Tom Morello is a guitar wizard, but the Rage Against the Machine legend can admit defeat. Morello says he’s met his match in none other than his 13-year-old son, Roman. The pair unleashed their first collaboration, “Soldier in the Army of Love,” last month. Now Roman is spending his summer touring Europe with his dad. Morello thinks Roman is absolutely shredding it, and all you have to do is watch the video below to see that it’s not just fatherly pride talking.
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Watch Tom Morello’s Son Out-Shred His Dad
As Tom Morello tours Europe, Roman has been joining him onstage for an opening performance of their co-penned track “Soldier in the Army of Love.” Recently, Morello shared a clip to social media that shows why he has been relegated to playing rhythm guitar in his own family. The teenager absolutely owned the stage during a July 8 set at the Villafranca Festival in Verona, Italy.
“Good Lord,” the 60-year-old alt-metal icon captioned the July 13 post. “My 13 year old kid Roman Morello SCORCHING his way across Europe.”
The comment section is full of awestruck fans, with one particularly clever quip standing out. “‘Hey, Steve! How was your summer?’” wrote the Instagram user @babesagainstthemachinetribute. “‘It was cool. My parents and I went to Big Bear for a few weeks. How about you, Roman?’”
“’Completely melted the faces off of the entire continent of Europe,’” the comment continued.. “‘But…yeah! Big Bear rocks, man!’”
Another Instagram user exclaimed, “I been playing longer than he’s been alive and I can’t do half that.”
[RELATED: Tom Morello Insists Fans Have the Power To Change the World: “You Are Agents of History”]
Roman Morello Has Put in the Work
It isn’t particularly shocking that the progeny of Rolling Stone’s 18th-best guitarist of all time would have some serious chops. But Roman Morello isn’t merely coasting on his DNA. During the shutdown back in 2020, the young musician stayed in his room practicing eight hours a day. And one day, Tom Morello passed by his son’s 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.’”
(Photo by Roberto Tommasini/NurPhoto/Shutterstock)
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