place your focus anywhere on the beat, but Mutt’s whole thing was to delay it a bit, which gives more groove and makes it more sexy.

“I really brought that aboard to my playing. And just the melodic strategy and how important it is to have something that enhances the storyline or the narrative. If you’ve got backing vocals supporting the lead vocals, the guitar also does that. It’s all about promoting your song and making it the best it can be.”

Beyond the tour and single promotion, what’s next for Def Leppard?

“The most exciting thing is that we’ve got a brand-new stage set, so there will be a lot of running around – it’s massive. It reminds me of when we played in the round. There’s so much there with the production, the screens and all the content. Anyone who has seen us in the last 10 years knows this is going to be different. It’s going to be way more exciting.

“Beyond all that, we’ve got a bunch of things coming up. There are some European things we’ve got to do. And there’s talk of us doing a Vegas residency with an orchestra. We’ve done the thing with symphonies before [Drastic Symphonies]. That was No 1 for 11 weeks on the crossover classical charts, which was so weird. We never thought we’d be on the classical chart, but there it was. So that’s what we’ve got to do.”

Diamond Star Halos came out two years ago. Is there a new Def Leppard record in the works?

“We’re feverishly working on new music. Joe [Elliott] and me were going back and forth this past Sunday, kind of like we did during Diamond Star Halos, where I’m getting excited about this new song, and then there’s another, and we want to make it better, put backing vocals in the right place and find the right sound.”

• Just Like 73 is out now via Mercury.

There have been all kinds of Fender Stratocasters through the 70 years since its release, some traditional, some modern, while others, such as Tom Morello’s Soul Power Strat, embrace the modular aspect of Leo Fender’s design and are modded into something new.

Yes, it’s still a Strat – a Designer Series Strat, to be precise – but as the Rage Against the Machine guitarist tells us, it is a Strat with a whole raft of changes to facilitate his unorthodox style, and usher in a new era for him artistically as he hooked up with the late Chris Cornell and co for Audioslave.

This, Soul Power, is the Audioslave Strat, and it is one of the coolest electric guitars in 21st century rock.

Where and when did you buy your “Soul Power” Strat?

“What’s interesting about the Soul Power guitar is that I had never played a Strat before. But around the time Audioslave was forming, I was looking for a new guitar to be my primary form of expression. I ended up going into a Guitar Center in Hollywood, and I found this Strat on the wall and took it home.”

Why did you choose this Strat above the others at Guitar Center?

“I literally saw it as a blank canvas. I wanted to have something totally different from what I’d had previously. I loved its stock form but needed to make it my guitar. I wanted it to be unique to point toward a new batch of songs.

“We were entering this new sonic landscape led by Chris Cornell’s amazing vocals, so I wanted a guitar that could undertake that new level of nuance and undertake new sounds that I hadn’t heard before from my other guitars.”

Did you use this guitar on any notable recordings?

“I used it on songs like Cochise, Like a Stone and I Am the Highway. It was the guitar I used on all three of Audioslave’s records. The Soul Power guitar was the Audioslave guitar!”

What about this guitar felt right in your hands compared to your “Arm the Homeless” guitar?

“I liked that this guitar spoke to me deeply. I’ve been known to scrawl things on instruments, and almost the second I got home, I took a white marker and scrawled ‘Soul Power’ on the guitar because I knew this was going to be a new era and a new band with Audioslave.

“The Arm the Homeless guitar has taken me on one journey, and I’d used that on a lot of stuff. I also used my Telecaster on the Rage Against the Machine stuff, but I wanted this guitar, the Soul Power guitar, to be something different from what that had been.”

What were some of the modifications you made to the Soul Power Strat?

“Soul Power had to be different from the other guitars I had, so within 72 hours of owning it, I added the kill switch for the stuttering sounds, some Seymour Duncan Hot Rails pickups and an Ibanez whammy bar. I also had this idea of the fretboard being like what Ace Frehley would’ve had on, like, [Kiss’s] Alive II, so I believe I had it re-fretted a couple of times too.”

Though you’d never endorsed a guitar before, Soul Power became your first signature guitar with Fender.

“I’d never done any signature guitar stuff before and had never really wanted to do any sort of endorsement. But if I was going to do one, it had to be something I believed in, that was done the right way.

“I’m very proud of the fact that when I did the Soul Power guitar with Fender, they came out exactly like my original guitar. I still have the original at home, and I have one of the ones we did with Fender – and they’re exactly the same.”

You mentioned you still own the original Soul Power Strat, but when did you last play it?

“Around 48 hours ago. [Laughs] I’m working on some new music, and it’s one of the guitars I still play regularly. But it’s funny – I’ve been relegated to being a rhythm guitarist in my house, as my 13-year-old plays my other [signature] Soul Power guitar, and he’s a shredder!”

What does the Soul Power Strat mean to you, considering that most people associate you with Arm the Homeless?

“It’s an important guitar because it represents a transitional period in my career with Audioslave. Soul Power was a new way to express myself during this new phase with this new band that included Chris Cornell, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk. It became an instrument of liberation, was about inspiration and was not overthought from the second I grabbed it off that wall.”

Tom Morello has been talking up his son’s talents for some time now, previously confessing “I’ve been relegated to being the rhythm guitar player in my family because my 11-year-old can shred circles around me”.

But for the misers saying he’s just a proud parent, it turns out Roman Morello really does have red-hot chops.

The Morellos have been hitting up European festivals in the past few weeks and, as a video posted to Morello Sr.’s Instagram attests, Roman really can let it rip, given the opportunity.

Armed with a black Fender Telecaster, he shows he's been putting in his eight hours a day with a blur of bluesy turns as he fizzes across the fretboard. It isn't just mindless showboating either, there's some real flavor in the bends that break up his runs.

One witty commenter ponders how Roman will answer the inevitable “How was your summer?” question when he returns to school in September, suggesting he may nonchalantly reply : “I completely melted the faces off of the entire continent of Europe.”

Tom Morello will release his first solo rock album later this year, and it’s lead single, Soldier in the Army of Love, he says, was “co-written with my wizard son.”

It features a slew of drop D riffs and the kind of rap-infused swagger you’d expect from heavy Morello. There's also a gospel choir for good measure and the song represents the first proper taste of original music from the teenage mage.

Roman has been impressing for a few years now. He caught more than a few ears as he performed Killing in the Name at an arena soundcheck, which his dad described as one of his favorite memories.

Back on the topic of the RATM man himself, Tom Morello first spoke about his solo rock album back in 2014, and if his vision for the record hasn't changed in the last decade, we could be in for a treat.

“I want to make the craziest guitar record that anyone's ever heard,” Morello said. “The idea is that this is the Hendrix of now.”

Tom Morello and Måneskin have become consistent collaborators, with the Rage Against the Machine guitarist lending his guitar skills to the Måneskin track Gossip last year. Their collaborative spirit shows no sign of stopping, as Måneskin's guitarist, Thomas Raggi, joined Morello on stage at Castello Scaligero di Villafranca in Verona, Italy, on July 8.

Mid-concert, Morello brought out Raggi for a searing rendition of MC5's Kick Out the Jams, accompanied by vocalist Delila Paz from The Last Internationale.

The result was a hard rock spectacle in which Raggi truly held his own, trading riffs and solos with Morello. According to a review by Rock Nation Italy, “As an audience, we were all caught up in witnessing this erotic act between Morello and his guitar, and Raggi didn't play the Måneskin character – even though they played Gossip together – but he got into character, becoming Morello's partner.”

