Look up layoff in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

"Did he Miss a Lifetime-Because You Missed a Day? Don't lay-off" - NARA

Layoff (in British^[1] and American English), also called redundancy in the UK, is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment of an employee or (more commonly) a group of employees for business reasons, such as when certain positions are no longer necessary or when a business slow-down occurs. Originally the term layoff referred exclusively to a temporary interruption in work, as when factory work cyclically falls off. The term however nowadays usually means the permanent elimination of a position, requiring the addition of "temporary" to specify the original meaning.

Many synonyms such as downsizing exist, most of which are euphemisms and more abstract descriptions of the process, most of which can also be used for more inclusive processes than that of reducing the number of employees. Downsizing is the "conscious use of permanent personnel reductions in an attempt to improve efficiency and/or effectiveness".^[2] Since the 1980s, downsizing has gained strategic legitimacy. Indeed, recent research on downsizing in the U.S.,^[3] UK,^[4] and Japan^[5][6] suggests that downsizing is being regarded by management as one of the preferred routes to turning around declining organisations, cutting costs, and improving organisational performance,^[7] most often as a cost-cutting measure.

Terminology[link]

Euphemisms are often used to "soften the blow" in the process of firing and being fired.^[8] The term "layoff" originally meant a temporary interruption in work (and usually pay). The term became a euphemism for permanent termination of employment and now usually means that, requiring the addition of "temporary" to refer to the original meaning. Many other euphemisms have been coined for "(permanent) layoff", including "downsizing", "excess reduction", "rightsizing", "delayering", "smartsizing", "redeployment", "workforce reduction", "workforce optimization", "simplification", "force shaping", "recussion", and "reduction in force" (also called "RIF", especially in the government employment sector).

"Mass layoff" is defined by the United States Department of Labor as 50 or more workers laid off from the same company around the same time. "Attrition" implies that positions will be eliminated as workers quit or retire. "Early retirement" means workers may quit now yet still remain eligible for their retirement benefits later. While "redundancy" is a specific legal term in UK labour law, it may be perceived^{[by whom?]} as obfuscation. Firings imply misconduct or failure while layoffs imply economic forces beyond the employer's and employees' control, especially in the face of a recession such as the one that began in the late 2000s.

[edit] Common abbreviations for reduction in force

• RIF - A generic reduction in force, of undetermined method. Often pronounced like the word riff rather than spelled out. Sometimes used as a verb, as in "the employees were pretty heavily riffed".
• eRIF – Layoff notice by email.
• IRIF - Involuntary reduction in force - The employee(s) didn't voluntarily choose to leave the company. This usually implies that the method of reduction involved either layoffs, firings, or both, but wouldn't usually imply resignations or retirements. If the employee is fired rather than laid off, the term "with cause" may be appended to indicate that the separation was due to this employee's performance and/or behavior, rather than being financially motivated.
• VRIF - Voluntary reduction in force - The employee(s) did play a role in choosing to leave the company, most likely through resignation or retirement. In some instances, a company may exert pressure on an employee to make this choice, perhaps by implying that a layoff or termination would otherwise be imminent, or by offering an attractive severance or early retirement package.
• WFR - Work force reduction.

Unemployment compensation[link]

The method of separation may have an effect on a former employee's ability to collect whatever form of unemployment compensation might be available in their jurisdiction. In many U.S. states, workers who are laid off can file an unemployment claim and receive compensation. Depending on local or state laws, workers who leave voluntarily are generally ineligible to collect unemployment benefits, as are those who are fired for gross misconduct. Also, lay-offs due to a firm's moving production overseas may entitle one to increased re-training benefits. Some companies in the United States utilize Supplemental Unemployment Benefits.^[9] Since they were first introduced by organized labor and the Department of Labor in the early 1950s, and first issued in a Revenue Ruling by the IRS in 1956, SUB-Pay Plans^[10] have enabled employers to supplement the receipt of state unemployment insurance benefits for employees that experience an involuntary layoff. By establishing severance payments as SUB-Pay benefits, the payments are not considered wages for FICA, FUTA and SUI tax purposes, and employee FICA tax. To qualify for SUB-Pay benefits, the participant must be eligible for state unemployment insurance benefits and the separation benefit must be paid on a periodic basis.

Certain countries (e.g. France and Germany), distinguish between leaving the company of one's own free will, in which case the person isn't entitled to unemployment benefits and leaving a company voluntarily as part of a reduction in labour force size, in which case the person is entitled to them. An RIF reduces the number of positions, rather than laying off specific people, and is usually accompanied by internal redeployment. A person might leave even if their job isn't reduced, unless the employer has strong objections. In this situation, it's more beneficial for the state to facilitate the departure of the more professionally active people, since they are less likely to remain jobless. Often they find new jobs while still being paid by their old companies, costing nothing to the social security system in the end.

