Tom Morello.
A new US-based record label for “rebel music”has been launched by Rage Against Machine guitarist Tom Morello, who also performs as solo act the Night Watchman, Rolling Stone reported on June 4.
“People always ask me, 'Why aren't there artists writing lyrics like Public Enemy or the Clash or Rage Against the Machine?,” Morello told the magazine. “And my answer is always, 'There are. They may not be currently at the top of the chart and you have to seek to find them, but there are.'”
To give such acts a home, Morello is launching Firebrand Records. Co-founded with Ryan Harvey of the Riot-Folk Collective, Firebrand features “not-yet-famous” activist musicians such as Egyptian revolutionary Ramy Essam, San Francisco indie rockers Built for the Sea, Swedish punks Lycka Till and Bronx-based post-rock singer Bell's Roar, among others.
Morello said: “Firebrand artists are black, white, Arab, Jewish, men, women, queer, straight, folk, punk, hard rock, hip-hop, but they all have one thing in common: They play music with a sense of purpose to create a more just planet.”
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