Tom Morello's New Album Teams Up with Kneecap, Son Writes the Riffs — His Own "State of the Union"

With "FUCK TOMMY ROBINSON" carved into the back of his guitar, Tom Morello knew before he even stepped onstage at Download Festival that someone would be upset. Someone shouted "keep politics out of music," and his response was blunt: "That should've been said 35 years ago. From day one, I've written anti-racist songs for anti-racists and anti-fascist songs for anti-fascists." That unflinching stance is exactly what runs through his 22nd solo album — and his first solo rock record — "Everyone Gets Everything They Want."

The 11-track album drops September 25 via Mom + Pop Music, produced by Tyler Smyth, Carl Restivo, Zakk Cervini, Dan Carey, and Sam Nelson. Morello calls it his "State of the Union," putting it in the same league as the debut albums of Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave: "It feels like standing on the edge of a new, uncompromising chapter of rock."

Only Three Conditions for the Kneecap Collab

The album's most incendiary track, "Unconquered," features Kneecap. Morello says he's been a fan since Kneecap's debut, back before the political controversies erupted. When he pitched the collaboration, he only laid down three conditions: "First, the song has to be called Unconquered. Second, it has to have a killer hook. Third, it has to tear festivals apart like a madhouse. We nailed all three." He also mentioned his great-grandfather, an Irishman named Thomas Fitzgerald — "Irish rebel blood runs through me too" — which gave him an extra sense of kinship with Kneecap.

Kneecap made headlines earlier this year over political controversy, with then-UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch both calling for them to be pulled from the Glastonbury lineup. Morello draws a parallel to Rage Against The Machine's own experience of being boycotted by police unions and having Southern radio stations refuse to play Audioslave songs after the band spoke out in support of political prisoners Leonard Peltier and Mumia Abu-Jamal: "If everyone can accept the art and music you're making, you're probably making something terrible — especially in times like these."

Another track on the album, "Adjourn It," features System Of A Down's Serj Tankian and was written during the height of ICE enforcement raids in Los Angeles, when unmarked black vans patrolled the streets. The riff for this song also came from Morello's 15-year-old son Roman, who contributed riffs to five tracks on the album in total. Morello calls his son the album's muse: "Stealing his riffs, sharing the stage with him — he gives me enough energy to spark the creation." Asked if this counts as nepotism, he shot back: "If your kid is genuinely that good, it's not nepotism."

Morello also mentioned just wrapping up his tour with Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, during which Springsteen publicly performed the anti-ICE song "Streets of Minneapolis" for the first time — prompting Trump to publicly slam Springsteen as "no talent" and looking "like a shriveled up prune." Morello's response is to organize a "Power To The People" festival near Washington D.C., saying the idea was partly inspired by Black Sabbath's farewell show "Back to the Beginning," for which he served as musical director last year: "This country is standing at a historic crossroads, and no one's sure where the wheel of fate will land."