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Biography
For|other uses|Nightwatchman (disambiguation)Infobox musical artist | name = The Nightwatchman| image = The Nightwatchman.jpg| caption = The Nightwatchman at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival|Coachella 2007.| image_size = 300px| background = solo_singer| birth_name = Thomas Baptiste Morello| alias =| birth_date = Birth date and age|1964|5|30|mf=y|birth_place = New York City | death_date =| origin = Los Angeles , California , United States | instrument = Guitar , harmonica , mandolin , Singing|vocals | genre = Folk rock , Acoustic music|acoustic rock , anti-folk , protest song|protest music | occupation = Musician , songwriter , activist | years_active = 2003& ndash;present| label = Epic Records|Epic | associated_acts = Audioslave , Rage Against the Machine , Street Sweeper Social Club , #The Freedom Fighters Orchestra|The Freedom Fighters Orchestra , Serj Tankian , Shooter Jennings , Perry Farrell , Axis of Justice , Lock Up (US band)|Lock Up , Electric Sheep (band)|Electric Sheep | website = http://www.nightwatchmanmusic.com/ Official Website| notable_instruments = 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 The Nightwatchman is the alter-ego and solo act of Rage Against the Machine , Street Sweeper Social Club and former Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello . It was formed in 2003 as an outlet for his political views while he was playing wikt:apolitical|apolitical music with Audioslave .
Career
Early career
Morello created the identity of The Nightwatchman 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 .cite web | last=Wiederhorn | first=Jon | title=Tom Morello Rages Against A New Machine On Solo Acoustic Tour | work= MTV News | date=October 22, 2003 | url= http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1479880/20031022/audioslave.jhtml | accessdate=2007-02-18 Morello describes The Nightwatchman as "the black Robin Hood of 21st century music" and "a reaction against illicit wars, a reaction against preemptive war|first strike s, torture , secret prisons, spying illegally on American citizens. It's a reaction against war crime s, and it's a reaction against a few corporation s 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.cite news|last=Donovan|first=Patrick|title=Maintaining the rage|work= The Age |date=2008-01-25|page=Entertainment Guide supplement (p. 4)|url= http://www.theage.com.au/news/music/maintaining-the-rage/2008/01/24/1201025043641.html|accessdate=2009-02-03 The Nightwatchman first began playing political acoustic folk music in a Los Angeles coffeehouse before a small crowd,cite web | last=Harris | first=Chris | date=February 6, 2007 | title=Nightwatchman, Rage Reunion Have Morello Fired Up For Political Fights | work= MTV News | url= http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1551733/20070206/morello_tom.jhtml | accessdate=2007-02-18 and soon after went on Billy Bragg 's Tell Us the Truth tour .
cquote|"The Nightwatchman is my political folk alter ego. I've been writing these songs and playing them at open mic nights with friends for some time. This is the first time I've toured with it. When I play open mic nights, I'm announced as The Nightwatchman. There will be kids there who are fans of my electric guitar playing, and you see them there scratching their heads."|||Tom Morello 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."Portner, Matt and Heller, Sarah. http://web.archive.org/web/*/ http://www.thestudentunderground.org/article.php? id=91& issue=46 Tell Us the Truth Tour - Music as Motivation. The Boston Underground at the Internet Archive . His Nightwatchman persona has been compared to Woody Guthrie , Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan . He initially had no plans to record,cite web | last=Moss | first=Corey | title=Audioslave's Morello Says New LP Feels Less Like Soundgarden + Rage | work= MTV News | date=July 29, 2004 | url= http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1489715/20040726/audioslave.jhtml | accessdate=2007-02-18 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 "Guerilla Radio" to protest George W. Bush .
One Man Revolution
In February 2007, he announced a solo album , One Man Revolution , which was released on April 24, 2007 in the US and May 7 worldwide. The Nightwatchman's first headlining gig was played June 17, 2007 at the House of Blues in Dallas, Texas. Morello has toured since the CD was released and said he plans to tour the U.S. again in the fall. After seeing an early screening of the Michael Moore film Sicko Morello wrote the song, "Alone Without You" which featured in closing credits of the film and also with a music video directed by Moore in the DVD release. The song was also made available as an iTunes bonus track for One Man Revolution . Morello toured in support of the album as the opening act for Ben Harper During this tour, Morello joined Harper onstage on several occasions for a cover of Bob Dylan's " Masters of War ", on which he plays the electric guitar in the style for which he's best known. Other prominent musicians who Morello shared the stage with during the One Man Revolution tour includes, Serj Tankian , Perry Farrell , Jon Foreman from Switchfoot , Shooter Jennings , Nuno Bettencourt , Sen Dog from Cypress Hill , Jill Sobule , Boots Riley , Alexi Murdoch , Wayne Kramer (guitarist)|Wayne Kramer from MC5 , Slash (musician)|Slash and many others.
