This conversation with Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave guitarist-songwriter Tom Morello took place immediately after the final preview of the new punk-metal-hip-hop musical, Revolution(s) at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre. Little did Morello, whose music propels the show, and playwright Zayd Ayers Dohrn know when they began work on Revolution(s) that it would be opening in a freshly militarized Chicago. With characteristic passion and insight, Morello reflects on his history of writing politically charged music and weighs the impact it still might have. He also digs into how he got such mind-bending sounds from a guitar and became an artist in the process; what he learned from touring and recording with Bruce Springsteen; how he spearheaded Black Sabbath’s final all-star “Back to the Beginning” show just 17 days before Ozzy Osborne died; and what happened when Morello told off Cubs ownership from a benefit concert stage in 2014.
