Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine is set to release the solo album, ‘The Fabled City’, September 30th, 2008 via Epic Records.

The 11-song set is the anticipated follow up to the 2007 ‘The Nightwatchman’ debut ‘One Man Revolution’. Now being billed as Tom Morello : The Nightwatchman, the album is the first release to bear the political and social activist’s birth name.

‘The Fabled City’ was produced by Brendan O’Brien (Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam) and features appearances by System Of A Down’s Serj Tankian and Shooter Jennings.

In addition to his career as a critically acclaimed solo artist, Tom Morello is a founding member and guitarist of the rock bands Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave.

The two bands are responsible for multiple Grammy Awards and a combined 30 million albums sold worldwide.

Listen – “Whatever It Takes” stream

The Nightwatchman stream widget:

Widely known for his unique voice as a master electric guitarist, his compositions as Tom Morello : The Nightwatchman have been primarily based around the acoustic guitar. However, as his MySpace page firmly states, “You don’t have to be loud, son, to be heavy as shit,” and the stories and sounds presented throughout the album showcases a depth and intelligence rarely heard in the modern musical climate surrounding it.

With more complex electric arrangements than displayed on ‘One Man Revolution’, ‘The Fabled City’ is the synthesis of his groundbreaking work as an innovative rock guitarist and revolutionary acoustic troubadour.

When describing ‘The Fabled City’, Morello stated, “My goal was to capture the energy and emotion of The Nightwatchman live shows. There is a much more rocking quality to this record, solos and riffs, mixed with darker acoustic songs. I think my singing has come a long way as well. I had a lot of devastating losses of family and friends during the past two years and The Fabled City is a search for hope through music and confronting injustice.”

In the spring of 2008, Morello launched The Justice Tour, a nationwide concert tour formed in celebration of the 60th Anniversary of The Human Rights Declaration. The tour, which featured performances from Perry Farrell, Slash, Dave Navarro, Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains, Wayne Kramer of the MC5, Sen-Dog of Cypress Hill and more, visited cities with a day dedicated to a local charity and a rock show to benefit that charity at each stop. The tour performances were an extension of the periodic residency he has presided over for the past two years at the intimate Los Angeles, CA venue, Hotel Cafe, and included live performances of many songs from ‘The Fabled City’.

Recognized by Rolling Stone Magazine as one of the “100 Greatest Guitar Players of All-Time (#26),” Morello is one of only two guitarists featured as a playable animated character in the overwhelmingly popular Activision video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.

Tom Morello graduated from Harvard University with honors as a Political Science major and has been a widely recognized political activist throughout his career. In 2006, he was the recipient of the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award.

Morello’s family has been a constant source of political and social inspiration as his great-uncle, Jomo Kenyatta was the first president of Kenya, and his mother, Mary Morello, founded Parents for Rock and Rap, an anti-censorship counterweight to Tipper Gore’s PMRC (Parents Music Resource Center).

With System of A Down’s Serj Tankian, Morello formed Axis of Justice, an organization whose purpose is to bring together musicians, music fans, and grassroots political organizations to fight for social justice and hosts it’s inspired radio show, The Axis of Justice Radio Network.

As a producer, Morello has worked with The Crystal Method, Anti-Flag, Puff Daddy, and many more. He has also scored compositions for major motion pictures such as the 2008 hit Iron Man (where he can also be seen as an actor), The Matrix, Collateral, Charlie’s Angels, Talladega Nights, XXX: State of the Union and more.

In the summer of 2008, Morello and Rage Against The Machine will headline many European Music Festivals. They also played a headlining performance at the Lollapalooza Festival in Chicago, IL.

Tom Morello : The Nightwatchman will be touring heavily throughout 2008 and 2009 in support of ‘The Fabled City’.

Tom Morello : The Nightwatchman ‘The Fabled City’ Track Listing:

1. The Fabled City
2. Whatever It Takes
3. The King of Hell
4. Night Falls
5. The Lights Are On In Spidertown
6. Midnight In The City of Destruction
7. Saint Isabelle
8. Lazarus On Down featuring Serj Tankian
9. Gone Like Rain
10. The Iron Wheel featuring Shooter Jennings
11. Rise to Power

The Fabled City on amazon.com

Tom Morello : The Nightwatchman MySpace
Tom Morello : The Nightwatchman Official Website

Soundgarden found success themselves in 1991 with the release of the double-platinum selling ‘Badmotorfinger’ and 1994’s ‘Superunknown’ which went on to sell over 7 million copies worldwide. After the band split in the late ’90s, Chris Cornell hooked up with musicians from Rage Against The Machine to form supergroup Audioslave who went on to massive success throughout their six years together.

After Audioslave disbanded in 2006, Cornell wrote and performed “You Know My Name”, the theme song for the latest James Bond film, Casino Royale before heading to the studio to record his second solo album, ‘Carry On’ which was released on June 5th along with the single, “No Such Thing”. Having sold in excess of 20 million albums and defined the sound of a generation, Chris Cornell is a truly phenomenal performer who should not be missed.

This is your chance to win a pair of tickets to see ex-Audioslave and Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell play live at Carling Academy Glasgow on June 27th 2007 in support of his latest solo album, ‘Carry On’. Carling has got five pairs of tickets up for grabs all of which come with a few free pints of ice cold Carling at the gig for you and your mate. For more info checkthe Carling music competition site.

Chris Cornell Official Website

According to Billboard, so far the lineup includes, “a reunited Rage Against The Machine, Bjork and the Red Hot Chili Peppers”. This is great news for Rage Against The Machine fans as the band hasn’t played together with their eccentric and outspoken front-man Zach de la Rocha for over six years. I’ve always been quite fascinated by him and he seems to have kept more of a low profile than his band mates who went on to form Audioslave with Chris Cornell.

Billboard’s sources are also reporting that the Coachella Festival will include, “a reunion gig from Crowded House as well as the Arcade Fire, Sonic Youth, Air, the Roots, Willie Nelson, Interpol, Manu Chao, Fountains Of Wayne, Jarvis Cocker, the Good, the Bad and the Queen, Hot Chip, Peeping Tom, the Decemberists, Arctic Monkeys, Tiesto, Kings Of Leon, Travis, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Lily Allen, Kaiser Chiefs, Silversun Pickups and LCD Soundsystem”.

Tickets will be going on sale Saturday January 27th. If you want to go to this festival, I highly recommend getting up very early that day to buy tickets. They will most likely sell out fast – as there will be many Rage fans wanting in.

The actual 2007 Coachella Festival line-up will be announced soon and if Billboard’s sources are anything to go by, this looks to be one of the most exciting and eclectic festivals announced this year.

Official Coachella Valley Music Festival
Rage Against The Machine

By: Jenny May