The Sun: "Tom Morello Talks Chris Cornell, Rage Against The Machine's First Gig, Ahead of New Book"
Full Article
By KELLI SKYE FADROSKI | kfadroski@scng.com | Orange County Register
PUBLISHED: October 7, 2020 at 7:30 a.m. | UPDATED: October 7, 2020 at 9:13 a.m.
Excerpt:
“I have been thinking about doing this for a while, and in my life as a musician and as an activist, it’s a pretty bizarre mosaic going from heavy metal bands at Harvard University to being a folk troubadour on the front lines of protests around the world,” he said during a phone interview in which at one point he was scolded by his school-aged children for being too loud for their at-home Zoom school sessions.
“I’ve also had the good fortune to be in bands with tremendous vocalists and frontmen like Zack de la Rocha, Chris Cornell, Bruce Springsteen and Chuck D and B-Real. On a day-to-day basis, I’m just living this life, but when I began assembling this it was so diverse in both musical experiences and political activism.”
Morello dug deep into his own archives for photographs and memorabilia. The book includes handwritten notes, song lyrics, setlists from important shows, photos and behind-the-scenes stories. He decided to publish it all, even the embarrassing photos of wild hairstyles and questionable fashion choices.
However, he is not at all ashamed of the photos that show him playing the French horn or dressed up like Alice Cooper.
“Those are actually the ones I’m most proud of,” he said with a laugh.
Morello also dedicated a couple of pages in Cornell’s memory and included a poem he had written for Cornell the night the singer took his own life in 2017.
“His passing is something that’s still tough every single day,” he said. “It’s a scar that does not go away. Chris could create a beautiful or terrifying melody out of the ether. Whether it was a simple chord progression or a complicated, heavy rip, he’d just effortlessly come up with stuff. We still have all that music, but I miss him every day.”