There have also been increasing concerns about the organizational effectiveness of the post-downsized ‘anorexic organization’. The benefits, which organizations claim to be seeking from downsizing, centre on savings in labour costs, speedier decision making, better communication, reduced product development time, enhanced involvement of employees and greater responsiveness to customers (De Meuse et al. 1997, p. 168). However, some writers draw attention to the ‘obsessive’ pursuit of downsizing to the point of self-starvation marked by excessive cost cutting, organ failure and an extreme pathological fear of becoming inefficient. Hence ‘trimming’ and ‘tightening belts’ are the order of the day (Tyler and Wilkinson 2007)

See also[link]

• Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Compromise agreement
• Displaced workers
• Furlough
• Office Space (1999 motion picture)
• Outsourcing
• Restructuring
• Severance package
• Termination of employment
• Unemployment
• Voluntary Redundancy
• WARN Act
• Work sharing

References[link]

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (July 2009)

This article's citation style may be unclear. The references used may be made clearer with a different or consistent style of citation, footnoting, or external linking. (September 2009)

1. ^ "layoff noun - definition in British English Dictionary & Thesaurus - Cambridge Dictionary Online". Dictionary.cambridge.org. http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/layoff. Retrieved 2012-03-13. 
2. ^ Budros 1999, p. 70
3. ^ Baumol, W. J., Blinder, A. S. & Wolff, E. N. (2003). Downsizing in America: Reality, Causes and Consequences. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. See also the American Management Association annual surveys since 1990.
4. ^ Sahdev et al. 1999; Chorely 2002; Mason 2002; Rogers 2002
5. ^ Mroczkowski, T. and Hanaoka, M. (1997), ‘Effective downsizing strategies in Japan and America: is there a convergence of employment practices?’, Academy of Management Review, Vol.22, No.1, pp. 226–56.
6. ^ Ahmakjian and Robinson 2001
7. ^ Mellahi, K. and Wilkinson, A. (2004) Downsizing and Innovation Output: A Review of Literature and Research Propositions, BAM Paper 2004, British Academy of Management.
8. ^ (Wilkinson 2005, Redman and Wilkinson, 2006)
9. ^ "SUB-Pay Plan Legal Precedent". Subpay.com. http://subpay.com/solutions-for-managing-layoffs/sub-pay-plan-legal-precedent-the-origins-and-background. Retrieved 2012-03-13. 
10. ^ [1]^{[dead link]}

• Cameron KS. 1(994) Strategies for successful organizational downsizing. Human Resource Management, 33: 477-500.
• Cascio, F.W. (2002) ‘Strategies for responsible restructuring’, Academy of Management Executive, Vol.16, pp. 80–91.
• Redman T and Wilkinson A (2006) Downsizing, in T. Redman and A. Wilkinson(eds), Contemporary Human Resource Management, London: FT/Prentice Hall, pp. 356-381
• Sahdev, K. (2003) ‘Survivors’ reactions to downsizing: the importance Human Resource Management Journal, Vol.13, No.4, pp. 56–74.
• Tyler M and Wilkinson A (2007) The Tyranny of Corporate Slenderness: Understanding Organizations Anorexically, Work, Employment and Society, 21: 537-549.
• Wilkinson, A (2004). Downsizing, rightsizing and dumbsizing: quality, human resources and sustainability - Total Quality Management. http://www98.griffith.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/10072/16844/1/34201_1.pdf. 

Further reading[link]

• Weinstein, Bruce, "Downsizing 101", BusinessWeek magazine, September 12, 2008.

External links[link]

• CASE No.: 2001-ERA-19 A case before the U.S. Department of Labor, wherein the terms RIF, IRIF, and VRIF are commonly used.
• APPENDIX D; GLOSSARY OF TERMS A glossary in a U.S. Department of Energy document that includes brief definitions of RIF, IRIF, and VRIF.
• Summary of Reduction in Force Under OPM's Regulations, United States Office of Personnel Management
• UK Redundancy Legal Rights UK specific information on the legal rights of those being made redundant.
• Airline Industry Layoffs - by Patrick Smith
• Most Notable IT Industry Layoffs of 2008
• Job Losses Tracker (UK-based)
• Layoff news and tracker Layoffs news and tracker.
• Rising After Redundancy - RTÉ Ireland TV Series
• Redundancy advice

Tom Morello
Background information
Also known as	The Nightwatchman
Born	(1964-05-30) May 30, 1964 (age 48) Harlem, New York
Origin	Libertyville, Illinois
Genres	Alternative metal, acoustic rock, funk metal, heavy metal, hard rock
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, activist, actor
Instruments	Guitar, vocals, harmonica, mandolin, bass guitar, drums, piano, banjo
Years active	1979–present
Labels	SonyBMG, Epic, Interscope
Associated acts	Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, The Crystal Method, The Nightwatchman, Street Sweeper Social Club, Lock Up, Class of '99, Cypress Hill, Axis of Justice, Electric Sheep, Guitarmy, Travis Barker
Notable instruments
"Arm the Homeless" - Custom guitar with a Kramer neck and custom performance body. "Soul Power" - Custom Fender Stratocaster "Sendero Luminoso" - Fender Telecaster "Burnt Budweiser" - Gibson Les Paul "Whatever It Takes" - Ibanez classical acoustic Ibanez Artstar Hollowbody (Custom).

