Tom Morello has pulled the curtain back on a new album. The Rage Against The Machine guitarist will release Everyone Gets Everything They Want on September 25 through Mom + Pop Music — a record his label bills as his first solo rock album — and has put out the single “Date Night” to mark the announcement.
The album leans hard into the politics Morello has never separated from his music, taking on fascism, immigrant rights and global turmoil across twelve tracks built around his guitar work. Production comes from Tyler Smyth, Carl Restivo, Zakk Cervini, Dan Carey and Sam Nelson Harris.
The “first solo rock album” tag is the label’s framing, and it comes with some context. This is Morello‘s fourth full-length under his own name, following the three Atlas Underground records between 2018 and 2021 — projects that leaned on electronics and EDM textures and handed lead vocals to a rotating cast of guests. This one is described as the first centered on Morello himself as a rock frontman.
It also arrives with material fans have already heard. “Adjourn It“, his collaboration with System Of A Down‘s Serj Tankian and his son Roman, and “Everything Burns“, featuring Beartooth‘s Caleb Shomo, were both released ahead of the album, alongside 2024’s “Soldier In The Army Of Love“. Irish rap group Kneecap also guest on the record.
One family detail stands out: Roman Morello, the guitarist’s 15-year-old son — who has been turning heads on tour with his father for the past three years — takes writing credits on five songs, contributing riffs and solos of his own.
The new single tells a true and unsettling piece of World War II history. It follows three young Dutch women — sisters Truus and Freddie Oversteegen and their friend Hannie Schaft — who fought the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands as spies, saboteurs and, most notoriously, assassins.
Using their youth and unthreatening appearance to move through checkpoints, they smuggled weapons, sabotaged rail lines and helped hunted Jewish children escape. They also lured German officers to their deaths. Schaft was eventually captured, tortured and killed by the Nazis — but she never gave up her comrades. It is grim, serious history, not a caper, and Morello frames the song as a line in the sand.
Morello said of the track:
“I make anti-racist songs for anti-racists. I make anti-fascist songs for anti-fascists. And I make anti-Nazi songs for anti-Nazis. ‘Date Night‘ is really a ‘which side are you on?’ song. If any of that offends you, do the math. Oh, and Roman Morello wrote the killer riff in this tune.”
The song continues a run of pointed, political singles from Morello. “Adjourn It”, which condemns rising racism and anti-immigrant bigotry, used footage from the 1954 film “Salt Of The Earth” in its video to underline its theme of resistance.
Everyone Gets Everything They Want tracklist:
- “Beth From Electronics”
- “Everyone Gets Everything They Want”
- “Adjourn It” (feat. Serj Tankian & Roman Morello)
- “I Am Not Yours To Command”
- “Soldier In The Army Of Love”
- “Unconquered” (feat. Kneecap)
- “Date Night”
- “The Last Rung On The Ladder”
- “Everything Burns” (feat. Beartooth)
- “Pretend You Remember Me”
- “Untethered”
- “They Can’t Kill Us All”
Morello has just come off a run with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band on the “Land Of Hope And Dreams American Tour” and a set at last weekend’s Newport Folk Festival. He plays Louder Than Life in Louisville on September 19.
He is also curating Power To The People, a one-day festival billed as a celebration of peace, justice, solidarity and community action, set for Saturday, October 3 at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. The sold-out event carries a remarkable lineup, with Dave Matthews, Foo Fighters, Bruce Springsteen, Joan Baez, Public Enemy, Killer Mike, Brittany Howard, Dropkick Murphys, Jack Black, Serj Tankian, Grandson, Taylor Momsen, Matt Cameron, The Linda Lindas and Darryl “DMC” McDaniels among those taking part, plus a DJ set from artist Shepard Fairey.
