“I don’t think it’s nepotism when your kid’s that f**king good”: Tom Morello defends hyping his son’s guitar skills
With his enduring work in Rage Against the Machine and as a prominent solo artist, Tom Morello has more than left his mark on the world of rock music. But at just 15 years old, his son Roman is already giving him a run for his money…
Back in 2023, a video went viral showing Roman nailing Killing in the Name during a Rage soundcheck – using the same 1982 Fender ‘Sendero Luminoso’ Telecaster his father used on the original song, no less – and his guitar chops have only improved since then.
The father-son duo frequently perform on stage together, and in a new interview with Rolling Stone, the Rage Against the Machine firebrand waxes lyrical on the pair’s heartwarming – and clearly productive – musical relationship.
READ MORE: Laney Prism-Mini review – a sub-£100 desktop amp with sounds that’ll rival your main rig
Back in September, Tom Morello released his latest solo record, Everyone Gets Everything They Want. “My muse for this record was my 15-year-old son, Roman, who’s now toured with me for the last three summers,” he says. “I would be with my ear to his door poaching his best riffs for this record!”
Several songs on the album feature riffs from Roman’s mind, Tom says, including Soldier in the Army of Love, Adjourn it, and Unconquered. “The thing that’s interesting about lifting those riffs from Roman is that he clearly has, one, a knowledge of my catalog, two, has Morellian riff-writing DNA, but it’s through an entirely different lens. There’s a familiarity to them like, oh, that’s a kick-ass riff that I wish I had written, and we just have a ball doing it.”
At just 15 years old, Roman Morello is already enjoying the life of a rockstar. But with a dad like Tom Morello, it’s naturally going to bring with it nepotism accusations. But Tom is quick to dispel these.
“We were just playing last night, and he plays those two solos in Mr. Crowley, and people’s jaws are on the floor. You can call it nepotism, but I don’t think it’s nepotism when your kid’s that fucking good.”
Despite Roman’s fast-developing guitar skills, though, Tom still calls the shots… While he recently joked that he has conceded to being the “rhythm guitarist in the household”, Tom still exercises his dad powers: “If we have disagreements, I’m able to send him to his room.”
The post “I don’t think it’s nepotism when your kid’s that f**king good”: Tom Morello defends hyping his son’s guitar skills appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
