Tom Morello to serve as New York Times op-ed columnist

Tom Morello's been a busy man of late – promoting his brand-new, star-studded solo album, The Atlas Underground Fire, and jamming (and appearing in music videos) with 11-year-old multi-instrumentalist sensation Nandi Bushell.

Now, the Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave electric guitar innovator has another new project – a limited series of opinion columns for The New York Times.

Morello's column will be the first in a new subscribers-only series from the paper's op-ed section, one that will feature artists "who have shaped the cultural landscape" offering "provocative commentary" on a wide range of issues.

According to a statement from the paper, Morello will use his column to examine his own music, as well as the music of others, and offer "insight into the ideas and arguments shaping the world today."

Morello will write his column through the lens of that music, and will give readers "a window into his creative process," allowing them to "hear in his words the stories behind his work."

Of the perspective he will offer in his new column, Morello said, “I was the only Black kid in an all white town, the only anarcho-syndicalist at a conservative high school, the only spandex clad heavy metal guitarist at Harvard University, and the only Star Trek loving Ivy League nerd rocking some of the world's biggest stages and on off days dodging tear gas at the barricades. 

"I firmly believe that both the pen and the guitar can serve as a battering ram for justice.”

Morello’s first column for the paper will be released tomorrow Wednesday, October 20.