During this same show, Morello also brought out his son, Roman, to play lead guitar on their new single. “My 13 yr old son Roman & I rocked our new tune SOLDIER IN THE ARMY OF LOVE at an Italian castle in Verona last night! Roman’s fans went wild!” wrote Morello in an Instagram post.

When talking about his son and Soldier In The Army Of Love to Guitar Interactive Magazine, Morello said, “That's a shredding guitar solo on [Soldier In The Army Of Love]. I wish I could say it was me. During lockdown, when everybody else was baking bread, [my son Roman] was putting in his eight hours a day.

“So I've been relegated to be the rhythm guitar player in the family now. But no, one day I was walking by his bedroom and he was playing these awesome drop D heavy riffs. I'm, like, ‘What is that?’ And he's, like, ‘I just came up with 'em.’”

When it comes to Raggi, the Måneskin guitarist previously joined Morello on stage in June at London's Electric Ballroom for a rendition of Gossip and Kick Out the Jams.

In a press statement, Morello praised Måneskin, calling them the “standard bearers of rock'n'roll for a younger generation.” “When I heard that there was a rock ’n’ roll band from Italy that was blowing up around the world I was like, ‘Really? Come on.’ Then when I saw them play live I was blown away.

“They are unapologetically loud, unapologetically sexy, and unapologetically rocking. I got to jam with them at their studio in Hollywood, it’s a great band, they all play great, they write great songs, they connect with their audience in a deep and meaningful way, and if you’ve seen them play live the crowd goes off! It looks a lot like some of the big bands of the ’90s.”

Tom Morello endorsed Nova Twins and Babymetal, calling them “some of the hardest rocking bands” he has recently seen live.

“I will say some of the hardest rocking bands of the festivals that I've been at have been Babymetal and Nova Twins,” he said at the Hellfest24 press conference.

“Unapologetic, fearless with their own musical and personal style, and really able to sort of challenge the conventions of what hard rock music is and was in a way that points towards a better future for the genre.”

The conversation also pivoted to gender inequality in the music industry, particularly in rock and metal scenes. “I think the place for women in the future of rock music is at the front,” he insists. “That's where I think it is. I mean, 30, 35 years ago, when I was coming to metal, there were very, very few women in hard music at all, and there was a real stigma.

“I think a lot of that stigma has gone away. I would defer to you to tell me whether it's better or worse, but it seems to be trending the right way. But I think that there should not be any barriers with regards to race, gender, genre, age, whatever.”

In a 2021 interview with NME, Morello expressed his love for Nova Twins, stating they “deserve to be huge.” “Everything about it is great. There’s a tremendous musicianship, a raw intensity as well as a fantastic vibe and an underlying sense of purpose. They’re one of my favorite bands.

“Over the course of three decades, I’ve seen a lot of great bands that deserve to get their dues, but they don’t. Nova Twins are already on that road to really being a game-changer.”

Last year, the Rage Against The Machine guitarist collaborated with Babymetal on their track METALI!! after wanting to work with them for some time. In a press statement, he said, “I am a big fan of Babymetal, a band that is both power rocking and constantly surprising with dizzying musical twists and turns. When they sent me the demo I knew I could rock that shit like crazy!”

Hello there, and a very warm welcome to Guitar World editors’ picks – our new-and-improved, comprehensive monthly guide to the guitar tracks that have captured the attentions of our editors over the past four weeks or so.

With the aid of our Spotify playlist below, we’ve rounded up all our favorite new releases from the month of May, and put them under the microscope to wax lyrical on the playing, tones, and songwriting that have set our six-string senses a-tingling.

So, without further ado, let’s hand things over to our EIC MAB to kick things off…

Michael Astley-Brown – Editor-in-Chief, GuitarWorld.com

We’ve had an awful lot of pro guitarist offspring land in our inboxes lately, but few have taken on their father’s mantle quite like 13-year-old Roman Morello, who not only wrote but also plays the guitar solo on new Tom Morello single Soldier in the Army of Love.

The drop D sledgehammers that bookend the track are eerily similar to something Morello senior would produce, but while the leads are heavy on the wah pedal, Roman brings a fresher, more freeform energy than some of his dad’s latter-day efforts. Indeed, Morello Sr. maintained that Roman “can shred circles around me” at the age of 11. Make no mistake, big riff energy is in this kid’s blood – and he might even solo better than his dad…

As well as new talent from famous families, this month has played host to some big releases from returning legends – most notably, influential post-hardcore forebears The Jesus Lizard, who are readying their first album in two decades. Hide & Seek is its first taste, and while it takes a more straightforward punk approach for much of its duration, guitarist Duane Denison slashes out a series of typically jagged hooks that are so ‘outside’ they’re kinda inside.

A bittersweet return also comes from the MC5, following the passing of founding guitarist Wayne Kramer back in February. Heavy Lifting is their first new album in 53(!) years, and Boys Who Play With Matches is fun, frantic and full of wiry hooks. With guests including Slash, Tom Morello, William DuVall and Vernon Reid, the new record should be a fitting tribute to the Kick Out the Jams trailblazer.

Other shoutouts this week go to Ghost for going full Americana (The Future Is a Foreign Land) and Mr. Big for Up On You, a latter-day single that’s better than it has any right to be, featuring one of this year’s swaggiest Zeppelin riffs.

Finally, for my instrumental brethren, may I humbly point you in the direction of Asymmetric Universe? Italian brothers Federico Vese & Nicolò Vese sound like the culmination of every technical guitar movement of the 21st century. It’s jazz, it’s metal, it’s ambitious and it’s jaw-droppingly executed.

Damian Fanelli – Editor-in-Chief, Guitar World magazine

UK post-punkers the Chameleons – who made a minor splash in 1986 with Swamp Thing – are back with a new three-song EP, their first new music in more than 20 years. Among the highlights of this all-too-tiny box of confections is the catchy title track, Where Are You?, and better still, a thunderous ditty called Endlessly Falling.

There’s something pleasingly familiar about this chugging tune, with its angular riffs, flawless construction and well-timed breakdown section; it’s as if the band – led, as always, by Mark Burgess – consider “'80s British post-punk” an active, thriving genre in 2024, so they’ve gone and written the best damn ’80s British post-punk the world has heard in 40-odd years. A welcome return for sure.

I said it back in 2021, and I’ll say it today: Tulsa’s Seth Lee Jones is the most original and intriguing roots/blues/rock guitarist to come down the pike since Derek Trucks and his generation. Sadly, judging by the number of views on this guy’s YouTube videos, I don’t think too many people are listening to me! On the bright side, Jones’ new album – Tulsa Custom, his first since 2021’s explosive Flathead – brings with it another chance for the world to catch on.

Just picture yourself in the studio; the producer plays you the backing tracks to the funk-fueled Bird of Paradise and asks you to add a guitar solo. You probably play something cool; if you’re Albert Cummings, Grace Bowers, or Chris Buck, you might even play something brilliant. But whatever you play, I can assure you it wouldn’t sound anything at all like the cool-as-hell, out-of-left-field solo that Jones committed to tape (or someone's hard drive).

Jones’ six-string handiwork – on this track and the rest of Tulsa Custom – is a majestic, wild gumbo of skillful B- and G-bending, slinky slide guitar and some serious black magic. It’s time to catch on, people!

Jackson Maxwell – Associate Editor

Though the summer usually sees the frenzied spring album release schedule subside, I found myself spoiled for choice with killer new tunes this month – previews from fall albums and otherwise.

First, I wanted to point to the Cactus Blossoms, a Minneapolis rockabilly (of sorts) duo who first came to my attention via a stirring performance at “the Roadhouse” in the 2017 Twin Peaks revival. Guitarist Jack Torrey is an absolute master of economy and storytelling, and the way he takes the melodic chestnuts of their new single, There She Goes, and runs with them in the chiming arpeggios and effortlessly hooky single-note lines in his solo is as easy on the ears as it gets.    

