Tom Morello's 'Social' experiment

(Credit: Romy Suskin)

It’s hard to find a guitarist with a better resumé than Tom Morello’s. In the 1990s, he conquered the rock world with Rage Against the Machine. In the 2000s, he did it again with Audioslave, while also introducing his enlightening, acoustic guitar–wielding alter ego, the Nightwatchman.

As the ’00s come to an end and we witness troubled economic times, Morello emerges again with his heaviest, hardest-hitting project since the early days of Rage. The guitar slinger has co-opted Boots Riley, the killer rapper from indie hip-hop heroes the Coup, for the highly incendiary Street Sweeper Social Club. The band launches a summer tour supporting Nine Inch Nails and Jane’s Addiction this month, and drops its awesomely volatile, self-titled debut disc June 16.

We spoke to Morello by phone from New York City just a few hours before he and Riley debuted Street Sweeper Social Club during a benefit show at the Nokia Theatre.

I just listened to the Street Sweeper Social Club album last night. It made me want to take to the streets; party and riot at the same time.
[Laughs] Then our mission is complete. It’s a record of revolutionary party jams and some of the hardest rocking music I’ve been involved with in my entire career. We’re really having a great time.

How did Street Sweeper Social Club come together?
Well, this has been a project that has been brewing for a couple years now. Boots and I became acquainted back in 2003 when we were on tour together. Boots has opened for several of my Nightwatchman tours and has always been one of the first people to sign up for the various activism and benefit shows I’ve put together. And over the course of that time, I realized what a great rapper and lyricist and charismatic frontman he was, and really thought that the world needed to be exposed to his awesomeness. [Laughs]

Did you have a specific sound or political statement you wanted to make with the record?
The idea for the record began in the days after Audioslave broke up. I just thought: I want to do something that’s rocking and fun. And Boots and I were really good friends. I didn’t even give him much of a choice. I said, “We’re in a band. It’s called Street Sweeper. I’m going to send you the music and you’re going to write the lyrics.” And he was like, “All right.” I sent him a cassette tape of 24 songs I had written. He picked the 11 he liked best and that’s what the record became.

How does Boots compare with the other famous frontmen you have worked with over the years?
I mean, I’ve been really blessed to work with tremendous singers and rappers and frontmen throughout my career. But one thing Boots really has in his lyrics is a great sense of humor and satire. And that’s one of the things I noticed when we would play acoustic shows together, which I don’t think always came through on the records he made with the Coup.

OK, you have the degree from Harvard and Boots is quite the wordsmith. Who wins in a Scrabble battle?
[Laughs] That’s funny. We actually had Scrabble on the plane, two days ago. We didn’t play it, though. We played that Score Four or Four Score, do you know what I’m talking about? Lots of little things and you have to get four in a row.

Oh, yeah, yeah, Connect Four.
Connect Four, that’s right. In Connect Four, I just can’t seem to win a single game. Of course, Boots has kids, so he has way more experience than me.

So, when you and Boots get together, off stage, is it somber, political talk or—?
It’s a nonstop laugh riot when we get together. [Laughs] That’s really something I’ve enjoyed with Boots and the other guys in the touring band Street Sweeper Social Club. Like, I haven’t had this many laughs in a real long time. We’re having a real fun time. While the music is serious, it’s a really fun atmosphere.

Now, I’ve read stuff about the Jane’s Addiction guys not getting along too well. Do you foresee that being a problem on this tour? Are you going to have to play referee, Tom?
[Laughs] We’re going to go out there and rock absolutely furiously and our dressing room door is always going to be open. We plan on hosting the afterparty on a daily basis. It’ll be a place where people can leave their troubles behind. Our door will always be open.

Is this a one-off project or do you see a future for Street Sweeper Social Club?
I absolutely see a future. But, first off, the record hasn’t even come out yet so it’s a little premature to be planning the next one. But this Street Sweeper record is the sixth album I’ve made since Rage disbanded back in 2000, y’know? And three of those were Audioslave records, a couple were Nightwatchman records, and then there’s this. I really like the freedom to follow my muse.

I think this is a record that Rage enthusiasts are going to just love. But what do you say to those longtime fans who might be hesitant about checking this out?
I mean, what I’ve always tried to do is just put the music out there and whoever gravitates toward it, gravitates toward it. There were some Rage fans who didn’t like Audioslave but did like the Nightwatchman. So, y’know, it’s really hard to say. I know that this record has the quintessential Morellian heavy guitar riffs and guitar solos strewn throughout it. And that’s definitely an important part of what I do. And I produced the record as well, so I made sure to get the music as heavy and as funky as it could possibly be.

Originally the project was going to be called Street Sweeper. Then it became Street Sweeper Social Club. Was that a nod to Buena Vista Social Club?
[Laughs] In a way, yes. But it was a matter of someone else owned the name. We had to come up with plan B. I think we did pretty well with Street Sweeper Social Club—and wait until you see the T-shirts.