Thomas Baptiste Morello (born May 30, 1964) is a Grammy Award-winning American guitarist best known for his tenure with the bands Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, his acoustic solo act The Nightwatchman, and his newest group, Street Sweeper Social Club. Tom is also the co-founder (along with Serj Tankian) of the non-profit political activist organization Axis of Justice, which airs a monthly program on Pacifica Radio station KPFK (90.7 FM) in Los Angeles. He is best known for his unique and creative guitar playing style, which incorporates feedback noises, unconventional picking and tapping as well as heavy use of guitar effects. He was ranked #26 in Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time."^[1]

Early life[link]

Tom Morello was born on May 30, 1964, in Harlem, New York, to Ngethe Njoroge and Mary Morello. Tom is of Irish and Italian descent on his maternal side, and Kikuyu Kenyan descent on his paternal side. His mother was a schoolteacher from Marseilles, Illinois, who earned a Master of Arts at Loyola University, Chicago and travelled to Germany, Spain, Japan, and Kenya as an English language teacher between 1977 to 1983.^[2] His father was a Kenyan participant in the Mau Mau Uprising, and served as Kenya's first ambassador to the United Nations.^[3] Morello's paternal great-uncle, Jomo Kenyatta, was the first elected president in Kenyan history.^[3] His parents met in August 1963, while attending a pro-democracy protest in Nairobi, Kenya.^[4] After discovering her pregnancy, Mary returned to the United States with Njoroge in November, and married in New York City.

When Morello was 16 months old, Njoroge returned to his native Kenya, and denied his paternity of his son.^[4][5] Morello was raised solely by his mother in Libertyville, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. There he attended Libertyville High School, where his mother was a U.S. history teacher. She was the homeroom teacher for Tom's classmate and fellow guitarist Adam Jones, of the band Tool, while teaching at Libertyville. Tom sang in the school choir and was active in speech and drama club; a prominent role was Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Morello developed leftist political leanings early, and has described himself as having been "the only anarchist in a conservative high school", and has since identified as a nonsectarian socialist. In the 1980 mock elections at Libertyville, he campaigned for a fictitious anarchist "candidate" named Hubie Maxwell, who came in fourth place in the election. He also wrote a piece headlined "South Africa: Racist Fascism That We Support" for the school alternative newspaper The Student Pulse.

Morello graduated from high school with honors in June 1982, and enrolled at Harvard University as a political science student that autumn. He was the first student at his high school to be accepted at Harvard, and was in fact the first person from Libertyville, Illinois ever to enroll there.^[4] Morello graduated in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Studies.^[6] Adam Jones, his high school classmate, moved to Los Angeles as well; Morello introduced Jones and Maynard James Keenan to Danny Carey, who would come to form the band Tool. He moved to Los Angeles, where he supported himself, first by working as an exotic male stripper.^[7]

"When I graduated from Harvard and moved to Hollywood, I was unemployable. I was literally starving, so I had to work menial labour and, at one point, I even worked as an exotic dancer. 'Brick House' (by The Commodores) was my jam! I did bachelorette parties and I'd go down to my boxer shorts. Would I go further? All I can say is thank God it was in the time before YouTube! You could make decent money doing that job – people do what they have to do.^[7] "

From 1987 to 1988, Morello worked in the office of California Democratic Senator Alan Cranston;^[7] however, this proved to be a negative experience for Morello, who decided never to pursue a career in politics.

"I never had any real desire to work in politics but if there was any ember burning in me, it was extinguished working in that job because of two things: one of them was the fact that 80 per cent of the time I spent with the Senator, he was on the phone asking rich people for money. It just made me understand that the whole business was dirty. He had to compromise his entire being every day. The other was the time a woman phoned up to the office and wanted to complain that there were Mexicans moving into her neighborhood. I said to her, 'Ma'am, you're a damn racist,' and she was indignant. I thought I was representing our cause well, but I got yelled at for a week by everyone for saying that! I thought to myself that if I'm in a job where I can't call a damn racist a damn racist, then it's not for me.^[7] "

Musical influences[link]

At age 13, Morello joined his first band; a Led Zeppelin cover band as the lead singer. At this same age, Morello purchased his first guitar. Around 1984, Morello first started studying the guitar seriously. He had formed a band in the same year called the Electric Sheep which featured future Tool guitarist Adam Jones on bass.^[3] The band wrote original material that included politically charged lyrics. None of the songs composed by the Sheep contained solos; soloing was a skill that Morello began learning in college.

At the time, Morello's musical tastes lay in the direction of hard rock and heavy metal, particularly Kiss, Iron Maiden. As he stated in Flight 666 he is a huge fan of Piece of Mind, Alice Cooper, Led Zeppelin, and Black Sabbath. Morello developed his own unique sound through the electric guitar. Later, his musical style and politics were greatly influenced by punk rock bands like The Clash, The Sex Pistols, and Devo.

Recording career[link]

Rage Against the Machine (1991–2000; 2007–present)[link]

In 1991 Tom was looking to form an old band after Lock Up disbanded. Tom was impressed by Zack de la Rocha's freestyle rapping and asked him to join his band. He also drafted drummer Brad Wilk, who he knew from his band Lock Up, where Wilk unsuccessfully auditioned for a drumming spot. The band's lineup was completed when Zack convinced his childhood friend Tim Commerford to play bass. After frequenting the L.A. club circuit, Rage Against the Machine signed a record deal with Epic Records in 1992. That same year, the band released their self titled debut. They achieved a considerable amount of mainstream success and released three more studio albums.