I’ll never say no to grunge-y shoegaze, to be honest – if I do, there’s something seriously wrong with me; call an ambulance. I’ve had my eyes and ears on Tacoma, Washington-based quartet Enumclaw for a few years now, and Change – the first taster from their forthcoming Home in Another Life album – has a true belter of a chorus with all the swirling-wall-of-guitar action you could ever ask for.

Their name has always been a bit of a headline-generator, but for my money, high-concept hardcore practitioners Fucked Up have laid down some of the most intricate and engaging punk rock guitar work in the 21st century. With send-the-troops-into-battle, lock-step, dual-guitar leads, recent single Stimming would sound just as at home at Wacken Open Air as it would in a dingy punk house. 

Otherwise, the neon-lit funk of Los Bitchos’ Don’t Change, spidery droning of Thurston Moore and Laetitia Sadier’s Sans Limites, and twanging lead guitar heroics of MJ Lenderman’s She’s Leaving You have all been on repeat in my headphones, and are each worth a spin. 

Matt Parker – Features Editor

At the turn of the month, I saw LA Priest hold a venue in the palm of his hand as a one-man band rattling through a dumpster amp, a paint-covered ’60s catalog guitar and a network of DIY pedals and synths. Our subsequent conversation made me question everything I thought I knew about what makes a good guitar tone. Back home, the shuffling, muted Too Cool from his new EP La Fusion is on constant rotation.

Japanese funk-hip-hop-rock-pop-something group Kroi, released their third album Unspoiled in the middle of June. It will not be for everyone, but if you want to blow the dust off with some technicolor madness – including no fewer than three tracks that have become anime theme tunes – well, then, buckle up.

It runs the gamut from grunge-y metal to funk rock, rap and space laser keyboards – all interspersed with shonky little electric licks that ricochet around the mix – and that’s just on one track (Hyper). 

Finally, any news from Delicate Steve (AKA Steve Marion) is good news, in my book. He’s worked with everyone from Yeasayer to the Black Keys, Amen Dunes and even Paul Simon and Miley Cyrus – but his solo material has a voice unlike any other guitar player.

New album Delicate Steve… Sings taps into the vocalists that have inspired his playing, with first track I’ll Be There taking a few phrasing cues from Bill Withers. It’s ideal midsummer mood music.

Matt Owen – Senior Staff Writer

After having had a relatively tame May on the new-music-discovery front, it was business as usual for me this month, as I was able to sift through playlists and PR emails aplenty to beef up my 2024 soundtrack.

As such, it turned out to be an eclectic few weeks for me, with my listening habits spanning the whole spectrum from math rock and midwest emo, all the way to soulful blues, dream bedroom indie pop, fusion acid jazz jam, classic blues rock and beyond.

So… where to start? Well, the biggest releases on my radar came courtesy of Steve Cropper, whose long-awaited collaboration with Brian May – written, funnily enough, using May’s rejection email – finally arrived with a lovely unexpected Brian May/Billy Gibbons solo-off. 

Those two were given a run for their money by Gibson endorsee Grace Bowers, though, who dropped the first few singles from her debut EP this month. Listen to Tell Me Why U Do That and Wine On Venus and you’ll have a hard time believing the Hodge Podge leader is only 17 years old – but it’s true.

Both tracks are mind-boggling examples of Bowers’ ridiculous fretboard command, delivering a tour de force of dynamic slide soloing and high-octane scale licks that not only break out the box, but absolutely smash the box to pieces. Did I mention she’s only 17?

As for something a little left-field, Hot Mulligan went full-on math rock for their latest single, End Eric Sparrow and the Life of Him, combining the intricacies of a Polyphia-esque opening riff that would make Tim Henson proud with the full boar power of their usual emo thrash-ery.

And, with an eye on an upcoming Mdou Moctar gig I am soon attending, I’ve been indulging in some expansive jam music, and Hiatus Kaiyote have more than delivered the goods with Cinnamon Temple. I long for the day when I am able to navigate such topsy-turvy time signatures and helter-skelter riffage with such effortless intuition and butter-like ease. One day.

Janelle Borg – Staff Writer

I feel like I must preface that I haven't been as committed as I usually am to digital crate digging this month. I have, however, been quite active in the gigging circuit with my band. 

From re-discovering Hoobastank's The Reason, to seeing Tropical Fuck Storm and Italy's Duck Baleno live at Fans Out Festival in Italy, it has been a period defined by physically experiencing the joys of a live show.

New releases-wise, I've just come across Cypriot band Buzz' Ayaz, who fuse psych rock with elements of Eastern Mediterranean folk. Their latest release, Buzzi Ayazi, makes for a truly enthralling listen, going through contrasting dynamics and moods, and addictive riffs, in the span of 4 minutes.

London's Heartworms, the solo project of Jojo Orme, has been capturing the hearts and minds of alt-rock aficionados since bursting on the scene with 2022's Consistent Dedication. The latest single, Jacked, continues building Heartworms' world. 

Orme's fine guitar work anchors the cacophony of synths, with the final product heavily evoking post-punk vanguards Siouxsie and the Banshees and Joy Division but with an undisputedly modern twist. 

Speaking of modern twists, Hinds' En Forma is the band's first-ever Spanish-language single. It stays true to the quintessential Hinds garage-rock/jangly-indie-guitar sound but shows a songwriting duo in their prime, which makes me very excited for their upcoming album Viva Hinds. 

Wrapping up June’s song round up is the Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin-esque Occult Witches from Quebec, Canada. Their track Faustian Bargain is chock-full of classic rock guitar moments that will satiate even the most hardcore classic rock fan. The overall sound sounds deliciously '70s in the best way possible, perfectly complementing the lyrics' fantastical narrative. 

During their show in Cologne, Germany on Tuesday (June 25), Jane’s Addiction invited Tom Morello onstage to help them perform Mountain Song.

It was clearly an impromptu performance, though, as Morello arrived onstage following vocalist Perry Farrell’s introduction without his trademark Arm the Homeless custom model or even his Soul Power Fender Stratocaster, and armed instead with a PRS electric guitar.

Specifically, Morello – who has been a Fender player for much of his career – looked to have borrowed a guitar from Jane’s Addiction’s Dave Navarro, who only returned to the stage with the band last month following a three-year long battle with long Covid.

And so, wielding Navarro’s Custom 24 signature guitar – the white finish, matching headstock, black humbuckers and gold bridge give it away – the Rage Against the Machine riffsmith helped hold down the see-sawing power chord progression.

Having dutifully allowed Navarro to take the first lead spot, Morello then got to grips with the unfamiliar terrain of the Custom 24’s fretboard, sizing it up with a solo of his own that was as Morellian as they come.

Open-string lines and some frantic reach-around harmonics looked to be the most exciting elements of the solo, but Morello took things up a notch by seizing Navarro’s guitar to his face and shredding with his teeth.

So, despite the impromptu gear change, it sounded exactly like Tom Morello. After all, tone is in the hands – or, in this case, the teeth.

The moment was captured by fan footage, and a post published on Jane's Addiction's Instagram, which was captioned, "Look what the cat dragged in."

While it is strange to see Morello playing something other than the Soul Power Strat, we don’t imagine he’ll be making the switch to PRS permanent, as his former fellow Fender signature artist John Mayer did back in 2018.

While he is best known for his Arm the Homeless model, Morello has often spoken about his affinity for Fenders, and previously discussed why the Strat is unlike any other electric guitar.

