Take, for instance, Denton musician Bret Crow from the comedy rock duo Time Knife and the comic music experience The Bret Crow Show, who got to do just that on TikTok
Legendary guitarist Tom Morello, who found fame with groups like the political rock group Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, posted a "Duet this" challenge on his official TikTok channel, and Crow was up for the challenge.
"He posted a video on TikTok of him jamming an original riff," Crow says of Morello, "and I duetted his video playing along with him."
Crow is one-half of the music collaboration Time Knife with Matt Cochran. They've been playing together since 2007 through various projects and musical incarnations and just released their first, self-titled punk LP on various platforms including Apple Music. The album was inspired by the whimsical (and sometimes silly) sounds of influencers like Frank Zappa, Primus and Brown Whornet.@tommorello ##duet with @thebretcrowshow
♬ original sound - Tom Morello
The riff features Morello on guitar and Crow backing up his sound on bass with dark, deep tones, producing a sound that feels right in place with an early RATM album.
"People do that on TikTok, write riffs and get people to duet them and jam along," Crow says. "I made so many duets creating original music and jamming with friends."
The sound Crow created with Morello's riff caught a lot of online attention including from Morello. The alt-rocker posted a follow-up video of Crow's take and seems to like what he heard.
Morello's video shows him listening to the track bobbing his head to the hard-edged beats and yelling "Get it!" and "Go!" as Crow strums out his own improvised track. Morello sums up Crow's collaboration in a four-word endorsement: "His rock is hot."
"It feels great," Crow says about seeing Morello's video for the first time, "knowing that I'm on the right track and doing well."
