Tom Morello: For Environmental Reasons, The World Should Be Up In Arms About Trump

Today (June 3), President Donald Trump begins his three-day state visit to the United Kingdom. During his time in the country, Trump will attend a banquet at Buckingham Palace hosted by The Queen, meet with Theresa May and attend a D-Day commemoration.

This, of course, has been met with various protests, including boycotts from various political leaders. But what does it mean for us as people? We caught up with Prophets Of Rage's Tom Morello ahead of his first show supporting Muse at the London Stadium, who shared his thoughts with Kerrang! about why protesting is the only course of action.

Hey Tom! We have your President visiting us today. What should we do about it?
“You should express your feelings.”

Should we hit the streets?
“Why wouldn’t you? Our planet is at a tipping point, and this guy has his foot on the accelerator as we head towards the abyss. For environmental reasons alone the world should be up in arms about this guy.”

Why are there so few bands addressing issues such as Trump and Brexit?
“First of all, I wouldn’t necessarily agree with your proposition. I think there are plenty of artists who are doing this. You have hip-hop artists and punk artists doing it; they may not be at the top of the charts but they certainly are expressing their social justice orientated world view through their songs. Green Day and Rage Against The Machine had the advantage that, in their heyday, they had this gigantic corporate machine behind them, as well as their convictions. Even The Clash were on Epic Records, who were there to help let you know that that band existed, and then you could decide what you think of their politics and their music. That is not the case any more."

In these troubled times, what do you see your role as a songwriter to be?
“I think it’s the same as it always was. The role is to be honest with the music you make, period. If you are someone who cares exclusively about cars and girls, please do not write political songs for my sake. But if you are someone who has opinions about the modern world and you self-censor because you think you might not get as many download or streams, or you fear that you might lose half of your audience, then there’s an extra hot part of Hades waiting for you when you die. And a lot of artists do do that.”

Tom Morello's new album The Atlas Underground is out now.

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