“One of the things that differentiates the Strat from other great electric guitars is the sound of those other guitars leading the player,” Morello explained. “With the Stratocaster, the player leads the sound.”

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.

“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.

Sean Long has shared a clip of the heartwarming moment he met Tom Morello, which gave him the opportunity to give one of his biggest electric guitar heroes his own signature guitar as a gift.

In a short video posted to social media, the While She Sleeps virtuoso can be seen handing over his personal Charvel Pro-Mod San Dimas as a token of appreciation, and to say thanks for Morello’s endless inspiration.

“This is my signature guitar, and I feel like I owe you this because I don't think I would be in this position without you,” Long says. “We all love you and have been fans for years.”

“That is so awesome and so thoughtful,” says Morello. “Thank you so much, that’s really beautiful. That’s really sweet.”

Long did issue one condition, though: “You better fucking play it!” Morello, clearly rather taken aback by the gesture of the gift, assures his fellow fretboard trailblazer that he will.

Morello and his music have been a hugely influential force on Long, who went viral last year for his bonkers dual Whammy pedal setup. Indeed, Long’s affinity for the DigiTech device can clearly be traced back to Morello, whose own use of the Whammy is the stuff of legend.

As heir to Morello’s Whammy throne, Long drew headlines for his ability to manipulate his tone and navigate two Whammy units at once, stringing together a series of expression pedal stomps and toe taps on the ‘Momentary’ footswitch. The results were, as you’d expect, quite something.

“The Whammy has always been a go to pedal for inspiration,” Long told Guitar World at the time. “It allows me to create things that sound impossible and in some cases are.

“More importantly, though, it’s just fun-as-fuck to use, which is really the main attraction for me.”

This isn't the first time a famous fan has gifted Morello a guitar – Matt Bellamy handed him a custom Manson model after the RATM firebrand supported Muse on tour.

Tom Morello has announced he will release his first-ever solo rock album later this year – and it features a song co-written with his son, Roman. 

Plenty of clips showcasing Morello Jr.'s electric guitar chops have emerged online in the past, with the Rage Against The Machine guitarist’s son proving on numerous occassions he’s a chip off the old block. 

Indeed, Morello Sr. described watching his son nail Killing in the Name during a soundcheck as “one of my favorite memories”. The youngster has also shredded Mr Crowley with Jack Black on vocals. 

Roman, according to his father, can even “shred circles” around him. Now, this new track will showcase his talents in an ever brighter light. 

The song, called Soldier in the Army of Love, will be the debut single from the new album, dropping on June 28th. 

Of the track, Morello says it was ”co-written with my guitar wizard son, Roman Morello, it’s a generational rock anthem from the Morello’s”. 

It's not the first time Roman has featured on a recorded track. He joined forces with Jack Black and Nandi Bushell for the rabble-rousing climate change anthem, The Children Will Rise Up in 2021. 

Of his son's talents, Tom Morello told Rolling Stone in March last year: “I’ve been relegated to being the rhythm guitar player in my family now because my 11-year-old can shred circles around me. 

“I’ve been inspired by him. He’s been writing some riffs, and I’ve been writing some riffs. It’s been fun.” 

In just a couple of weeks, we’ll hopefully get to hear some of those riffs, when Soldier in the Army of Love releases. 

Tom Morello made a surprise appearance at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles as he briefly joined Bruce Springsteen on stage this past weekend (April 7). This is the first time the two icons have appeared together since 2016.

After kicking off the show with Open All Night, Springsteen pulled out all the stops when he performed live favorite Sherry Darling for the first time during this tour. He also invited his wife, Patti Scialfa, on stage to sing backing vocals on Fire and Tougher Than the Rest. However, the real shocker was Tom Morello's return as a temporary member of the E Street Band. 

The duo tore through The Ghost Of Tom Joad and American Skin (41 Shots) – both of which were tour debuts. In this fan footage, Morello can be seen singing – and most importantly – shredding, alongside Springsteen, using his now-iconic 'Arm The Homeless' guitar. 

In an interview with MusicRadar, Morello noted how he took inspiration from Springsteen's lyrics when crafting this particular solo: "I am a big fan of the lyrics of Bruce Springsteen; I take them very seriously. Especially with Ghost Of Tom Joad – the solo on that is an attempt to conjure the screaming lost souls of social justice struggles past."

This is far from the first time Tom Morello has collaborated with Springsteen. In addition to playing on several of Springsteen's records, most notably Wrecking Ball (2012) and High Hopes (2014), Morello joined him on The Wrecking Ball Tour and The High Hopes Tour in 2012-2013 and 2014 respectively.

Their collaborative spirit was the highlight of these two tours, with the duo treating the audience to their rendition of Van Halen's Jump in Dallas and AC/DC's Highway to Hell in Brisbane, Australia.

While it looks like Rage Against the Machine fans will not get a reunion anytime soon, they can catch Tom Morello at one of his upcoming tour dates. The tour kicks off with an intimate show at London's Electric Ballroom on June 13, followed by festival appearances across the UK and Europe.

Meanwhile, the Boss is set to get the big screen treatment. The much-hyped Deliver Me From Nowhere will chronicle the making of his 1982 album Nebraska.

2024 marks the 70th Anniversary of the Fender Stratocaster – a guitar that has helped shape, steer and inform the very course of popular and alternative music across its seven-decade lifespan.

Over the years, it’s been wielded by countless guitar heroes, including Tom Morello, whose Soul Power Strat is symbolic of some of the Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave titan’s most iconic feats of boundary-pushing guitar playing. 

Speaking in a new interview with Rock Sound to mark the model’s milestone, Morello dove deep into his love for the Strat, and explained what it is about the Big F’s flagship double-cut that makes it so appealing – and completely different from any other electric guitar on the market.

“One of the things that differentiates the Strat from other great electric guitars is the sound of those other guitars leading the player,” Morello explained. “With the Stratocaster, the player leads the sound.”

To articulate his point, Morello referenced the sounds of some of the Strat’s biggest champions, and noted how each individual has been able to definitively carve out wildly distinct sonic paths despite playing the same instrument.

“Off the top of my head, some of my favourite Strat players would be Jimi Hendrix's feedback frenzy and David Gilmour's emotional melodicism,” he continued. “Then there’s Jeff Beck reconstituting the instrument, Wayne Kramer inventing punk rock on it, and Andy Gill with Gang of Four, who used the guitar aggressively. 

“They are all playing Stratocasters but with hardly any sonic bleeds between their styles. So, when I got my hand on the Soul Power Strat, I knew it would allow me to explore myself as an artist in a new way simply by channelling my inner six-string soul power.”

Morello speaks from experience. As he recalls in the conversation, he got his first Stratocaster when he formed Audioslave, during a time when he was looking for a new instrument to guide his playing in new directions. The Strat turned out to be the perfect partner to pioneer his approach.

“When we formed that band, I wanted a different six-string colleague to help me forge my guitar path in that band,” he said. “I got a Strat, and it felt right in my hands. 

“I brought it home and immediately wrote ‘Soul Power’ on it as a North Star to guide my sonic travels with the band. And it really did provide that. 

“It got me out of a sonic safety zone that I had been in with Rage Against The Machine. It allowed me to adapt and play music with Chris Cornell and Timmy [Commerford] and Brad [Wilk] and expanded the possibilities of what it was that I could play.”

It’s set to be a year to remember for Fender, which is poised to celebrate the Stratocaster in style over the next 12 months. The party started early last year with the release of some suitably styled '54 reissue Strats, which were followed by a high-end collection of Custom Shop offerings.

