{"id":8452,"date":"2013-01-01T23:18:13","date_gmt":"2013-01-02T06:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=8452"},"modified":"2013-01-01T23:46:14","modified_gmt":"2013-01-02T06:46:14","slug":"soundgarden-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2013\/01\/soundgarden-2\/","title":{"rendered":"SOUNDGARDEN"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h1>\n

SOUNDGARDEN<\/strong><\/h1>\n

The seminal grunge-rock band picks up right where it left off\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Nearly 16 years after their\u00a0breakup, iconic grunge rockers Soundgarden are back with King Animal<\/em>, their first new music since 1996. The band\u2014singer Chris Cornell, guitarist Kim Thayil, drummer Matt Cameron and bassist Ben Shepherd\u2014first formed in 1984, and blew up 10 years later with their smash Superunknown<\/em>, only to call it quits in 1997. \u201cWe just got burned out,\u201d says Thayil. \u201cWe had a No. 1 album and Grammys, and there was a lot more demand on the band. After a while you just want to slow the whole damn thing down.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact they brought it to a screeching halt before reforming in 2010 and testing the waters with a gig in their native Seattle. \u201cWe were a bit nervous,\u201d Thayil admits. But not enough to keep them from headlining Lollapalooza a few months later, leading to discussions about recording again. \u201cMatt said, \u2018I have riffs and some songs; I\u2019d like to go in the studio\u2019\u2014and we did,\u201d says Thayil. \u201cBut we didn\u2019t want to make an album that would ruin the charm, the legacy of the band. Bands often re-form and do something that sounds different, or something more commercial. We felt comfortable about this record being part of our body of work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prior to the new album, the band released a greatest hits package and a live record. \u201cThat was part of the dynamic of rebooting Soundgarden,\u201d explains Thayil. \u201cLike, \u2018Let\u2019s finish these and tie up loose ends.\u2019\u201d Thayil sat down to tell us more about the band\u2019s return to recording.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The band\u2019s back\u2014how does it feel?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Very natural. In one aspect it was like that clich\u00e9 where you fall off your horse and get back on it. It felt right. And on another level we were trying to see what each of us remembered and forgot. I\u2019d go, \u201cAh, I forgot what I did here\u201d and Matt\u2019s like, \u201cDidn\u2019t you do this thing?\u201d I was like, \u201cOh yeah.\u201d It was very entertaining and fun. We\u2019ve also grown differently\u2014Matt\u2019s been playing with Pearl Jam, and Chris has played with other guitarists and drummers, and the same with Ben.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Describe the songwriting process.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We write in so many different combinations. We don\u2019t really have a set process or formula. The most common thing is Chris writing the music and lyrics. At this point in his career Chris has become very productive, and he\u2019s generating a lot of ideas. When it gets to the band, everyone adds his two cents. Some stuff starts with lyrics and some starts with music\u2014it depends. If you see the songwriting credits, Ben wrote the lyrics for a song called \u201cAttrition\u201d and I wrote the lyrics for \u201cNon-State Actor.\u201d I wrote music for at least two songs, and another I contributed a big hunk to. Matt\u2019s written the music for a couple of songs on the record and Ben wrote the music for two or three.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What was the studio dynamic?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We were always trying to do something different to entertain the other guys in the band. If I come up with a guitar riff, it has be something that Matt will say, \u201cOh, that\u2019s a cool groove.\u201d We\u2019re our own audience, and we\u2019re not going to impress each other by doing the same thing over and over again.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You selected Adam Kasper to produce.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He\u2019s a friend and has a history with us, and he\u2019s worked with Pearl Jam so he definitely knows how to record Matt\u2019s drums. That\u2019s where you want to start when you\u2019re talking about a producer. A lot of people think about the lead instruments\u2014vocals and guitar\u2014and you want a producer who can work with that, but you also have mixing engineers who can get those levels. We think of a producer and drum sounds because that sets the table and defines the room in which you\u2019re playing\u2014that\u2019s defined by how the drums sound. You get the drums there and everything else sits snugly in place. Adam\u2019s up in the Seattle area, and he recorded Hater and some of the Wellwater Conspiracy stuff with Ben. We had a rapport with him that made sense.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"Did you bring the heavier elements?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that I\u2019m naturally inclined toward things that are heavy. I\u2019m also the guy who initially introduced lullaby-like psychedelic elements like feedback and arpeggios. If you listen to the stuff I\u2019ve done outside Soundgarden, it is a lot of that stuff as well. I do like the heavy stuff but not in the traditional way of a rhythmically visceral thing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How do you create that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s what I call color guitar parts\u2014which include everything from feedback to parts that are written but aren\u2019t the main riff, and don\u2019t necessarily emphasize the rhythm or improvisation or solo. They\u2019re sometimes things that are added later in the recording process or just live. I\u2019m just wondering if lead guitar is really an archaic term for what we do. It might make sense with heavy metal, but lead guitar didn\u2019t make as much sense with punk rock and hardcore bands that didn\u2019t really have lead guitarists. Would Johnny Ramone have called himself a lead guitarist? No, he\u2019s just the guitarist. I\u2019d like to be at a point where as a guitarist, I\u2019m doing things besides what would traditionally be referred to as leads. This isn\u2019t Lynyrd Skynyrd or Molly Hatchett where you\u2019ve got three guitarists playing a variation of a triplet.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s been reported the band was cashing in on the reunion.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s not a dumb issue because there are many people who commit to doing that kind of thing for some reason. Maybe they need to pay the property tax on their estate in Hawaii. I only have one house and don\u2019t have any financial problems. I don\u2019t think Matt has any financial problems\u2014he plays in one of the biggest bands in the world, Pearl Jam. I\u2019ve read stupid reviews that say, \u201cOh, this is obviously a cash grab. That\u2019s why they made this record.\u201d It\u2019s like, \u201cSure, because there\u2019s a huge market for live albums and greatest hits records.\u201d I think our attendance was really because of our legacy and catalog. No one needed money, everyone\u2019s doing fine. No one expected the record industry\u2014which is a fraction of what it used to be\u2014to carry us anywhere financially. Just imagine a partnership with four guys who are involved in something that\u2019s very emotional and sensitive like songwriting and musicianship where you\u2019re sharing of yourself.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What did you learn while apart?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sometimes with distance you get a perspective. A band unravels and you have negative thoughts and feelings, and that\u2019s reinforced when you see each other again. But over time you get a better perspective and the initial stimuli that triggered the response kind of fades. You start looking at the whole picture and the positive things far outweigh anything else. Then when you get together and have a positive experience, you start reminiscing about the good times. You realize, \u201cWow, we really grew up together.\u201d You have a lot of shared biography there.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Could the breakup have been avoided?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We probably should have taken an extended break, and put the band on a shelf and done other stuff. It seemed to me that the band\u2019s career was somewhere else and we weren\u2019t driving the car anymore\u2014we were in the passenger seat.<\/p>\n

\u2013Steve Rosen<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SOUNDGARDEN The seminal grunge-rock band picks up right where it left off\u00a0 Nearly 16 years after their\u00a0breakup, iconic grunge rockers Soundgarden are back with King Animal, their first new music since 1996. The band\u2014singer Chris Cornell, guitarist Kim Thayil, drummer Matt Cameron and bassist Ben Shepherd\u2014first formed in 1984, and blew up 10 years later […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23,7],"tags":[3143,5678,5679,5475,1551,5680],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8452"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8452"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8480,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8452\/revisions\/8480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}