The Fabled City
The album The Fabled City was released on 30 September 2008. Two songs off the record, "Midnight in the City of Destruction" (about New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina ) and "King Of Hell" (written about Guantanamo Bay ), had previously been leaked on The Nightwatchman MySpace or performed live during live sets.
cquote|"The template is half Bob Dylan|Dylan and half Jimi Hendrix|Hendrix . It’s going to be half acoustic and half electric. Not only will there be the no sell-out, acoustic, three chords and the truth part of the show, but also, with the band I put together called the Freedom Fighter Orchestra , there will be more insane electric playing than I’ve ever done with Rage or Audioslave because it’s not confined to a three-and-a-half minute song"|||Tom Morello http://marqueemag.com/tag/freedom-fighter-orchestra/ Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello sets out again as the Nightwatchman So far The Satellite Party 's Carl Restivo has been confirmed to be part of The Freedom Fighters as a second guitarist. http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm? fuseaction=blog.view& friendID=112323421& blogID=436368237 Carl Restivo MySpace blogg To promote the new album Morello and the band appeared both on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and on Late Night with Conan O'Brien before heading out on 'The Fabled City tour', an eighteen stop tour in the United States.
World Wide Rebel Songs
To support the many unions affected by the anti-negotiation/bargaining laws due to the 2011 Wisconsin budget protests , Morello performed outside the Madison Capitol building on February 21, 2011, to rousing support. He also teamed up with fellow rock musician Wayne Kramer (guitarist)|Wayne Kramer in support of the protesters performing the title song of his upcoming album, World Wide Rebel Songs . http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php? article=32396 Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine galvanizes Wisconsin protesters – Isthmus | The Daily Page Kramer appears on said song on the album, performing backing vocals.
On The Nightwatchman website, it was announced that Morello has signed with the label New West Records to release his third album as The Nightwatchman moniker, World Wide Rebel Songs , due out on August 30, 2011. http://nightwatchmanmusic.com/
Before the release of the album, Morello released an EP entitled Union Town (album)|Union Town on May 17, 2011. All proceeds of the EP sales will go to benefit The America Votes Labor Unity Fund. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx? mode=Article& newsitemID=157461
In October 2011 and on May Day 2012, Morello performed in support of the protesters at Occupy LA and Occupy Wall Street .
The Freedom Fighters Orchestra
;Current members
Tom Morello & nbsp;– lead vocals, electric and acoustic guitar (2003–present)
Carl Restivo & nbsp;– electric guitar, backing vocals (2008–present)
Eric Gardner - drums, backing vocals (2011–present)
Dave Gibbs & nbsp;– bass guitar, backing vocals (2008–2011)
;Former members
Flea (musician)|Flea & nbsp;– bass at The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (2008)
Chimes of Freedom: Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International
Blind Willie McTell (song)>Blind Willie McTell "
Notes and citations
reflist
External links
wikiquote
http://www.nightwatchmanmusic.com/ Official Website
http://www.myspace.com/thenightwatchman Official MySpace
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Nightwatchman/9438012757 Official Facebook
http://thenightwatchman.fuzz.com/ Fuzz Profile
http://www.thepunksite.com/media/thumbnails.php? album=109 Live pictures in Toronto
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/14/street_sweeper_social_club_revolutionary_party "Revolutionary Party Music" – video report by Democracy Now!
Tom Morello
Persondata|NAME= Morello, Tom |ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Nightwatchman, The |SHORT DESCRIPTION= American guitarist and singer-songwriter |DATE OF BIRTH= 1964-5-30 |PLACE OF BIRTH= New York City |DATE OF DEATH= |PLACE OF DEATH= DEFAULTSORT:Nightwatchman Category:American folk guitarists Category:American folk singers Category:American socialists Category:1964 births Category:Living people Category:Pseudonymous musicians