In August 2000 in Los Angeles during the Democratic National Convention, Rage Against the Machine performed outside the Staples Center to a large crowd numbering in the thousands while the Convention took place inside.^[8] After several audience members began to throw rocks, the Los Angeles Police Department turned off the power and ordered the audience to disperse, firing rubber bullets and pepper spray into the crowd.^[9]

Tom Morello performing with Rage Against The Machine at the 2008 Reading Festival

In late 2000, after Commerford's stunt at the VMA's, the disgruntled de la Rocha quit the band. On September 13, 2000, Rage Against the Machine performed their last concert at the Grand Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles. After the band disbanded, their fourth studio album, Renegades, became a collection of cover songs from artists such as Bob Dylan, MC5, Bruce Springsteen and Cypress Hill. 2003 saw the release of their last album, titled Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium, an edited recording of the band's final two concerts on September 12 and 13, 2000 at the Grand Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles. It was accompanied by an expanded DVD release of the last show and included a previously unreleased music video for "Bombtrack".

After disbanding, Morello, Wilk and Commerford went on to form Audioslave with former Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell, and released three albums as well as a DVD from the band's concert in Cuba. De la Rocha started working on a solo album collaboration with DJ Shadow, Company Flow, and The Roots' Questlove, but the project was dropped in favor of working with Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor. Recording was completed, but the album will probably never be released.^[10] So far, only one track has been released: "We Want It All" was featured on "Songs and Artists that Inspired Fahrenheit 9/11".

On April 29, 2007, Rage Against the Machine reunited at the Coachella Music Festival. The band played in front of an EZLN backdrop to the largest crowds of the festival. The performance was initially thought to be a one-off, but this turned out not to be the case. The band played 7 more shows in the United States in 2007 (including their first non-festival concert in 7 years at the Alpine Valley Music Theater in East Troy, Wisconsin), and in January 2008, they played their first shows outside the US since re-forming as part of the Big Day Out Festival in Australia and New Zealand. In August 2008 they headlined nights at the Reading and Leeds festivals.^[11][12]

The band has since continued to tour around the world, headlining many large festivals in Europe and the United States, including Lollapalooza in Chicago. In 2008 the band also played shows in Denver, Colorado and Minneapolis, Minnesota to coincide with the Democratic National Convention and Republican National Convention, respectively. In July, 2011, Rage Against the Machine played at L.A. Rising, a concert formed by the band in Los Angeles, in which they headlined and played with other artists including Muse and Rise Against. Though they played together for these events, they do not play together regularly.

Audioslave (2001–2007)[link]

Morello with Audioslave at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2005.

After de la Rocha left Rage Against the Machine, the remaining band mates began collaborating with former Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell at the suggestion of producer Rick Rubin. The new group was first rumored to be called The Civilian Project, but the name Audioslave was confirmed before their first album was released.

The band released their eponymous debut album on November 19, 2002. It was a critical and commercial success, attaining triple-platinum status.

The band released their second album, Out of Exile, on May 24, 2005. It debuted at number 1 on the Billboard charts and attained platinum status. In the same year, they released a DVD documenting their trip as the first American rock band to play a free show in Cuba. The band's third album, Revelations, was released in the fall of 2006. As of February 15, 2007, Audioslave have broken up as a result of frontman Cornell's departure due to "irresolvable personality conflicts". The band reunited with Zack de la Rocha and resumed their previous band, Rage Against the Machine.

The Nightwatchman (2003–present)[link]

Morello is less known for his folk music, which he plays under the alias The Nightwatchman. He has explained:

"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, it's 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. But it's something that I enjoy doing. I look at it more as an extension of my politics. Then again, some of the songs are not explicitly political. It really helped me grow as an artist and songwriter. Once you prick the vein you never know what is going to come out. You could aim for all union songs and you find yourself in other territory."

In November 2003 The Nightwatchman joined artists Billy Bragg, Lester Chambers of The Chambers Brothers, Steve Earle, Jill Sobule, Boots Riley of The Coup and Mike Mills of R.E.M. on the Tell Us the Truth Tour. The thirteen-city 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."^[13] Tom Morello explained:

"Media consolidation needs smashing and globalization needs unmasking. When presidents and politicians lie, it is the job of the press to expose those lies. When the press fails, the gangstas come out from hiding. The lie becomes the law. The point of the Tell Us the Truth Tour is to help others make connections, and to show them that activism can change the policies of this country."^[14]

One of his many songs, "No One Left", which compares the aftermath of September 11 to that of a U.S. attack on Iraq, appears on the album Songs and Artists that Inspired Fahrenheit 9/11.

The Nightwatchman also appeared on the album/DVD Axis Of Justice: Concert Series Volume 1, contributing the songs "Until the End", "The Road I Must Travel", and "Union Song".

Morello, as The Nightwatchman, released his debut solo album, One Man Revolution, on April 24, 2007.

