Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello has previewed his upcoming all-star solo album with a ferocious cut of AC/DC’s ‘Highway to Hell’, featuring rock legends Bruce Springsteen and Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder.
Titled The Atlas Underground Fire, Morello’s new solo album is a collaborative cut with contemporary artists like Bring Me the Horizon and Mike Posner among the many guests. The LP is due for release on October 15th, pre-order here.
The first track unveiled hails back to a “historical moment” for Morello, who recalled his tenure in Springsteen’s E Street Band on their 2014 Australian tour in a statement: “We had played ‘Highway To Hell’ live a few times with Eddie Vedder on vocals when I was on tour with the E Street Band in Australia in 2014, so I began to wonder, what does the most ferocious version of this song sound like in 2021? I put together a pretty rocking demo and sent it over to Bruce and Eddie with my fingers crossed.”
“This is what we got back: one of the greatest rock’n’roll songs of all time, sung by two of the greatest rock’n’roll singers of all time, and then I play a shredding guitar solo. Thank you and good night.” Listen below.
Tom Morello | ‘Highway To Hell’ [ft. Bruce Springsteen & Eddie Vedder]
Watch below as the famous trio deliver a high-octane rendition of the Aussie classic to fans at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre back in 2014.
With pandemic restrictions in place, Morello couldn't access a studio engineer, instead, working remotely with collaborators by recording the guitar parts on his phone. “It was an outrageous idea,” the guitarist reflected, “but it led to a freedom in creativity in that I could not overthink any of the guitar parts and just had to trust my instincts.”
“The freedom I felt in immersing myself in this record was the counterweight to the darkness of the pandemic time. The connection and community I was able to forge was global - from Brazil to Palestine to England and across the U.S. It was really a balm to the daily stress and tension of trying to keep the grandmas alive, and keep my kids, myself and my family from going crazy. And it was all recorded into my phone.”
PRE-ORDER THE ATLAS UNDERGROUND FIRE, HERE.
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