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Re: Soundgarden Discussion (King Animal out NOW!)
Kim Thayil interview....
Band reunions are historically more misses than hits. For every hundred slapdash moneymaking tours and lackluster albums compiled from rehashed castaway material there are one or two acts that strike the bull’s-eye true and clean. SOUNDGARDEN is in the latter category. To quote another 90’s rock radio mainstay, “Isn’t it ironic?” seeing as SOUNDGARDEN’s sonic output has always been difficult to categorize. From punk infused hard rock, to heavy metal and later labeled grunge and/or alternative, SOUNDGARDEN helped define, then redefine the popular music landscape of the 1990’s by being the antithesis of “pop” music. After a decade-plus hiatus, what began as a simple compilation of greatest hits evolved into the monster new album King Animal, and unlike so many of their contemporaries, the new SOUNDGARDEN lives up to the band’s already storied legacy. Guitarist Kim Thayil explains further:
Kim, you were the guy handling SOUNDGARDEN’s back catalog. Once you started putting together the greatest hits album Telephantasm, were you hoping that the band might get back together?
No, I was not interested in getting the band back together again. It was entirely attending to catalog, merchandise and those issues. Given that the band was broken up, it was important that the legacy was attended to. So much stuff had been neglected: our merchandising, the website. We broke up in ‘97 and the [music] industry changed quite a bit a few years later. The record company wanted a retrospective greatest hits thing and I said, “Whoa, let me make sure we don’t leave it up to the record company.” Because they’ll have a thousand versions of “Black Hole Sun” and “Spoonman” on it. I supervised Telephantasm, the artwork and the track list. The deal when the band broke up was that I would supervise any compilations to make sure that it is SOUNDGARDEN friendly and not just record label friendly.
You famously played a 2009 Seattle gig with Ben [Shepherd, bass] and Matt [Cameron, drums]. Did that show spark reunion talk?
I don’t think that’s part of the reunion bio. Distantly it is; there was enough buzz and talk about that on the interwebs that Chris [Cornell, vocals] was asked and he said, “I would have sang with them.” But it all came together sort of last minute, with Tom Morello asking if Ben and I wanted to jam with him and do “Spoonman.” I said, “That’s great, but Matt’s coming down to see the show.” I’m not gonna want to play that song for Matt, I’d rather play that song with Matt. So we asked Matt if he’d want to do it and he said yes. Then we needed someone to sing. So we asked Tad [Doyle], and decided to do a couple other songs. We had one or two practices for that gig. Just kind of jammed.
Did the three of you rehearse at all after that show?
No. Matt’s got a very busy schedule with PEARL JAM. Ben was busy with HATER and The WELLWATER CONSPIRACY in the down period of SOUNDGARDEN. That didn’t feel like a reunion with the three of us because I saw them pretty regularly. We have mutual friends. I also saw Chris pretty regularly until he moved to LA.
How crucial was it for SOUNDGARDEN to go out and play live before getting back into the studio?
It wasn’t, because we had no plans to write a new album. The sequence of events was: attending to shared properties, our catalog, not having strong iTunes presences, website, Facebook, we didn’t even have a MySpace account. Our website from the ‘90’s was kind of rudimentary and they had lapsed, there was nobody maintaining them. Friends of ours had kids who were in junior high, who were SOUNDGARDEN fans, and they’d go into a record store and there weren’t any SOUNDGARDEN shirts or posters, but they could find plenty of ALICE IN CHAINS and NIRVANA crap. Then there were offers to play live that came in and we had to consider them. Playing live is a totally different aspect of being a band than attending to the partnership side of things. Then we become a performing band by playing shows, but I don’t think you can consider us reunited until we became a creative entity and communicated musically with each other, which led to writing, which led to recording. A lot of bands reunite just so they can play a casino or county fairs, they’re not really reunited; they’re just attending to the entertainment aspect of being in a band. There are some bands that are simply that, entertainers and performers. We are a creative enterprise. Since Day One when SOUNDGARDEN started it was me, Hiro [Yamamoto, original bassist], and Chris in a room writing songs. Gradually over time we had to emphasize playing live and then the business aspects, the legal and financial and stuff you have to pay attention to, management and record company and all that stuff. So that’s the way the band grew, from creative, to performing to business concerns. Then the band breaks up. Then when we got back together we did things in reverse order.
How did the songs for King Animal come about?
Whenever we go and rehearse the old songs, we naturally jam and improvise and make stuff up. That’s what we’ve always done. That’s our first love, coming up with songs. About two years ago was when we started to do that. Matt wanted us to come in the studio and learn a few of his songs. That’s what turned into King Animal. We learned a couple of Matt’s songs then Chris had some songs and I had some and Ben had some. Next thing you know we’re recording.
So you didn’t go the Van Halen route and revisit old demos?
Well, there was some old demo stuff that we listened to and jammed on, but none of that is on King Animal. Almost everything is fresh and new. I think both of Ben’s songs he’d had for a number of years. “Taree” he played in a different configuration of HATER, but never recorded. Hopefully we do it better. The song “A Thousand Days Before,” the riff and the music for that was written back in the 90’s, but we never recorded it.
What about the album title itself?
