Tom Morello Reveals Plan to Mobilize Occupy Vancouver

BY Alex HudsonPublished Oct 18, 2011

Given Tom Morello's passion for all things political, it's no surprise that the Rage Against the Machine guitarist also known as the Nightwatchman has strong opinions about Occupy Wall Street and its many spin-off protests. Having already performed at Occupy Los Angeles and Occupy Wall Street this month, he will soon be bringing his cause to Vancouver.

The Nightwatchman is scheduled to perform tomorrow night (October 19) at Vancouver's Vogue Theatre. When he shows up, he's hoping to bring some of the city's protesters along with him.

"We may bring Occupy Vancouver to the venue," Morello told the Vancouver Sun. "We're in discussion. We'll see if we can get that together."

He added, "I'm glad that finally people across the country and across the globe are giving voice to their discontent about the poor management that the 'one percent' has done of the planet. When you're managing human affairs in the name of profit, it's going to be very scarring to the environment and devastating to human rights, and the Occupy movement is now giving voice to that discontent. The discontent is always latent, but now it is represented on street corners in cities around the world."

In addition to mobilizing Vancouver's protesters, Morello will be promoting his recently released World Wide Rebel Songs. He recently spoke with Exclaim! about the politically minded collection, explaining, "I wanted to establish something [on my first few albums] that was wholly independent sonically from the world of Rage and Audioslave. But... I've made as many Nightwatchman records as I have Rage Against the Machine records and this is the 14th record of my career, so if I'm not going to be comfortable in my skin at this point when will I ever?"

He continued: "Most of the Nightwatchman songs, from all four records, are about exactly the same thing: is it possible to find personal redemption through the medium of fighting for justice through music?"

The album marks a break from the Nightwatchman's previous acoustic-leaning material. "There are a lot of guitar solos and riffs on this record," he said, "but you're not going to confuse me with being a member of the Tea Party."

You can read Exclaim!'s entire Tom Morello interview here.

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