Rise Against and Friends Cover Bruce Springsteen – Song Premiere
When Rise Against covered Bruce Springsteen‘s “The Ghost of Tom Joad” in September 2012 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, the Chicago punk stalwarts brought on a handful of guests to help out: the MC5‘s Wayne Kramer, Gaslight Anthem frontman Brian Fallon and Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello.
“This whole experience was surreal and serendipitous,” Zach Blair, Rise Against’s guitiarist, recalled. “We wanted to do something special and we were touring with Brian and Gaslight Anthem so the tricky part was seeing if Wayne Kramer and Tom Morello were available. Somehow they were and both agreed to doing it! Needless to say, we were stoked. We were going to get to share the stage with Brian Fallon who we love and admire but also not one, but two legends!”
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If you weren’t lucky enough to catch their performance that night, now you can take an exclusive first listen to the their unsurprisingly rousing cover of the Springsteen classic. The track is set to appear on Rise Against’s upcoming rarities compilation, Long Forgotten Songs: B-Sides & Covers 2000-2013, due out September 10th on Interscope and available for pre-order now.
“I remember watching the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 25th-anniversary special where Tom Morello played this song with Springsteen himself and just being absolutely blown away at the solo he did,” Blair said. “Little did I know that someday I’d be watching him do it from three feet away. Mind-blowing. The guitar nerd inside of me had a thousand tiny heart attacks.”