The Nightwatchman joined the Dave Matthews Band for its short European tour in May 2007. As well as opening for the Dave Matthews Band, he was invited to guest on a couple of songs each night. The last night of this Morello/DMB arrangement was May 30, 2007 at Wembley Arena in London, on Tom's birthday.

The Nightwatchman is currently supporting Ben Harper on tour. During this tour, Morello has been joining Harper onstage 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.

Morello has presided over a Hotel Café residency in L.A. since November 2007, which has featured many of his musical cohorts, including Serj Tankian, Perry Farrell, Jon Foreman of Switchfoot, Shooter Jennings, Nuno Bettencourt, Sen Dog of Cypress Hill, Jill Sobule, Boots Riley, Alexi Murdoch, Wayne Kramer of MC5 and others.

On October 10, 2008, The Nightwatchman appeared on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson as a musical guest, promoting his new album The Fabled City.

Street Sweeper Social Club (2006–present)[link]

Following Audioslave's breakup in 2007, Morello met up with Boots Riley of The Coup, suggesting that they start a band which Morello had named Street Sweeper. After giving Riley a tape of various songs to write to, the two created the duo Street Sweeper Social Club.

Street Sweeper Social Club opened for Nine Inch Nails and Jane's Addiction in May 2009.

Other side projects (1994–present)[link]

Morello and RATM bandmate Brad Wilk joined with Maynard James Keenan of Tool and Billy Gould of Faith No More to record the song "Calling Dr. Love" for the 1994 Kiss tribute album Kiss My Ass. The lineup was billed as Shandi's Addiction.

Morello played lead guitar and produced on three tracks of Primus' 1999 studio album Antipop. Morello played the guitar on The Faculty soundtrack, featured with Class of '99 for their cover of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall (pt. 2)".

Morello recorded guitars along with country legend Johnny Cash during his late career with American Recordings, which was released on Unearthed.^[15]

Morello played a short solo on the Benny Mason band song "Exodus IV".^[16]

As The Nightwatchman, Morello has often performed alongside Boots Riley, frontman of The Coup; also, he produced and performed on a track for The Coup's 2006 release Pick a Bigger Weapon. In July 2006, it was reported that Morello and Riley were to collaborate on a project called Street Sweepers (see section above).^[17]

Morello appears in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock as a "guitar boss" (the first of 3 in the career mode of the game) in a night club. Beating him in a one-on-one battle (playing an original composition he recorded for the game) will unlock him as a playable character and will result in the player and Tom playing the master track of "Bulls on Parade" as an encore immediately following the battle.^[18] Morello's original composition features many of his trademark guitar effects like those heard in songs such as Audioslave's "Cochise" and "Doesn't Remind Me" and Rage Against the Machine's "Bulls on Parade" and "Sleep Now in the Fire".

In April 2006, Morello produced two tracks for the group Outernational;^[19] on the band's website, it states that Morello will be producing their debut album.^[20]

In April 2008, Morello made two guest appearances with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at the Anaheim Pond. They performed an extended electric version, featuring guitar solos, of "The Ghost of Tom Joad" (which had been previously covered by Rage Against the Machine on Renegades). One of these performance was included on Springsteen's Magic Tour Highlights EP as an audio track or video download.

On October 29, 2009 Morello performed at the 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Concert at Madison Square Garden. He performed "The Ghost of Tom Joad", "London Calling", "Badlands" and "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher" with Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band.

On February 23, 2010 Cypress Hill released the second single, "Rise Up", from their album Rise Up featuring Tom Morello on guitar. He is also featured on the track "Shut 'Em Down" from the same album, unlike "Rise Up", which is very similar in style to Morello's rap metal band Rage Against the Machine, it contains strong Latin and punk influences.

On November 2, 2010 Travis Barker & Tom Morello released a song alongside RZA & Raekwon called "Carry It". It would later appear on Travis's debut solo album Give the Drummer Some. Like "Rise Up", it is very similar in style to Morello's previous band Rage Against the Machine.

Morello will appear on a song on the upcoming Bruce Springsteen album, Wrecking Ball which is due for release on March 6, 2012. He performed with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band and The Roots on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (March 2, 2012) to preview the album.

Morello, as The Night Watchman, contributed a version of "Blind Willie McTell" on the "Chimes Of Freedom: The Songs Of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years Of Amnesty International" tribute album released in 2012.

Appearances in films[link]

Morello played on a number of soundtracks, including Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006), Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Spider-Man, and most recently The A-Team. He was credited as "Additional Electric Guitar" in the 2008 superhero movie Iron Man and played a terrorist. He also stars in the movie Berkeley (2005) and in Star Trek: Insurrection. He also collaborated with John Debney for the score for Iron Man 2

Additionally, Morello has appeared as himself in an array of documentary films; such as Sounds Like a Revolution, Iron Maiden: Flight 666, about heavy metal band Iron Maiden's Somewhere Back in Time World Tour, and in Chevolution, an exposé about the famous Guerrillero Heroico photo of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara.

