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Showing posts with label Soundgarden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Soundgarden. Show all posts
Friday, April 27, 2012
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Soundgarden Land Cover of <em>Rolling Stone Australia</em>
Perhaps no upcoming album from the remaining ’90s grunge contingent is more anticipated than Soundgarden’s new LP. Chris Cornell and his entourage haven’t released a collection of originals since 1996’s Down on the Upside, and after the band’s 2010 reunion, it was obvious the guys have preserved their ability to mesh sludgy metal with alternative rock and put out catchy, neo-psychedelic nuggets.
Soundgarden appear on the cover of Rolling Stone Australia’s February issue and in the article, the full band discuss the grunge group’s past, present and future, asserting, “there’s absolutely nothing nostalgic” about their reunion.
Cornell recently told Gibson.com that if he could go back and change one thing along Soundgarden’s career path, he would take back the big “breakup” announcement. “I think if there’s a lesson to be learned, it’s that it wasn’t even necessary to announce a breakup. We could have just said we were going on indefinite hiatus, and that would have been fine,” he said. “There didn’t have to be some sort of finality. It certainly didn’t change anything from the standpoint of the media or even Soundgarden fans. Every time I did an interview, I was asked, ‘Is Soundgarden ever going to get back together? Will the band ever do anything again?’ Had we just said we were going on hiatus, the question would have been “When?” instead of ‘Will?’ [laughs] And the answer would probably have been the same: ‘I don’t know.’”
Read more of Gibson.com’s exclusive interview with Cornell, including why he loves rocking Gibson ES-335s with Soundgarden, here.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Chris Cornell on Soundgarden, Movies and Guitars
Chris Cornell has been a busy man of late. For roughly the past year, the veteran rocker has been dividing his time between performing solo acoustic shows--portions of which are featured on his new live disc, Songbook--and putting the final touches on the first new studio album from Soundgarden in 16 years. In addition, there's talk in Hollywood circles that Cornell might earn an Oscar for "The Keeper," a beautiful solo ballad he wrote and recorded for the acclaimed film, Machine Gun Preacher. Recently he spoke about his love of acoustic albums, his favorite guitars and his goals, going forward.
Is releasing an acoustic-based album something you've wanted to do for a long time?
An acoustic-based studio album, yes. That’s something I’ve thought a lot about, and it’s something fans seem to want me to do. I’m happy about that, because some of my all-time favorite albums are essentially stripped down to one or two instruments, with vocals. Early in my career I spent a bit of time doing that type of songwriting, but much more time writing music with Soundgarden--which is not that, obviously. My next solo record will probably involve new material that’s similar to what I did on Songbook.
Did you write the film song, “The Keeper,” in the midst of doing the acoustic tour this past spring?
I wrote it after doing those shows. The acoustic shows didn’t really feed into “The Keeper.” It had nothing to do with the tour, or with Songbook, in terms of my focus on what it is, or how I wrote it or what it sounds like. I was just trying to write what I felt would be most appropriate for the movie, given that I was writing just one song. There were so many different options, musically, that I could have taken for that film. There was a lot to draw from. At some point it just felt like the right direction would be something as stripped down as possible.
Is writing songs as a solo artist different from writing songs within a band?
There’s a certain amount of reacting that goes on in the context of a band, if you’re mainly co-writing. If I’m writing lyrics and vocal melodies to someone else’s arrangement, or someone else's guitar part, my ideas won’t be the same as they would be for my own song. In the context of Soundgarden, there’s a very stylized way that I approach that process. It may be a subconscious thing, but it's based on how I think the band should sound, and how I think I should respond to what they do creatively.
You've characterized the break from Soundgarden as more of an extended vacation than a breakup.
That’s right. I think if there’s a lesson to be learned, it’s that it wasn’t even necessary to announce a breakup. We could have just said we were going on indefinite hiatus, and that would have been fine. There didn’t have to be some sort of finality. It certainly didn’t change anything from the standpoint of the media or even Soundgarden fans. Every time I did an interview, I was asked, “Is Soundgarden ever going to get back together? Will the band ever do anything again?” Had we just said we were going on hiatus, the question would have been “When?” instead of “Will?” (laughs) And the answer would probably have been the same: “I don’t know.”
You’re in a good place in your life now, which wasn’t always the case. Is writing songs easier when you’re happy?
