X Ambassadors embrace their heavier side on their new song “Collider,” which features guitar work from Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Prophets of Rage. While the song is sonically a far cry from their breakout hit “Renegades,” the band found the collaboration to be an organic process.
“We’re such fans of his,” vocalist Sam Harris tells ABC Radio of Morello. “We wrote the song together in a day in the studio, and it just…it was something special.”
Morello is far from the first artist to collaborate with X Ambassadors — the band also has worked with Imagine Dragons as well as rappers Eminem and A$AP Ferg.
“They kinda all happen in different ways,” drummer Adam Levin says of the collaborations. “Sometimes it’s us in a room with these people we’re working with, like Tom Morello. Other times it’s over the internet, like with the Eminem song [‘Wicked Ways’] that Sam sang on. And Jay Z did a remix of our song ‘Jungle’ two years ago.”
It makes sense that X Ambassadors would want to work with an eclectic group of artists, as all the members of the band have equally eclectic tastes.
“We listen to everything,” Harris tells ABC Radio. “Not only are we big hip-hop guys, I’ve been getting into a lot of country music lately. I love that new Chris Stapleton record, and Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell, Maren Morris. We listen to a lot of soul, lot of R&B.”
To see all of those influences come together, you can catch X Ambassadors on tour throughout the rest of the summer and into the fall.