Morello was also featured in the 2012 documentary film "Let Fury Have the Hour" by writer and director Antonino D'Ambrosio, where Morello talks about world citizenship, creative activism and his support for workers' rights.

Writing[link]

In 2011 it was announced that Morello would write a new 12-issue comic book series for Dark Horse Comics, entitled Orchid. The series is a post-apocalyptic story in which the title character is "a teenage prostitute who learns that she is more than the role society has imposed upon her." The first issue was published in October 2011, and Morello is releasing an exclusive new song to accompany each issue. Orchid is illustrated by Canadian artist Scott Hepburn.^[21]

The release party sponsored by Dark Horse was held at Jetpack Comics in Rochester, New Hampshire on October 12, 2011.^[22]

Guitar playing technique[link]

"Whatever It takes", a classical acoustic guitar used by Morello in his The Nightwatchman persona.

Morello is famed for his guitar style, which consists of heavy metal/punk hybrid riffs and hip hop-inspired sounds. A 1993 Melody Maker live review of a Rage Against The Machine gig, said Guitarist Tom Morello wears his guitar high up to wring every sound out of it. Falling bombs, police sirens, scratching - he can do them all.^[23]

To produce his alien guitar sounds, Morello chooses various effects pedals. During his tenure in RATM, he used a Dunlop Cry Baby, a DigiTech WH-1 Whammy, a Boss DD-2 Digital Delay, a DOD EQ pedal (set flat and just used to boost the volume during guitar solos or particular rocking moments), and an Ibanez DFL Flanger. Around the time of The Battle of Los Angeles he added a Boss TR-2 Tremolo pedal (which can be heard on "Guerrilla Radio"). For Audioslave, Morello replaced the Ibanez Flanger with a MXR Phase 90. His amplifier of choice has always been a 50-watt Marshall JCM 800 2205 and a Peavey 4x12 cabinet. Though the Marshall is his amp of choice with Rage Against the Machine, he used a Vox AC30 combo amplifier for multiple overdubs on Audioslave's album Revelations. While the Marshall amplifier has two channels, he only uses the overdrive channel, and simply turns down the volume on his guitar to get cleaner sounds.

In the studio, Morello uses the same setup for the bulk of the guitar tracks. For The Battle of Los Angeles, he also used a few other amps, such as a Line 6 as heard on the clean, spacey intro of "Mic Check", plus a Pignose mini-amp and a MusicMan "Twin" style amp.^[24] During the recording of Audioslave's last album, Revelations, Morello experimented with different amplifier setups. For the title track's solo he split his signal to his standard Marshall 2205 head and Peavey cabinet and a 100 watt Fender Bassman head and an Orange cabinet. With delay sent to one while the other is unaffected the sound is being "ping-ponged" between the two amplifiers. He also borrowed a VOX AC30 amplifier from producer Brendan O’Brien for some tracks.^[25]

Morello's unique technique and talent led to him being voted the fifth greatest guitarist of the past 30 years in a 2010 BBC poll.^[26]

Politics[link]

Activism[link]

Morello playing Occupy Wall Street in New York, October 2011

On August 27, 2008 Morello performed in Denver, Colorado at the Open The Debates rally in opposition to the Commission on Presidential Debates exclusion of third party candidates from the nationally televised debates. He performed "This Land is Your Land" as The Nightwatchman and endorsed Independent Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader. Sean Penn, Jello Biafra, Brooke Smith and Cindy Sheehan were also part of the rally.^[27]

In October 2009, Morello, among a number of musicians, sued the U.S. government for the declassification of all documents relating to the use of music in interrogations at Guantanamo Bay. He stated, "Guantanamo is known around the world as one of the places where human beings have been tortured -- from waterboarding to stripping, hooding and forcing detainees into humiliating sexual acts -- playing music for 72 hours in a row at volumes just below that to shatter the eardrums. Guantanamo may be Dick Cheney's idea of America, but it's not mine. The fact that music I helped create was used in crimes against humanity sickens me."^[28][29]

On February 21, 2011 Morello organized and performed an acoustic concert in support of the protests over collective bargaining rights in Madison, WI. The concert also featured The MC5's Wayne Kramer and Boston punk band Street Dogs. He wrote an article in Rolling Stone about his experience.^[30]

Recently, Morello has played at many Occupy movements, including Occupy Wall Street as well as Occupy Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver, British Columbia, Nottingham and Newcastle, England protests. ^[31]

Axis of Justice[link]

Morello and Serj Tankian of System of a Down are the co-founders of Axis of Justice, a political group whose declared purpose is "to bring together musicians, fans of music, and grassroots political organizations to fight for social justice together." They "aim to build a bridge between fans of music around the world and local political organizations to effectively organize around issues of peace, human rights, and economic justice."^[33] The group has worked for such causes as immigrant rights and death-penalty abolition. Its recommended book list includes such authors as Noam Chomsky, Karl Marx, Che Guevara, George Orwell, Mumia Abu-Jamal and Grant Morrison.^[34]

Morello and Tankian, together with a handful of other artists, including Maynard James Keenan, Wayne Kramer of the MC5, the hip hop group Jurassic 5, and Michael "Flea" Balzary of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, released a live recording of covers and original songs, titled The Axis of Justice Concert Series Volume 1.

