Rage Against the Machine firebrand Tom Morello has teamed up with Russian punk outfit Pussy Riot for new single, Weather Strike.
The storming track opens with a heavily overdriven bassline that quickly erupts into a drop-D Morellian banger, its choruses flanked by ethereal piano verses, before a molotov cocktail of pentatonic riffs and – of course – DigiTech Whammy-drenched solos bring the song home.
“Pussy Riot is one of the most radical and important activist musical groups of all time,” Morello said in a statement. “Their fearless blending of art and confrontation is a constant inspiration and it’s an honor to combine forces on this powerful, revolutionary track Weather Strike.”
“Both for Tom and me politics has been always closely intertwined with our music, like two sides of a Möbius strip,” says Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova.
“It’s an honor to collaborate and be friends with Tom. I feel strong, empowered, supported, seen, [and] respected when I work with Tom. I feel that we’re forming a good part of a revolutionary art army together, true allies and comrades.”
The release follows last month’s Pussy Riot EP Panic Attack, with a full-length album scheduled for later this year. Two of the band’s members, Masha Alekhina and Lucy Shtein, remain under house arrest, and face two years’ jail time for supporting Alexei Navalny, opposition leader to Vladimir Putin.
Weather Strike is the latest in a string of collaborations from Morello, who recently joined forces with The Pretty Reckless and Serj Tankian, while his latest release, the Comandante EP, features a guitar duel with Slash.
