“They didn’t want any toggle switch playing or guitar pyrotechnics”: Tom Morello reveals how his pre-RATM band tried to limit his influence – and drown him out with keyboards
Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello has regaled fans with stories about his battle with keyboards during his pre-RATM band days.
In a revealing conversation with Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan, Morello opens up about the stifling creative environment that nearly drowned out his signature guitar style early in his career.
READ MORE: Tom Morello names one of his “primary influences” as a guitarist: “He approached the instrument in a totally irreverent way”
“We made a very sterile record,” says Morello of Something Bitchin’ This Way Comes, his first (and only) album as a member of the pre-RATM rock band, Lock Up.
“I think it was the intent of the record company. It was when there was a lot of influence in the production to dampen down what I do. And there was talk of keyboard — I was very prejudiced against keyboards though — I had to physically sneak down at night and disable the keyboard so that it wouldn’t be on the record.”
According to Morello, the label didn’t want his trademark “toggle switch playing” or any of his “guitar pyrotechnics” that would later become the hallmark of RATM’s sound.
“Like the stuff that was most me, they were sure they did not want any of that on the record.”
As Corgan puts it, “when you listen to the record it sounds like you’re not quite you yet,” to which Morello replies, “I still hadn’t [figured myself out] at the time but I was more Nuno Bettencourt than Andy Gill.”
He continues: “So the record came but we listened to what they said because they are the experts. This is Geffen Records — they’ve got Guns N’ Roses and [A&R legend] Tom Zutaut there and you know, there are a lot of voices in the room. And surely this must be the way to go and then we named the record possibly the worst record name in the annals of western music: Something Bitchin’ This Way Comes.”
Elsewhere, Morello also reveals the “horrible” tour experience that followed the album’s release, saying: “We have our 15 minutes where they hear a single and you’re being promoted and you’re at horrible places in Phoenix and in Denver where there’s like cocaine dishes in bathrooms like you’ve sort of seen in Led Zeppelin movies.”
“It’s just so off-putting to me,” says the guitarist.
The post “They didn’t want any toggle switch playing or guitar pyrotechnics”: Tom Morello reveals how his pre-RATM band tried to limit his influence – and drown him out with keyboards appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
