The Nightwatchman
| The Nightwatchman | |
|---|---|
The Nightwatchman at Coachella 2007.
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Thomas Baptiste Morello |
| Born |
May 30, 1964 New York City |
| Origin | Los Angeles, United States |
| Genres | Folk rock, acoustic rock, anti-folk, protest music |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
| Instruments | Guitar, harmonica, mandolin, vocals |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Labels | Epic |
| Associated acts | Audioslave, Knife Party, Rage Against the Machine, Street Sweeper Social Club, The Freedom Fighters Orchestra, Serj Tankian, Shooter Jennings, Perry Farrell, Axis of Justice, Lock Up, Electric Sheep, Bruce Springsteen |
| Website | nightwatchmanmusic |
| Notable instruments | |
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Whatever It Takes Plain body, nylon string acoustic guitar Arm the Homeless Custom built electric guitar Black Spartacus Heart Attack Machine Black body, nylon string Gibson acoustic guitar |
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The Nightwatchman is the alter-ego and solo act of American musician Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine, Street Sweeper Social Club and former Audioslave). Morello began performing as the Nightwatchman in 2003 as an outlet for his political views while he was playing music with Audioslave.
Morello created the identity of The Nightwatchman, inspired by Bruce Springsteen's The Ghost of Tom Joad album, when a desire to return to political activism in his music struck him in 2003, after over a year of playing non-activist rock in Audioslave. Morello describes The Nightwatchman as "the black Robin Hood of 21st century music" and "a reaction against illicit wars, a reaction against first strikes, torture, secret prisons, spying illegally on American citizens. It's a reaction against war crimes, and it's a reaction against a few corporations that grow rich [off] this illicit war while people beg for food in the city streets." More specifically, he later elaborated that the format was inspired by long-time social and political activist/musician Billy Bragg. Morello first saw him performing at a concert c. 1994, playing "fearlessly" before a crowd of 8,000 people in a tent alongside big-name rock bands of the time. The Nightwatchman first began playing political acoustic folk music in a Los Angeles coffeehouse before a small crowd, and soon after went on Billy Bragg's Tell Us the Truth tour.
The Tell Us the Truth tour was supported by unions, environmental and media reform groups including Common Cause, Free Press and A.F.L.-C.I.O. with the ultimate goal of "informing music fans, and exposing and challenging the failures of the major media outlets in the United States." His Nightwatchman persona has been compared to Woody Guthrie,Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan. He initially had no plans to record, but later recorded the song "No One Left" for Songs and Artists that Inspired Fahrenheit 9/11. At the Festival of Bonnaroo in 2007, The Nightwatchman performed Rage Against the Machine song "Guerrilla Radio" to protest George W. Bush.
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Wikipedia