A progressive interview with Tom Morello.

• Author: Rampell, Ed
• Position: Interview

During his October 8 solo appearance at Occupy L.A., Tom Morello--an original member of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave--wore a cap with the logo of the Industrial Workers of the World, the legendary early twentieth century militant union. Asked why he wore an IWW hat, Morello laughed, "Because I'm a Wobbly." Indeed, Morello is becoming the Occupy movement's modern-day version of the IWW organizer immortalized in the ballad Joan Baez famously sang at Woodstock: "Wherever workingmen defend their rights, it's there you'll find Joe Hill." Occupiers have found Morello, a longtime fixture at protests, at Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Vancouver, as well as at the campsite encircling L.A.'s City Hall, performing songs that electrify the masses.

Like Barack Obama, forty-seven-year-old Morello has a Kenyan father and a white American mother, a Midwestern background, and a Harvard degree. Morello is the grandnephew of Kenyan independence leader Jomo Kenyatta; his part-Masai father, Ng'ethe Njoroge, was Kenya's ambassador to the United Nations. Rolling Stone called Mary Morello a socialist who founded Parents for Rock and Rap to resist Tipper Gore's efforts to restrict music four years before her son Tom co-founded Rage Against the Machine. The band went on to be ranked #33 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock, and Rolling Stone rated Morello #26 on its 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.

His latest solo album dropped in August, and World Wide Rebel Songs is full of Morello's trademark hard rock rollicking rhythms and rabblerousing lyrics. It includes the bonus track "Union Town," which also appears on the benefit EP recording of the same name. Woody Guthrie emblazoned his guitar with the slogan "This machine kills fascists," while Morello's guitar bears the watchword: "Whatever it takes."

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In this candid interview, Morello discusses the creative process of fusing artistry with radical politics, his current relationship with Rage Against the Machine, the Wisconsin uprising, the Occupy movement, and more.

Q: You were one of the first national figures to respond to the fight back in Wisconsin. Why did you go there?

Tom Morello: The struggle for union rights, particularly for public sector union rights, is one I take very personally. My mom was a public high school teacher in a small town in Illinois for almost thirty years. We did not have a lot of money, but we had enough to put food on the table because my mom was...