A more futuristic HSS Ultra take on the template arrived earlier this month to continue the momentum, with Fender further fuelling the hype train by recruiting Morello, Nile Rodgers, Mateus Asato, Ari O’Neal and Rei for an all-star jam of Voodoo Child (Slight Return).

Head over to Fender to peruse its full 70th Anniversary Strat range.

Fender is celebrating a significant milestone in the history of the Stratocaster in 2024, as the world’s most famous electric guitar turns 70. And now it has commenced the celebrations with a star-studded cover clip of Jimi Hendrix’s Voodoo Child (Slight Return). 

It’s a rip-roaring, diverse take on the guitar hero’s classic, featuring an array of unique voices that are clearly intended to illustrate the Strat’s flexibility. 

The full list of featured artists includes Tom Morello, Nile Rodgers, Ari O'Neal, Mateus Asato, Rei, Tash Sultana, Jimmie Vaughan, Rebecca Lovell, Tyler Bryant and Biffy Clyro’s Simon Neil. 

It’s quite the line-up – one that smartly shows the breadth and depth of the Strat’s use in the hands of both classic and contemporary artists from across the musical spectrum – albeit with a strong slant to rock, given the base material.

Yes, it’s a marketing clip, but we have to admit it’s a fun one – recalling the tag-team format of the Jackson Virtuoso Mega Shred video that we loved last year – albeit channeling one of rock’s most iconic guitar compositions in the process.

Hearing the different personalities adding new life to a very familiar lick is really inspirational, too – with a breakneck mix and rotating cast to hold your interest. 

Alongside the main jam, Fender has also filmed a host of clips, in which the artists involved discuss their own Strat stories. 

“I got my Stratocaster in 1973 when I realized that it was what my sound was missing, and once I did… it changed my life 1000%,” explains Rodgers, [as transcribed in the accompanying press release].

“I have been able to write the jazz-influenced dance-disco funk-pop songs that people have loved for decades – as well as rock, country, folk and EDM collaborations – thanks to my Strat.”

Rodgers rightly regards himself as something of a genre chameleon and highlighting the instrument’s flexibility seems to be a concerted theme of the 70th celebrations. 

Indeed, in our recent conversation with Fender’s EVP of Product, Justin Norvell, the exec also highlighted the Strat’s tonal and genre flexibility as the key to its long life. 

“You can play country, punk, metal, funk, blues, whatever on a Stratocaster,” reflects Norvell. 

“You sound like a Stratocaster. But you sound like yourself. You can hear Stevie Ray Vaughan, you can hear David Gilmour, you can hear any amount of people. And you'd be like, ‘I know who that is, but I also know it's on a Strat.’ That transparency and that beauty [means] it continues to be a relevant tool.”

The “Forever ahead of its time” tag certainly represents a smart angle from Fender: acknowledging the changing habits of players who are now much less concerned by the musical tribes and genre limitations that dominated the Strat’s first decades. 

It also nods to the evolving way we are using instruments. For instance, the rising amount of guitarists who are multi-instrumentalists and turn their hands to different tools as required by their productions.

The new clip follows the earlier debut of Fender’s 70th Anniversary Stratocaster line – a selection of new standard and custom shop iterations of the perennially popular electric. 

For more information on the 70th Anniversary celebrations of the Strat, check out our full interview with Justin Norvell and keep an eye on Fender.

Contrary to drummer Brad Wilk’s claim that Rage Against the Machine is “finished,” bassist Tim Commerford has added fuel to debate over the band's future by admitting he isn’t sure what the story is.

In a recent conversation with Rolling Stone, he said: “I don’t know; I’m the bass player. I just wait for someone to tell me what to do.”

While it’s a reaction that does no favors to punchlines aimed at bass player stereotypes, it clouds the certainty of Wilk’s statement and leaves the possibility of future RATM tours and beyond lingering. If only a little bit.

During the interview, Commerford acknowledged his bandmate’s statement, adding: “Brad said what he said, but he’s one step above me. He’s in the number three spot. I am the low man on the totem pole.

“That’s all I can tell you,” he continues, “I’m the bass player. The bass players always are the last people to find out about shit like that.”

As was the case with Wilk’s statement, there has been no official band comment since Commerford’s interview was published to underscore or contradict what has been said by the bassist.

Intriguingly, in the drummer’s Instagram post, he did name Commeford – and the rest of the band for that matter – in his stark drawing a line in the sand. Yet, according to Commerford, he’s just as clueless as the rest of us.

“I don’t want to string people or myself along any further,” Wilk said. “I want to let you know that RATM (Tim [Commerford, bass], Zack [de la Rocha, vocals], Tom [Morello, guitar] and I) will not be touring or playing live again.”

During the group’s long-awaited 2022 North American dates, de la Rocha sustained a leg injury that forced the cancelation of their remaining world tour and 2023 US shows.

The politically charged band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2023, although only Morello attended.

For Commerford, life after RATM – or at least during what may prove to be a hiatus interim period – is hard at work with his new band, 7D7D. The stripped-back, grunge-tinted, and politically propelled band includes guitarist Jonny Polonsky, with whom Wilk and Commerford briefly played together in Big Nose, and Wakrat drummer Mathias Wakrat.

The RATM pair’s relationship with Polonsky, as revealed by Commerford during his Rolling Stone chat, goes back to the recording of Audioslave’s 2005 album, Out of Exile. Producer Rick Rubin had brought Polonsky in as a guitar tech, but the multi-instrumentalist was able to leave a lasting impression.

After the band returned from a break, they found Polonsky playing one of the songs they were tracking on piano.

“He was playing it like Thelonious Monk,” Commerford says. “I was fuckin’ blown away.”

The three musicians would later jam, with Polonsky on guitar, and discovered his talents extended beyond the ivory.

“After Audioslave, we went through a period where me and Brad and Jonny jammed together in a band we called Big Nose,” he told Guitar World. “I got exposed to Jonny as a guitarist and I was just like, ‘This is like jamming with Hendrix.’ Or as close as I'm gonna get to jam with someone who can play like that, at least.”

The band have released four singles, with their latest, Insignia, released earlier this month.

RATM’s last live performance was on August 14 2022 at New York's Madison Square Garden. The 20-song set kickstarted with Bombtrack, with trademark rebellion anthem Killing in the Name the last song of the night.

Whether it's the final time the band will perform the song is yet to be seen. Commerford certainly hasn't backed up his bandmates' statement, leaving plenty of wind in the air to spin the rumor mill evermore.

Rage Against the Machine drummer Brad Wilk has ended talk of the band’s live return. In a frank Instagram post dated January 3, the drummer said that the band “will not be touring or playing live again.”  

His full post reads: “I know a lot of people are waiting for us to announce new tour dates for all the canceled RATM shows. I don’t want to string people or myself along any further.

“So while there has been some communication that this may be happening in the future… I want to let you know that RATM (Tim [Commerford, bass], Zack [de la Rocha, vocals], Tom [Morello, guitars] and I) will not be touring or playing live again.

“I’m sorry for those of you who have been waiting for this to happen. I really wish it was…”

There has been no official band statement at this time, but it seems unlikely that any statement would contradict the drummer’s own words.

Scott Ian, Velvet Revolver guitarist Dave Kushner and Gojira drummer Mario Duplantier were just some of the big names to express their sadness at the news, alongside their appreciation for all the band has done.

"Dood… that sucks. I know how hard you worked at trying to make this happen," reads Kushner's comment. "You will do something great again. Don’t forget that when you weren’t in a band with those guys, you were in @blacksabbath !!! Hang in there @bradwilk and talk soon."

Scott Ian simply put: "Respect. Always. Cheers Brad."

Rage Against the Machine, who count guitarist Tom Morello among their ranks, formed in Los Angeles, 1991 and quickly became one of the most influential rock and metal bands of the ‘90s.