On April 6, 2006, Tom Morello was honored with the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award for his support of worker's rights and for his AOJ work.^[35] Tom has worked on numerous labor campaigns: the Guess sweatshop boycott, the LA janitors strike, the Taco Bell boycott, the southern California grocery workers strike and lockout, and others.

Morello was a strong supporter of the Immigrants Reform Rally and protest around the US. He feels that there's enough room for everyone in the United States, whether those people want to work or not. Morello played as The Nightwatchman at MacArthur Park in Los Angeles and has featured many articles on AOJ. On September 28, 2006, Morello was one of 400 protesters arrested protesting in support of immigrant hotel workers' rights, in what organizers called "the largest act of civil disobedience in the history of the Los Angeles".^[36] Morello knew he was going to be arrested; he wore bright yellow signs, and gave the LAPD his driver's license number a few days before the march. Morello told MTV:

"In these political dark ages, it's important for us to stand up for one another. These hotel workers by the airport make 20% less wages than the hotel workers around the rest of Los Angeles. We are here to express our solidarity with them, to help them unionize and help them close the gap between their sub-poverty wages and the millions and millions of dollars the people who own these hotels make."

Personal life[link]

Tom and his wife Denise have two sons, Rhoads and Roman. Morello is a vegetarian for both health and ethical reasons.^[37][38]

Equipment[link]

Guitars[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Morello uses heavily modified guitars from various manufacturers, but he has never had an official endorsement deal with any company.

• Mongrel Custom "Arm The Homeless" - Morello's most famous guitar, and his main guitar for standard tuning since 1986. The original guitar was made by Performance Guitar USA for Morello to his exact specifications. It featured a Stratocaster body with a Performance Corsair neck, 2 Seymour Duncan JB pickups and A chrome original Floyd Rose tremolo system. However, when he got the guitar he hated everything about it and completely reassembled it. Since then just about everything has been changed countless times. The only thing that remains from the original guitar is the body. The body is blue with the words "Arm the Homeless" written on it in black and red. It has a 3-way toggle switch (pickup selector) mounted on the lower horn, 2 volume knobs and 1 tone knob, 4 Hippos (painted) on the front, one large hippo (upside down) painted on the back, and a hammer and sickle symbol sticker. The neck is Kramer knock-off of unknown make. It is made of graphite, has a 22 fret rosewood board and a "banana" headstock. It also has Gotoh Crownhead tuners. It has an EMG 85/EMG H set of pickups and a Ibanez Edge Floyd Rose Tremolo. The guitar is tuned to standard E. This guitar is available in the video game Guitar Hero 3:Legends of Rock.
• Fender Stratocaster "Soul Power" - Originally made as a Factory Special Run for Guitar Center, Morello found it on the rack and really liked the look of it. It has a black finish with white binding and a color-matched headstock. It also has a mirror pickguard, Ibanez Edge Floyd Rose Tremolo, a 2-way on/off toggle switch wired as a kill switch, a Seymour Duncan Hotrails pickup in the bridge and Fender Noiseless pickups in the middle and neck positions. It has the words "Soul Power" on the top of the body in silver paint and is his main guitar in Audioslave for songs that are in standard E tuning.
• Fender Telecaster, "Sendero Luminoso" - A black stock 1982 Standard Telecaster, his main guitar for use in drop-D in Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave and Street Sweeper Social Club. He got this guitar in a trade with his roommate. The guitar has various stickers on its body, most notably the words "sendero luminoso" in white and red.
• Fender telecaster 2. Black with white binding, mirror pickguard and toggle switch on the lower horn. Tom used this guitar when he played with Fistful of mercy on Conan.
• Ibanez Artstar Hollowbody (Custom) - Made especially for Morello. Based on an old Vox Ultrasonic, it contains several on-board effects (wah, echo, dist, treble/bass boost) and is painted red and black paint. Used live on the song "Guerrilla Radio" by Rage Against the Machine but rarely seen anywhere else, until it was used in the video clip for Cypress Hill's "Rise Up".
• Goya Rangemaster de Greco, "St. George Creamy" - Bought by Morello at a Canadian pawnshop for $60. It was modified with a Seymour Duncan hotrails pickup in the bridge position. A toggle switch was also added that is dead in the middle position, resulting in a "hummingbird chirp" when toggled. Used as a drop D guitar for some songs on the Rage Against The Machine record Evil Empire and played live in drop-B tuning. Used in Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave.
• Ibanez Talman (Custom) - Has 3 single coil "lipstick" pickups, an Ibanez Lo-Pro Edge tremolo, and a killswitch. It has a custom Kenyan flag finish and was used on "Revolver", "How I Could Just Kill a Man", and "Pistol Grip Pump" for Rage Against the Machine and "Exploder" for Audioslave. The guitar has a faulty internal pickup which makes odd feedback noises, which Tom adjusts by tweaking the tone knob and using the guitars tremolo. This technique can be heard at the beginning of Rage Against the Machine's "Revolver", Audioslave's "Exploder", and the live version of Street Sweeper Social Club's Promenade. In addition to this effect, Tom also uses this guitar for drop-D songs that require a killswitch. Tom owns a second Talman, in a white finish, with two humbuckers.
• Gibson EDS-1275 (Double Neck SG) - Tuned to drop-D on the 6-string neck, and only seen used live on "The Ghost of Tom Joad".
• Ovation Breadwinner - Tuned to standard E, used for "Ashes in the Fall" for Rage Against the Machine. Also used with a MusicMan amp and Tone Bender pedal to capture the Korean radio station audio heard at the end of "Sleep Now in the Fire".He owns 2 others and confines them to the studio because he thinks they look ugly. Morello used one of these guitars in the video for Travis Barker's "Carry It", which he is featured in.
• Gibson "Budweiser" Les Paul - Used during the recording of Audioslave's third album, Revelations. Originally bearing an orange Budweiser logo that Morello hated and burned off with a lighter. He liked the new appearance and modified the guitar with DiMarzio pickups. Drop-D tuning.
• Gibson Les Paul Standard, #1 - orange burst finish. Tuned to drop-B for use in Audioslave and Street sweeper social club.
• James Trussart Steelcaster - A Telecaster style guitar with a body made in steel, finished with a red star graphic over a holey front. Has Seymour Duncan pickups ( Alnico pro II in neck and a Hot rails in bridge). Seen occasionally on the Rage Against the Machine reunion tour, Tom also owns one with polished finish that was used on early tours.
• Ibanez roadstar- Tom's backup guitar for arm the homeless. It has all the same specs as arm the homeless (light blue finish, edge trem, toggle switch on the bottom horn, emg pickups etc.) but has several small hippo stickers instead of the 4 larger ones seen on the original guitar. This guitar can be seen briefly in the "sleep now in the fire" music video.
• "Whatever It Takes" guitar - A custom Ibanez Galvador classical acoustic guitar he uses during concerts as The Nightwatchman. Plain body with 'Whatever It Takes ((star))' left of the bridge.
• "Black Spartacus" guitar- A black Gibson steel string acoustic guitar used as The Nightwatchman, used prominently on the World Wide Rebel Songs album. Has symbol of Kenyan flag left of the bridge and "Black Spartacus" in white on the top of the guitar. Tom Morello says he wrote song "Black Spartacus Heart Attack Machine" as a love song for this new guitar, which appears in the music video for this song.
• Tanglewood Acoustic Guitar.

