Tom Morello Collaborates With “Prodigy-Shredding” Teenage Son

Tom Morello knows his way around a guitar. The 60-year-old Harlem native is best known for his tenure with the alt-metal legends Rage Against the Machine. However, he has collaborated with everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Maneskin. But The Nightwatchman’s most recent collab just might be his favorite. Morello’s upcoming single will feature none other than than his 13-year-old son, Roman.

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Tom Morello Has Been Relegated to His Family’s Rhythm Guitar Player

Roman Morello stayed in his room when the pandemic shut the world down in 2020, practicing guitar eight hours a day. One day, his father passed by his room to hear “these huge drop-D riffs.”

“I said ‘What’s that?’” Morello told NME. “And he said ‘Oh, I’ve just been working on some riffs, do you think these go well together?’

“I was like ‘Son. Those go very well together and we’re about to write our first song together.’”

Fans will hear the result June 28, when “Soldier in the Army of Love” hits the airwaves. The first single from Morello’s debut solo rock album, “Soldier” boasts “huge Morello riffs from multi-generations and a shredding guitar solo where you have to guess which one of us played.”

With the help of YouTube tutorials and some good old-fashioned practicing, Morello’s son is quickly becoming “a guitar player there who may be giving me a run for my money.”

An Instagram follower commented, “See yall in 10 years when he’s a legendary guitarist like you Tom.”

See Roman Morello Absolutely Smash This Ozzy Osbourne Cover

Tom Morello is more than just a master guitarist. He’s also a devoted social justice activist—and he gets it from his momma. In the ’60s, Mary Morello fought alongside the NAACP and in the civil rights movement. In 1987, she founded Parents for Rock and Rap, an anti-censorship answer to Tipper Gore’s Parents Music Resource Center.

So when Mary celebrated her 100th birthday in October 2023, an intimate gathering just wouldn’t do. Her son went all out, summoning Jack Black, Perry Farrell of Jane’s Addiction, and the entire Rage Against the Machine lineup to celebrate Mary’s milestone.

In an homage to his School of Rock role, Jack Black led a group of 12 and 13-year-old musicians in a rousing cover of Ozzy Osbourne’s 1980 hit “Mr. Crowley.” Roman Morello took on the guitar role—which, of course, he absolutely slayed.

Featured image by Michael Loccisano/WireImage