Tracks like Killing in the Name and Know Your Enemy, from their self-titled debut album, made a huge imprint on guitar playing at the time, thanks to Morello’s innovations with his DigiTech Whammy. The record went triple-platinum in 2000.

The band broke up that same year but became unlikely heroes in the UK in 2009. Killing in the Name spearheaded a campaign to end a four-year run of X Factor winners claiming the much-coveted Christmas number one. To celebrate their strange success, the band reformed for a show at London’s Finsbury Park in 2010.

The campaign also sparked a resurgence in popularity for the band, who went on to headline Download Festival, Rock am Ring and Rock im Park in Germany, and Rock in Rio Madrid in 2010. But it wasn’t until 2019 that the band properly greased their wheels again, announcing a 2020 world tour that ultimately didn’t take place until 2022 owing to the pandemic.

Frontman de la Rocha sustained a leg injury during the second show of the group’s North American dates, forcing the cancelation of the remaining world tour and 2023 US dates, which now look extremely unlikely to be rescheduled.

The politically charged band were finally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2023, although only Morello attended. The ceremony included Jimmy Page’s first live performance in eight years, which saw the Led Zeppelin man pay homage to Link Wray.  

Away from the Hall of Fame and RATM, Morello has kept busy. 2023 began with his guest spot on the Måneskin single, GOSSIP, in January, and also included trading solos with Nuno Bettencourt, Slash and Buddy Guy across multiple live appearances, not to mention a signature Neural DSP plugin.

Meanwhile, RATM’s future may be cast in doubt, but the future of Morello’s son, Roman, looks bright. Footage has recently emerged of the young guitarist – who can “run circles around” his father according to Morello senior – shredding Killing in the Name to an empty stadium during soundcheck.

Roman Morello – the 12-year-old son of Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello – is becoming something of a household name for guitar fans, owing to the youngster’s impressive six-string chops.

Of course, it helps when your father is one of the greatest guitarists of all time, but even that is no guarantee for success, and as Roman has proved on numerous occasions, he can hold his own when armed with a Fender Soul Power Stratocaster – case in point, his recent cover of Ozzy Osbourne’s Mr Crowley.

But for any member of the Morello clan, we imagine Rage Against the Machine’s Killing in the Name is a rite of passage – and it’s a track that Roman can be seen tackling in new footage posted by his father on Instagram.

Specifically, the clip captures Roman (at that point a newfound RATM fan) on tour with the band last year, where he got the opportunity to shred Killing in the Name during soundcheck.

Swapping the Soul Power Strat for papa Morello’s 1982 Fender ‘Sendero Luminoso’ Telecaster – the same dedicated drop D guitar that Tom used on the original track – Roman took up position behind his father’s pedalboard inside an empty arena, navigating the Whammy pedal maneuvers and alternate-picking lines with ease while receiving the rhythm section support of Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk.

Clearly, we aren’t the only ones who are once again impressed with Roman’s guitar skills: “This fn awesome,” Slash commented on the post.

“Upon our Rock n Roll Hall of Fame induction I’d like to say THANK YOU to all the #RATM fans who over the course of 30+ years have been the heart and soul of the music,” Morello wrote in the clip’s accompanying caption. “One of my favorite memories is my son Roman (who became a fan on tour) rocking Killing In The Name with Tim & Brad at a soundcheck in 2022. 

“I have such love and gratitude and appreciation for all our fans who continue to be an inspiration, generation after generation.”

Rage Against the Machine were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last week, though Morello was the only band member to attend the ceremony. At the time, the guitarist hinted towards some disagreements within the group over the induction, saying during his acceptance speech that they had “differing perspectives on a lot of things, including being inducted into the Rock Hall”.

As mentioned above, that Roman is adept with a guitar in his arms comes as no shock, given the growing body of evidence pointing toward his six-string skills. And, once again, this clip serves to highlight the youngster’s lead skills – skills that Tom Morello says far exceed his own.

Speaking to Rolling Stone earlier this year, the RATM innovator admitted, “I’ve been very inspired by my 11-year-old son. I’ve been relegated to being the rhythm guitar player in my family now because my 11-year-old can shred circles around me. 

“I’ve been inspired by him. He’s been writing some riffs, and I’ve been writing some riffs. It’s been fun.”

Tom Morello clearly knows how to host a party that spans the generations. The Rage Against the Machine guitarist celebrated his mother’s 100th birthday last weekend, organizing a star-studded birthday bash that saw the likes of Jack Black, Perry Farrell and the entire lineup of Rage Against the Machine gather to celebrate with the Morello family.

The highlight of the event was a cover of Mr Crowley, featuring Black – in a spiritual reprisal of his School of Rock role – fronting a group of 12 and 13 year-old musicians, including Morello’s son Roman on guitar.

The rest of Black’s band was completed by 13 year-old Yoyoka Soma (drums), Roya Feiz (bass) and Hugo Weiss (keys), and footage of their performance has now been shared online by Soma.

“What an amazing mom and what an amazing life,” says Black in his introduction. “You guys ready. I’m ready... How do we start?”

We’ve only got phone footage (and audio) to go on, but what follows is an objectively great performance of Ozzy Osbourne classic, with Roman doing a fine job handling Rhoads classically influenced shred leads – and even playing the closing sections behind his head. In a nod to his dad, he’s also wielding papa Morello’s signature Fender Soul Power Stratocaster.

Following the gig, Soma took to Instagram to post pictures with attendees and discuss the experience, writing: 

“It was such a honor to be invited by Tom Morello, whom I adore, to join in the performance and celebrate Mary as a part of the band... Jack's vocals got us going like a scene from his movie, School of Rock. I love his singing and his character!”

Perhaps the ultimate compliment, however, came in an Instagram comment from Randy Rhoads’ sister, Kathy Rhoads D’Argenzio. 

“Awesome,” wrote Rhoads D’Argenzio. “My brother would have loved this! Birthday wishes from the Rhoads family!”

As we reported earlier this year, Morello Sr. has previously said his son’s playing progress has left him sidelined when it comes to their jams at home. 

“I’ve been relegated to being the rhythm guitar player in my family now,” Morello told Rolling Stone, back in March. “Because my 11-year-old can shred circles around me. I’ve been inspired by him. He’s been writing some riffs, and I’ve been writing some riffs. It’s been fun.”

Roman previously gave his lead guitar skills an airing – again with a cameo from Jack Black – when he recorded The Children Will Rise Up with Nandi Bushell back in 2021.

Hello, and welcome to a new Spotify playlist-embiggened Essential Guitar Tracks. As you may well know, every seven days (or thereabouts), we endeavor to bring you a selection of songs from across the guitar universe, all with one thing in common: our favorite instrument plays a starring role.

Our goal is to give you an overview of the biggest tracks, our editor’s picks and anything you may have missed. We’re pushing horizons and taking you out of your comfort zone – because, as guitarists, that’s something we should all be striving for in our playing. 

So, here are our highlights from the past seven days – now with a Spotify playlist (scroll to the bottom for the latest additions).

