Former Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello recruited another guitar hero, Gary Clark Jr., for his new song, “Can’t Stop the Bleeding,” which he’s releasing ahead of his upcoming tour. The track, which also features electronic music producer Gramatik, starts off like a fairly straightforward blues rocker. Clark sings about trouble and feeling overwhelmed, until swooshes of EDM effects begin a surprising trance breakdown.
“‘Can’t Stop The Bleeding’ is the latest Marshall stack bass drop banger from Gary Clark Jr., Gramatik and myself,” Morello said in a statement. “Influenced by W.B. Yeats, Jimi Hendrix and terrified Ultra fans, this latest salvo of ‘Shred Step’ just erupted from the ‘Atlas Underground.’” (Late last year, Morello released a new album titled The Atlas Underground, though “Can’t Stop the Bleeding” was not featured on it.)
A video for the song presents a fairly literal metaphor for the song, as a person patches up a wall that has depressing internet-style missives projected on it to keep it from bleeding. Eventually it turns into something that looks like an animated outtake from The Shining.
Morello will launch his tour in May with an appearance at Jacksonville, Florida’s Welcome to Rockville festival. The North American dates are scheduled to run through May 19th, after which he’ll play a run of dates supporting Muse in the U.K. and return for a June 15th appearance at the 101WKQX Piqniq in Tinley Park, Illinois.
Last year, Morello told Rolling Stone he’d been “secretly toiling away” on The Atlas Underground. It features appearances by Bassnectar, Big Boi, Killer Mike, Vic Mensa, K.Flay, GZA, RZA and many others. “The notion from the very start was to forge this sonic conspiracy of these artists from wide-ranging genres who are like-minded, and then curate all of it into a powerful and cohesive whole,” he said.