Tom Morello “doesn’t know how to work” his home studio.
The Rage Against the Machine rocker’s work came to a “screeching halt” for the first time ever when the coronavirus pandemic hit because, even though he had the tools to record music, he didn’t know where to start until he came across an interview with Kanye West, which inspired him to embrace a simpler method.
He said of new album ‘The Atlas Underground Fire’: This is a record that was born of lockdown. From the time I was 17 years old to the time that the world shut down in March of 2020, I’ve had a non-stop creative motor on me of writing, recording and performing. And it all came to a screeching halt.
“For the first four months or so, I was absolutely adrift.
“I have a nice studio in my house but I don’t know how to work it. Like, I don’t know how to move any of the buttons around.
“So I was like, I’m not going to be able to play shows, I’m not going to be able to record music.’
“But then I was reading an interview where Kanye West said he recorded the vocals to a couple of his big hit records using the voice memo on his phone. So I did that.”
The ‘Killing in the Name Of’ hitmaker hailed his solo album a “life raft for sanity”.
He told Guitar World magazine: “It allowed me to get out of the bunker.
“It was a way to create connections and find a musical community in a time of absolute isolation. Really, it was a life raft for sanity.”