Fiddlehead – Fifteen to Infinity

Perfectly paired and pristinely panned guitar licks and riffs that ricochet across the frequency spectrum form the core of Fifteen to Infinity, Fiddlehead’s slightly Foo Fighters-flavored single that is basically impossible not to bob the head along to. There’s so much glassy guitar goodness to unpick in the dense web of layered guitars here, so repeat listening is recommended. (MO)

HotWax – Drop

Ahead of a plum US support slot with Royal Blood, everyone’s favorite gang of 18-year-old grunge acolytes named after an Electro-Harmonix pedal have, ahem, dropped a headstrong single that, were it released in another decade, could have been blowing eardrums at CBGB’s or The Crocodile alike. All fuzz and vinegar, Drop shows a punkier side to the UK trio, who are already tipped to be the next generation’s big guitar band. (MAB)

Guns N' Roses – Perhaps

Driven by a barrelhouse piano lick, Perhaps brings one of the world's biggest stadium-rock bands down to Earth a little bit, without sacrificing what they're good at. Said lick gives the band's latest stand-alone single, initially, an intimate feel – like you're hearing them play it at a club or dive. Any images of this band playing tiny, humid rooms, though, evaporate when the song's chorus – and that familiar flex of Stones-y, dual-guitar Les Paul muscle – tanks over you. Bound to be a crowd-pleaser, this one. (JM)

Emily Wolfe – Walk in My Shoes

Having reignited her relationship with Epiphone for one 2023’s most desirable signature guitars – the new-look Sheraton Stealth – Emily Wolfe has now put the six-string skills that made her so deserving of not one, but two, signature models to good use in Walk in My Shoes. Her first single of 2023, Walk in My Shoes is a three-minute battering ram, calling upon copious amounts of Kasabian-esque fuzz, filtered licks and quirky layers that pave the way for what could be a new direction for Wolfe. (MO)

Born of Osiris – Torchbearer

Lee McKinney has clearly been practising his modes – the riffs in this metalcore punisher are the stuff of Phrygian nightmares. The BOO fellas describe Torchbearer as a darker song, and with those sinister staccato lines they ain’t kidding, but the harmonized leads at the track’s conclusion do provide something of a palm-muted light at the end of the drop-tuned tunnel. (MAB)

Olivia Rodrigo – Bad Idea Right?

It was just two years ago that Olivia Rodrigo channeled the bratty pop-punk and grunge guitars of her youth into a series of angsty pop smashes that shot her to superstardom. It's difficult to argue with the songwriting skill that got her there, and that that lays behind her latest smash, Bad Idea Right? (give one listen to that perfect power-pop chorus). Peep those almost-dissonant guitar fills and (even feedback!) that elbow their way into the picture before those choruses, though, plus the Morello-esque closing solo. Rodrigo's not afraid to add some weirdness into the equation while she conquers the charts and pop radio. (JM)

Babymetal – Metali!!! (ft. Tom Morello)

Japanese kawaii metal outfit Babymetal have released a song called Metali!!! with Tom Morello. With that information alone, you probably know exactly what you’re getting yourself into with this one. And, sure enough, Babymetal and their Rage collaborator deliver the goods through battering riffs and an off-kilter, Whammy-tinged solo. (MO)

CLT DRP – I See My Body Through You

Given his pedalboard weighs a sciatica-inducing 40kg, it was only a matter of time before UK noisenik Scott Reynolds turned his hand to more ambient textures. His latest release with UK experimental punk outfit CLT DRP dials back his trademark ring mod for gossamer tremolo picking and uber-chonk octave riffs that would have Tom Morello pumping his fist with approval. (MAB)

Sufjan Stevens – So You Are Tired

Never one to follow a conventional path, indie icon Sufjan Stevens waited five years to follow-up his devastating, hugely-acclaimed 2015 full-length, Carrie & Lowell with The Ascension, a sprawling collection of electronic-driven landscapes punctuated – here and there – by some of Stevens' most electrifying guitar work in years. New single So You Are Tired finds him brilliantly returning to the lushly orchestrated baroque-pop sound that brought him fame, on the back of some ever-intricate acoustic work. (JM)

Sundara Karma – Baby Blue

Sundara Karma, one of England’s finest indie rock exports in recent years, have returned with the helter skelter cranked guitars of Baby Blue – a rollercoaster romp that carries the charm of early years Vaccines (with some amped up Sundara spice, of course) and the infectious layerings of fellow Brit outfit Circa Waves. Having said that, Baby Blue is its own beast, and when paired with previous single Friends of Mine, sets the scene for what could be the band’s strongest LP yet. (MO)

Sammy Boller – Midnight Garden

The latest instrumental anthem from Detroit guitar virtuoso Sammy Boller, whose penchant for awe-inspiring melodies and slick fretboard navigation takes center stage for a kaleidoscopic three-and-a-half-minutes. Though clean riffs and some bite-y licks dominate proceedings, stick around for that solo at 2:30, which combines the best of Boller’s playing: gravity-defying technicality and heartfelt phrasing. (MO)

Oxymorrons – Look Alive (Netic)

No, we haven’t accidentally uploaded the wrong song, and no, this isn’t a flat-out R&B track – though the initial measures may suggest as much, just wait until those pummeling guitars come in and you’ll see. Instead, Look Alive (Netic) is a classic example of Oxymorrons' self-coined ‘melanin punk’ sound, and an insight into their hybrid mashup of battering riffs and contemporary hip hop style. It’s got everything a great guitar song needs – high energy riffage and off-kilter solos – but in a rare worlds-colliding 21st century package. (MO)

Also on this week’s playlist…

• Mountain Caller – The Archivist
• Hot Milk – Breathing Underwater
• Death Cab for Cutie – An Arrow In The Wall
• The Guru Guru – Make Less Babies
• The Pleasure Dome – Down The Alley
• Heavy Lungs – Head Tilter
• Beatenberg – Don’t Call Her Over to You

Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine recently turned out in support of striking WGA and SAG-AFTRA members, as he joined the Hollywood picket line with an acoustic guitar in hand, delivering a short set that included a cover of Woody Guthrie’s This Land Is Your Land.

Speaking to the NME, Morello said it was a historic moment for the labor movement in the US. “They’re making history here on the sidewalk in front of Paramount Studios and I’m here to support them and express my solidarity,” he said. “I’ve made music throughout my entire life to be played on picket lines and on the front lines. So today is just one more day at the office with regards to that.”

Morello has a history of picking up the acoustic and joining in with protest movements. In 2011, he joined Occupy Wall Street protesters with his Gibson J-45 ‘Black Spartacus’ slope-shouldered dreadnought (a guitar that might be just as famous for the song it inspired, Black Spartacus Heart Attack Machine) and played a number of his Nightwatchman tunes.

Besides the Guthrie classic, a clip of which you can see below, Morello’s set on Monday, August 14 reportedly featured his solo Nightwatchman work once more, with Union Song and Union Town reportedly getting an airing, and Hold the Line – from his guest-studded 2021 album, The Atlas Underground Fire – also on the set.

The writers and actors of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA are on strike together for the first time since 1960. Back then, it was over improved rights, pensions and healthcare for screenwriters. Now, it is over various disputes over residuals for streaming and the threat of AI replacing creative talent. 

Rage Against the Machine’s sound might be animated by Morello’s avant-garde noise techniques and big, primal, post-Sabbath electric guitar riffs, but he has always made the argument that folk music is the heaviest genre of them all. 

Speaking to Guitarist in 2020, Morello said he discovered metal first, then, punk. Years later, artists such as Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, and Bruce Springsteen turned him onto folk. 

“I realized that folk music is the heaviest of all, because the right couplet, matched with the right minor chord, can keep you up five nights in a row,” he said. “In order to convey what I want to as the agitprop folk troubadour in The Nightwatchman, that’s going to require an acoustic guitar. That’s still a very important part of my musical life.”

You could walk into the GW offices, put a mic before anyone in the building, and they'd tell you just how great Nuno Bettencourt is. We could make the case for him being the best hard-rock player in the world right now, the Jedi master of electric guitar – we have, and we may well do so again.