Effects and amplifiers[link]

Morello's amplifier and effects setup has been practically the same throughout his career in Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave and Street Sweeper Social Club.

A photo of Morello's pedal board; on the far left is a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus

Pedalboard

• DigiTech Whammy WH-1
• Dunlop Cry Baby (from the mid 1980s)
• Boss DD-2 Digital Delay
• Boss TR-2 Tremolo
• DOD FX40b Equalizer
• Ibanez DFL Flanger
• MXR Phase 90 (Replaced the Ibanez Flanger for Audioslave)

Amplification

• Marshall JCM800 2205 50-watt head (with the Marshall logo blocked out to avoid endorsment proposals)
• Peavey 4x12 Cabinet (with Che Guevara's silhouette on the grill)

Selected discography[link]

Lock Up

• Something Bitchin' This Way Comes (1989)

Rage Against the Machine

• Rage Against the Machine (1992) US 3x Platinum
• Evil Empire (1996) US 3x Platinum
• Live & Rare (1998)
• The Battle of Los Angeles, (1999) US 2x Platinum
• Renegades (2000) US Platinum
• Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium (2003)

Audioslave

• Audioslave (2002) US 3x Platinum
• Out of Exile (2005) US Platinum
• Revelations (2006) US Gold

The Nightwatchman

• One Man Revolution (2007)
• The Fabled City (2008)
• Union Town (2011)
• World Wide Rebel Songs (2011)

Street Sweeper Social Club

• Street Sweeper Social Club (2009)
• The Ghetto Blaster EP (2010)

Filmography[link]

• Saturday Night Live (Episode #21.17, 1996) .... Musical Guest (Rage Against the Machine)
• Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) (uncredited) .... Son'a officer
• Star Trek: Voyager (Season 6, Episode 20, 2000, "Good Shepherd") .... Crewman Mitchell
• Made (2001) .... Best Man
• Berkeley (2005) .... Blue
• Metal: A Headbanger's Journey (2005) ... As Himself
• Iron Man (2008) .... Insurgent #5
• Chevolution (2008)... As Himself
• Iron Maiden: Flight 666 (2009) .... As Himself
• Iron Man 2 (2010) .... Insurgent #5

References[link]

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (December 2011)

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Tom Morello

• Tom Morello at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• The Nightwatchman
• Sandmonkey Lives (!)
• Axis of Justice
• Video of Tom Morello's network TV debut of "House Gone Up in Flames"
• "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time", Rolling Stone, August 27, 2003. Accessed May 30, 2011.
• Listen online: Tom Morello On Corporate Imperialism
• Tom Morello at the Internet Movie Database
• Performing live at SXSW 2007 on 89.3 The Current
• Tom Morello on The Hour
• It’s Guitarist Tom Morello - video report by Democracy Now!