Soundgarden and a group of like-minded Seattle bands – Mudhoney, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Screaming Trees and Alice In Chains – inspired the grunge movement that emerged during the mid-1980s and found commercial success in the late ’80s and early ’90s. Relentless in their experimentation with alternative metal, hard rock and psychedelia, Soundgarden also boasted an indomitable frontman in Chris Cornell who raised the rock vocalist bar with his powerful wail and those darkly enigmatic, existentialist lyrics. Between their formation (’84) and acrimonious break-up (’97), Soundgarden released five studio albums, scored a number one record with Superunknown (’94), won two Grammy Awards (for Black Hole Sun and Spoonman) and sold over 20 million albums. To the delight of their diehard fans, the Seattle grunge legends reunited 13 years later.
As Thayil asserts, their performance at The Showbox was “a powerful experience” that reinforced the fact that reuniting was an inspired decision. “We played a few shows and there were promoters interested, and people who wanted us to play at Madison Square Garden,” he explains, “so we thought ‘look, we’ve had fun playing these shows – we should go on tour’. The interest was reciprocated.”
A dream come true for devoted fans, the reunion was also inspired by the group’s desire to serve Soundgarden’s catalogue and legacy. During Soundgarden’s 13 year break, Thayil was able to reflect and appreciate the scope of their influence in the ’90s. “Meeting a number of underground and indie bands coming up that were inspired or influenced by us without being imitative or derivative was really encouraging and satisfying to me,” Thayil expresses. “Bands like the Japanese band Boris or the band Ohm, Sleep and High On Fire… I love these guys.”
Returning to our shores for Big Day Out 2012 (Thayil also has relatives and friends here), Soundgarden will be headlining Australia’s largest touring music festival for the third time. Even after all these years, Thayil is quick to recall many fond memories from those ’94 and ’97 Big Day Out festivals.
“I remember the first time we played, one of the exciting things was meeting the guys in Björk’s band, who were great guys, just wonderful,” Thayil enthuses, “and of course the Ramones – to meet and hang out with the Ramones all the time… we went on to tour with the Ramones here in Lollapalooza. And of course, the Breeders, Smashing Pumpkins… and on our next tour, we played with Prodigy and Urge Overkill.
“On our first tour, it was really exciting to meet the guys in You Am I and see them play,” states Thayil, passionately. “I remember running back into our dressing room and grabbing Chris and Ben [Shepherd], and saying, ‘Hey, you guys gotta see this band that’s out there opening for us – these guys are like a cross between Nirvana and The Who. Chris, Matt [Cameron] and Ben were like, ‘Wow, these guys are great’. We had the opportunity to bring You Am I to the US and they did their first US tour with us.”
Not content with merely playing their classics, Soundgarden have been writing new material over the past year. New ideas began emerging as they were rehearsing old songs for the shows. “We were obviously trying to recollect our older material and that was a humorous time in itself because I might forget my own guitar parts, but I’d remember one of Chris’ vocal parts or one of Ben’s bass parts and they would remember my guitar parts,” Thayil laughs. “So it was funny what we remembered and what we forgot, but in the course of playing together in a room, it’s very natural for us to kind of improvise and jam and come up with ideas. So while we’re working on Spoonman or Limo Wreck or 4th Of July, we’d throw up some other riff and someone else will respond. It became obvious that we had that kind of relationship where we were naturally creative with each other, so we decided that we should commit to making an album. Initially, you walk on tip toes; you’re not sure if people are feeling the same way that you are, but then you get pleasantly surprised when they all feel the same way.
“The first songs were written about a year ago and we recorded in March,” Thayil explains, “but of course our recording sessions are broken up schedule-wise because of the commitments that Matt has with Pearl Jam and Chris with his solo tour, so while they’re on tour, Ben and I would work on guitar and bass and arranging songs. Then those guys come back and we’ll develop other material, so we’re getting close to the end of this record. We’re still writing new material, but we’re close to recording and tracking the basic instruments and lead instruments for a number of the songs, so we hope that we can complete the record sometime after Australia.”
Cornell has said that writing songs without bottles of Jack Daniels has led to longer and more cohesive sessions. “I think in some ways they’re very similar, but in some ways they’re much better,” Thayil affirms. “The way that they’re similar is that there is a way in which we respond to each other musically. It’s different because we are older. Ben, Matt and I still drink beer, but we wait till after rehearsal,” he laughs. “When you’re younger, you’re probably drinking beer as soon as you wake up. We’re grown up now.”
Thayil’s guitar playing has inspired rock devotees around the world and across generations, which also earned him a placing in Rolling Stone’s Greatest Guitarists Of All Time (although he should’ve been higher). As Kim states, Soundgarden have “always tried to explore how to make really heavy, aggressive music without sounding like a bunch of knuckle-dragging meatheads” and the new songs have a very heavy vibe.
“[The new album] will be full of that dark psychedelia,” Thayil informs. “We were always working on redefining what ‘heavy’ meant. We always thought that you could do a slow song and still have it be heavy. We always thought that you could take the distortion off the guitar and still do a song that’s heavy by the mood or feeling that you evoke or can create. Music can be heavy without it being loud or distorted; by the same token, volume does help as well.
“We’re still trying different approaches to songs and ideas, and trying to bring out that dark psychedelia, that heaviness that we were known for. You’re not gonna see a party album or a pop album – we’re the record that someone puts on when they want people to go home. We’re not the record that you put on to get everyone dancing.”
Having your explosive Lollapalooza performance described as “a blueprint of the Seattle sound” must make them proud? “It makes us feel that we’re doing something right – that we’re accomplishing what we’ve always intended to do, which was to play well and write songs that we enjoy and that our fans would enjoy as well,” says Thayil. “It’s great to find like-minded people out there who also like what it is that we’re doing.”
As Soundgarden were one of the most influential bands of the ’90s, how much fulfilment does Thayil derive from the knowledge that Soundgarden were a generation-defining band? “I love that,” Thayil expresses. “All the bands that are coming up now, I love these bands – I think they’re inventive and interesting, and to know that they were fans of ours, that’s a great feeling. Of course, we had similar feelings in the late ’80s and early ’90s when we had an influence on Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins and Alice In Chains. Nirvana were just one of our favourite bands for so many years – it’s amazing to think that they were inspired or influenced by us. When we read in Rolling Stone that Billy [Corgan] had felt that way about our early records… that was also fantastic.
“To influence your peers – not just bands that are popular – but bands that you like yourself, it’s like: ‘Wow, I like what these guys are doing and they’re saying ‘hey, thanks – we like what you’re doing’… that’s a great feeling. It’d be disappointing if we were influencing pop acts or dance bands or knuckle-headed rock – that would bum us out, but to have an influence on people that we respect and enjoy is definitely fulfilling as an artist, performer and writer.”