I definitely feel a difference now. I’m able to do more, to contemplate more, to hear more, to understand more and to be more focused. People sometimes go through periods where they’re very self-destructive, and some sort of artistic, or emotionally intense, attitude, musically, may come out of that. And that’s great and brilliant and wonderful. But that tends to be short-lived, and it can sometimes be the only vital thing someone does. I’ve never felt like that was me. The really tumultuous, self-destructive period for me wasn’t the part of my career that seemed to yield a lot. I think I wrote some great music in that period, but I also think it took me a lot longer than it needed to. It wasn't my most prolific time.
You play a wide variety of guitars. Of those, which are your favorite Gibsons?
I’m playing ES-335s on-stage a lot with Soundgarden. I’ve also used them in the studio a bit. I really love that guitar. And I play a Les Paul here and there as well. It would be difficult for me to choose just one electric guitar, if I had to do that. There are so many different personalities that come out of each electric. It's all about getting different textures.
How far into the future do you look?
I just want to be busy. Whatever that turns out to be, it will be fun. It’s a privilege to be able to follow your most passionate pursuit, to have that as your job. I don’t feel that it’s necessary for me to figure out what that might be, say, five years from now. I don’t want to be the sort of person who wants to know what that might be. That would mean I’m closed to the possibility of a change of heart, or changes in circumstances, or unpredictable events that might change how I feel. As long as I’m busy doing music, that’s all I care about.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Soundgarden Announce Only U.S. Festival Appearance
Soundgarden are the first headliners to be revealed for this year’s Voodoo Experience fest. The three-day music and arts event will take place in New Orleans’ City Park on October 28-30. Soundgarden will headline the festival on October 28, according to Blabbermouth.net.
The lineup for the 13th annual Voodoo Experience will be rolled out in the coming months, prior to the Halloween weekend event. Tickets are available now at www.thevoodooexperience.com.
Soundgarden, who reunited last year, have a run of dates planned in July in North America. The summer tour begins July 2 in Toronto, Canada, and continues through July 30 in George, Washington (a show that also features Queens of the Stone Age, Mastodon and the Meat Puppets).
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Soundgarden: Don’t Expect New Album This Year
Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil said that the reunited rockers are working on a new album and have a record deal in place. But they’re not in any rush to get it done and released.
“If we were to say, ‘Let’s get this record out by the fall,’ I think it would put a lot of pressure on us and the quality would at some point suffer," Thayil told Reuters. “And the more we enjoy it, the more our fans should end up enjoying it.”
The guitarist went on to talk about the band’s break-up in the late ’90s. He said that the four members preserved their friendships following the split and would meet up at concerts or each other’s homes.
“Any acrimony was toward the band as a collective, not toward any individual,” he said. “We’re just too interconnected, going back to the ’80s with so many mutual friends and family in common.”
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Soundgarden Announce Tour Dates, Progress on New Album
Soundgarden have just unveiled their first four tour dates of 2011: Beginning July 2 in Toronto, the tour will then hit Philadelphia, Denver and Los Angeles.
Guitarist Kim Thayil also told Spinner.com this week that the reunited Soundgarden are at work in Seattle on their first studio album in 15 years. This follows the release last month of their 1996 concert recording, Live on I-5.
“[The new album] is pretty developed in the writing process,” reports Thayil. “We’ve been at it since December, January. We’re still writing, but we have a number of songs that are complete, a number of songs that are close to being completed and a number of songs that look like they just woke up … We probably, after 13, 14 years, have new things to bring to the table. Our interests have gone off in slightly different directions, but at our core we’re still moved by the things that informed Soundgarden’s body of work, which is the sort of dark beauty, heaviness and an aggressiveness without being viscerally old and awkward. There’s gonna be a lot that’s familiar and similar. There’s gonna be stuff that’s definitely different; the stuff that’s different however will be within the context of those elements that are described earlier.”
When asked to estimate a release date for the new album, Thayil said, “We are not going to pressure ourselves and we’re not likely to let other people pressure us. I believe that can really stress out and put a lot of pressure on a band. It’s very likely that if a deadline is set for us, [there’s a] good chance we'll let it pass. We’re not gonna do anything to make what we’re doing un-fun.”
Soundgarden 2011 Tour Dates:
July 2 - Toronto, ON - Molson Canadian Amphitheatre
July 13 - Philadelphia, PA - Festival Pier at Penn’s Landing
July 18 - Denver, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre
July 22 - Los Angeles, CA - The Forum
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