Nandi Bushell Writes New Song With Tom Morello + His Son During U.S. Visit
While most people "see the sights" on their vacations, 11-year-old YouTube sensation Nandi Bushell and her family used a trip to the U.S. for a chance to catch up with some of the famous friends she's made through her drumming videos online. Not only did she recently reconnect with "drum battle" opponent Dave Grohl onstage at a Foo Fighters show in Los Angeles, she also met up with Tom Morello, Chad Smith and many more during her trip stateside.
In a new post reflecting on her visit, it appears as though the passionate upstart musician made the most of her time stateside, and even wrote a song with Morello that will be released soon. Nandi reveals the song in question came as she was able to jam with Morello and his son Roman and while she shares footage of their jam session, she reveals that the song that they co-wrote together is not the one seen in the footage. She thanked the Rage Against the Machine guitar great for "welcoming us into your beautiful family."
Morello connected with Nandi last year after the young musician rocked multiple instruments while covering Rage Against the Machine's "Guerrilla Radio" as a Black Lives Matter salute. Within a few weeks, Morello had gifted her a "Soul Power" Fender strat. “I’d like you to have this guitar as a gift from me to you because you rock so great, and to see someone rocking so great who is so young, it really gives me hope for the future. I didn’t start playing guitar until I was 17 years old, so you are way, super-far ahead of me, and I look forward to hearing a lot more of your music in the future. You’ve got a lot of soul, and here’s a little Soul Power to go with it. Keep it up,” stated Morello in a message that accompanied the instrument. She then followed by using the instrument while recording a cover of Audioslave's "Cochise."
Nandi also shared photos of her hang time with Guns N' Roses' Melissa Reese and Primus' Brain who reportedly worked with Nandi on "our special project" that she teased is also coming soon. She also got to see Reese play live with Guns N' Roses.
The drummer also met Incubus drummer Jose Pasillas while at a photo shoot with photographer Brian Bowen Smith and footage can be seen below as well as within her most recent post. And she also jammed with Red Hot Chili Peppers' Chad Smith and drumming great Greg Bissonette for a future Drum Channel feature, with a bit of that footage also posted below. And she also appeared with H20's Toby Morse on his podcast.
"#USA!!! My time here has been #AMAZING!!! The past few weeks have been so much fun, but it’s time for me to go back #home to #Ipswich #England," stated the 11-year-old musician. "I have had so much #FUN. Hope to see you all again soon but I need to go back to #school now! #PEACE and #LOVE." Check out footage, photos and commentary from Nandi's U.S.A. visit below.