But such accolades mean more when they come from the Extreme guitarist's peers. And so we reached out to a bunch of working pros – some of whom you might have heard of – and asked them what makes Bettencourt the player he is.

Heck-fire, one of them even said described him as marriage material. We don't know about that, but if you need someone to drop some string-skipping six-string fire on a track, we'd certainly give Bettencourt a ring.

Okay, enough nonsense. Here's Brian May from Queen to get things started...

Brian May

“When it comes to Nuno’s playing, we have to start with the new single, Rise. Nuno sent it to me a few months before it was released and, Jesus, I was stunned.

“I clicked the button as I was doing other stuff, as you do, and I sort of had it in the background and I just stopped dead when he got to the solo. I thought, ‘What the hell is he doing?’ I had to go back and listen to it about 10 times. It’s awesome. It’s incredible. After all this time, he still comes up with stuff that you would never dream of.

“As for other songs, obviously Get the Funk Out is a classic song of all time. That’s an absolute tour de force. There isn’t anything that isn’t in that solo, really. It’s insane. 

“In general, I think Nuno’s just a glorious player. He’s so colorful, and obviously his dexterity is extraordinary. There’s plenty of fast, accurate guitarists, but what he brings to it is this amazing spirit. It’s energetic and it’s lyrical, and he doesn’t lose sight of the fact that there are tunes. I don’t know where that stuff comes from. It makes my jaw drop, in a very good way.

“He’s also a great friend and the sweetest guy, and he’s always very complimentary. He says, ‘I think of you every time I do one of those things, because it has to speak, it has to be a tune that people have in their heads and it has to be relevant to the song.’ But, you know, his technique is so way above what I could imagine myself ever doing. But he’s always been very beautiful toward us, which means a lot to me.”

Steve Vai

“I have a little bit of a different perspective into Nuno and his playing because we’ve lived together on tour for quite some time with Generation Axe. You really don’t get to know somebody until you’re out at sea with them. And one of the things I discovered about Nuno is how creative he is, and how passionate he is.

“He’s a livewire. You can see why he plays the way he can play. There’s a visceral approach that’s just very different from guys that are sitting in their rooms gathering tremendous amounts of chops. Nuno’s a rockstar.

“As far as songs, I’ve always loved Flight of the Wounded Bumblebee, which is a really nice display of the use of clean picking and digital delay. And when we were doing Generation Axe, there was a solo he would do, I think it was in [the Edgar Winter Group’s] Frankenstein, where it was a little different every night, but every time he did it, I’d wait and I’d watch and he would just deliver it. 

“The groove we set up for him was perfectly suited, I felt, for his way of playing on this expansion. He would start very minimal, and then slowly, he’d go into one of his ‘finger rumbles’ [Laughs] with the picking. And then it would just grow into this beautiful thing. 

“There’s also another piece he did in his Generation Axe set, I think it was called Mashup, [the actual title is A Side of Mash] and it was originated by a fan that had edited together his favorite pieces of solos from Nuno’s catalog with Extreme. Nuno was so impressed by it that he performed it as one of his pieces. It was like a best-of of his guitar-centric contributions. That would be my pick as my favorite, really.”

Steve Lukather

“The new record’s lead single may be Nuno’s best recorded solo, really one of the best I have ever heard. But all the solos on the new album have raised the bar in rock guitar – and I love that it is Nuno that has done that. He has always done great work. Years ago, I saw a video of his Flight of the Wounded Bumblebee live that was really amazing and unique and flawless. 

“Nuno always plays at the highest level. His articulation, time and note choices are amongst the best I have ever heard on everything he plays on. The two of us did a bit of an ‘under the radar’ Japanese tour in the early 2000s – we played two sets together every night for two weeks. 

“That was a lot of fun and he was amazing every night. I’ve always loved his playing and I love Extreme as a band. He has always been a great friend to me as well.” 

Tom Morello

“I don’t know if people know this, but I was a fan of Nuno Bettencourt years before Extreme signed a record deal. They were a club band in Boston when I was attending Harvard, and I would go see them religiously and was blown away by this 16-, 17-year-old guitar phenomenon who I would stand in front of with my jaw, like, on the floor. 

“The first song of his that I would say I love is one that probably no one reading this has heard, which was the Nuno Bettencourt a cappella guitar solo that he would play as a teenager, sort of his version of Eruption. Which was basically all of the kind of pyrotechnics that he still has today, but woven through a series of, like, cartoon themes and game-show themes and sort of clever, playful melodies, intermixed with his overwhelming technique.

“Then I would also point to Flight of the Wounded Bumblebee, of course, which is on my Guitars Rule the World playlist. That is a standalone sort of exercise in awesomeness that really sets him head and shoulders above the pack. Then let’s cut to the present with Rise, and the guitar solo that everyone’s talking about. 

“It’s been a long time since people have been talking about a guitar solo, frankly. And this particular guitar solo is just absolutely mind-blowing. The back half of that thing? That’s new, you know what I mean? I had the good fortune to have him play me the record a few months ago, and I made him stop after the first song. It was like, ‘So I guess you still have it then!’

“The thing about Nuno is that, from day one, he had the chops of all those folks in the upper echelon of that gunslinging era. But there’s also a playfulness. There’s an emotional content. There’s his gorgeous acoustic work. There’s his ability to understand the genius of the band Queen and tastefully incorporate those influences.

“There’s the fact that he can sing his ass off. And on top of that, he’s the funkiest dude in the shredder family tree. So he’s not just tethered to his outstanding technique, and not just solely reliant on his ability to move his fingers fast to create historic guitar moments. He is truly a singular talent.”

Mateus Asato

“I can’t even imagine how it was being a rock guitar player in the ’80s, hearing tons and tons of riffs at every single corner and then coming back home thinking, ‘All right, how can I still make it sound authentic?’ Somehow Nuno was one of the few who were able to find the missing piece of that puzzle. 

“Forty years later, the rise of the phoenix comes up with finesse – and better than ever. Besides Rise, which I’m sure everybody has already talked about, two other songs from Extreme’s new album grabbed my attention: Banshee and Save Me. 

“There are strong riffs, catchy melodies and flawless solos in both songs. And hearing Nuno messing around with lower tunings and seven-string guitars in Save Me made me smile. Besides all that, I have to mention his impeccable guitar tone. A perfect match to highlight his performance at its best. Nuno is one of a kind. What a special player. Nobody can replicate that right-hand mojo!”

Zakk Wylde

“I always joke that Nuno, he’s perfect marriage material. Because he does it all. He writes. He produces. He rips on the guitar. He sings. He plays piano… You know, he’ll do your taxes! He’ll walk your dog! There’s nothing he can’t do. He’s an unstoppable machine. And he’s the sweetest guy on the planet. 

“Being on Generation Axe and seeing him shred every night, I think what separates him is, obviously there’s his love for King Edward and all that stuff, but he’s just got the perfect blend of technique and feel. And he’s got balls in his playing. And muscle. And then he can do the melodic thing. He can do the acoustic thing. 

“My favorite was to watch him play Midnight Express [from 1995’s Waiting for the Punchline]. It’s a solo acoustic piece and it’s phenomenal. And then he had his medley [A Side of Mash], which was like ‘Nuno’s Greatest Hits of Shred-ocity.’ You couldn’t help but be inspired.

“Nuno sent me the new stuff a little while back while I was on tour with Pantera, and as soon as I heard the single, I was like, ‘Wow, you’ve gotta be on Mel Bay Volume 3 by now!’ [Laughs] ‘Obviously, you’ve been putting in the time!’ And then it’s a great song, too. It’s just insane. If Nuno was a wrestler, he’d be Lex Luger – he’s the total package!”

• Six is out now via earMusic.