I was coming up with titles that I thought fit with the graphics that the artist Josh Graham did, and a title that would fit with our catalog. The titles we’ve had like Badmotorfinger or Superunknown, or Ultramega OK, there’s sort of a colorful hyperbole to the titles, being big and super. I wanted to keep with that, but finding the right adjective combination that is evocative visually, and has meanings on various levels. It’s hard to come up with great album titles like Superunknown or Badmotorfinger. They don’t just fall in your lap all the time. Of the many titles that we were working with King Animal was the one I liked the best. I sent off a few emails and Chris sent an email back saying “I LOVE IT!!!!” Matt said the same thing and management loved it. The more we thought about it, the more we loved the title. Superunknown was the same way. When Chris came up with the title for that, we thought it was cool, but didn’t know if it was “the one.” Within the next week it kept growing on us til we were like, “Fuck, we gotta call it Superunknown.” King Animal, the amazing thing was, we Googled it and it hadn’t been used. No title, no album, no song, no book. We thought, “You’re kidding me?! King Animal, it seems so obvious and so cool!” We wouldn’t have used it if some other band had an album with that title. We like the fact that our albums titles are original.
Since reconvening, SOUNDGARDEN has dropped a greatest hits package, a live album and now a new record, but what happened to the planned B-sides release?
We never put out the B-sides because we went from Telephantasm to Live on I-5 then we started recording the new album. So the B-sides compilation has been put on hold. We want it to be a standalone album of SOUNDGARDEN originals that were not compiled in an album format. It might be two or three albums. There’s one that would be originals that were only available on compilation records for other labels or movie soundtracks, or B-sides in Australia and Europe. We also want to do an album of some covers that we’ve recorded. Then I want to do an album of some instrumental stuff and some dub mixes.
Any leftovers from King Animal?
Nope. Everything on King Animal is what we completed. There were lots of other ideas, more ideas to do another original album, but they weren’t completed.
So is SOUNDGARDEN here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future?
Just like I explained when people asked why we broke up, “Not much is written in stone.” I used to ask, “What’s the longest you ever had a girlfriend or boyfriend?” or “What’s the longest you’ve ever had a job?” SOUNDGARDEN was together for 13 years. At that point I’d never been with a girl that long, or had any other job that long. But yes, for the foreseeable future. It’s always going if it’s going.
Re: Soundgarden Discussion (King Animal out NOW!)
The full performance on Letterman....
Worse Dreams
By Crooked Steps
Incessant Mace
Beyond The Wheel
Taree
A Thousand Days Before
Eyelid's Mouth
Non-State Actor
Fell On Black Days
Rowing
Talk about a band NOT living in the past. Glad they've went the U2 route when it comes to promoting a new album.
Re: Soundgarden Discussion (King Animal out NOW!)
True, but in the defense of a band like GN'R, Soundgarden never had instantly classic hits like GN'R did that people expect to hear.
For example, I don't think it's as easy for AIC, Pearl Jam, or even a McCartney-fronted Nirvana to do what SG are doing. People would expect to hear Man In The Box, Even Flow, or Smells Like Teen Spirit, among several other tracks. I know PJ already fought it, but they caught tons of flack when they did, even by their hardcores. Basically other than Black Hole Sun or Fell On Black Days, SG can perform whatever the fuck they want.
That gives them alot of freedom that a GN'R would not have. Any version of GN'R, even if it was an AFD/UYI-hybrid reunion with Steven, Matt & Dizzy behind Axl, Slash, Izzy & Duff, people would still expect to hear the "big three" from AFD, and probably Patience & NR, even if it was just a performance on Letterman or Kimmel.
- Smoking Guns
- Rep: 330
Re: Soundgarden Discussion (King Animal out NOW!)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgFAq9Q8l8U[/youtube]
Re: Soundgarden Discussion (King Animal out NOW!)
I keep almost buying this and Black Gives Way To Blue (the last AIC record) on vinyl. King Animal is fairly cheap at $25 on average. I may just pull the trigger on both when my local place has another 20% sale which should be pretty soon.
Have you heard the albums before and are just getting these for vinyl?
If you haven't, you are sorely robbing yourself of a great listening experience. SG's King Animal is easily album of the year, and easily comparable with their previous works. One thing that rocks about SG is that you can listen to Badmotorfinger, Superunknown, and Down On The Upside front-to-back and its solid. King Animal is no different and is literally like the band picking up where they left off in 1996.
Black Gives Way To Blue is a different kind of album. More like AIC refinding itself with a different frontman, and ultimately a different energy, but going back to Dirt to do it. Especially the Jerry Cantrell-led tracks is literally seemless from the band's heyday, and could easily be some of his more fronted stuff off of Tripod/Dirt/Flies.
- monkeychow
- Rep: 661
Re: Soundgarden Discussion (King Animal out NOW!)
I think sort of the opposite to Axilin.
Black Gives Way to Blue is worthy of the AIC name - as it's a very similar listening experience and mood to their old albums - despite the new line up. Some of the new songs pretty much hold up to the classics and get a spot in a AIC playlist of their greatest tracks.
King Animal to me is like if you took the least interesting song from every soundgarden album and put them together as a record. It sounds like soundgarden, but it's almost like an outtakes album or watching deleted scenes from a film, it's soundgarden without that inspirational kickass moment that's usually on one of their records. There's nothing wrong with it, there's just nothing right with it either. It's a whole record of the filler tracks that usually separate the genius gems. You keep skipping to find the hit then you get right back to track 1 
Mind you I seem to be the only one who thinks this way....so maybe it's just my taste.
