Tom Morello has opened about his new Atlas Underground album, revealing how Dave Grohl missed out on a guest spot on the record.
Earlier this year, Tom Morello revealed the special guests that were featuring on the debut album from his Atlas Underground project. Featuring the likes of Mumford And Sons’ Marcus Mumford, Portugal. The Man, Run The Jewels’ Killer Mike, Gary Clark Jr, and much more, it’s an all-star affair.
However, it turns out one massive musician missed out on a spot.
Speaking to the Kyle Meredith with… podcast recently, Tom Morello explained how some of the collaborations came to be, and how Dave Grohl’s potential guest appearance was scrapped.
“It’s an electric guitar record, and the idea with this record was to create a sonic conspiracy with diverse artists, to forge a brand new genre of rock and roll, combined Marshall stack fury and huge EDM drops,” Tom Morello explained about the new album.
“It’s a solo record, and I’m the songwriter, guitarist, and curator, but it’s also a collaborative record where I brought 20 or so very diverse artists.”
Check out Tom Morello on the Kyle Meredith With… podcast:
When asked about the rumour that Dave Grohl was asked to appear, Morello chuckled before setting the record straight.
“Steve Aoki had sent me the mix of the song that became ‘How Long,’ and it just totally rocked me,” he explained.
“I said, ‘Who do you think we should approach to sing it?’. He said ‘I would really love Tim McIlrath from Rise Against and I’d love Dave Grohl, I think either one of them would be great.'”
“I said ‘I’ll hit them both and see who texts me back first.’ And Tim, Tim got the gig.”
“I love Dave, he’s great!” Morello continued. “And he’s jammed a couple of time with Prophets of Rage – we have absolutely blown the roof off the joint playing with that guy and I look forward to playing with him whenever I have the opportunity.”
While we might have missed out on the chance of seeing Tom Morello perform alongside one of rock’s biggest names, we did happen to receive a pretty stunning collaboration with Rise Against’s Tim McIlrath (Rise Against The Machine, anyone?) when The Atlas Underground dropped back in October.
Check out The Atlas Underground’s ‘How Long’:
