Tom Morello bares his sonic Teeth on 5 Seconds Of Summer’s surprisingly riffy new single

Australian pop-rockers and former teen heartthrobs 5 Seconds Of Summer know their way around a hook, but they’ve spent years trying to establish their credentials as serious players among the muso community - hell, lead guitarist Michael Clifford even has his own Gibson signature electric guitar. Perhaps now they’ll convince the doubters with a little help from their pal Tom Morello, who guests on new single, Teeth.

We’re not quite sure how the collaboration came to pass, but sonically, the resultant track wouldn’t sound out of place on any Muse record from the past two years - a band with whom Morello toured recently, after which Matt Bellamy gifted him a custom-made Manson guitar.

Teeth follows 5SOS’s summer single Easier, which itself was inspired by Nine Inch Nails. Whatever you make of the band, sneaking more guitar into the mainstream sounds good to us...

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

Mike has been Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com since 2019, and an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict for far longer. He has a master's degree in journalism from Cardiff University, and 15 years' experience writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist, as well as 20 years of recording and live experience in original and function bands. During his career, he has interviewed the likes of John Frusciante, Chris Cornell, Tom Morello, Matt Bellamy, Kirk Hammett, Jerry Cantrell, Joe Satriani, Tom DeLonge, Radiohead's Ed O'Brien, Polyphia, Tosin Abasi, Yvette Young and many more. His writing also appears in the The Cambridge Companion to the Electric Guitar. In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock as Maebe.