Soundgarden

It’s no secret Soundgarden is one of the bands that defined a generation. The spark that set off the explosion of the Seattle music scene in the late ’80s and early ’90s alongside Washington State alumni Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Mudhoney. Soundgarden revolutionised a tired sound with the creation of a new genre – behold the golden age of grunge! However, Soundgarden are unique, they process a certain je ne sais quoi. Is it their superior song writing skills, unusual time signature or Chris Cornell’s soaring vocal range? To celebrate their return to our shores for Soundwave we sat with lead guitarist and co-founder Kim Thayil to uncover the truth.
“Fortunately we have very few imitators because it’s more difficult to sound like Chris than it is to sound like Kurt,” Thayil says with all the confident conviction you’d expect. “A band like Nirvana had so many imitators because they were easy to copy. They used a tuning that we helped popularise– the drop-D. Don’t get me wrong, I like Nirvana, they’re one of my favourite bands ever but, there are dozens of bands that sound like them, and I can’t stand listening to them, it’s annoying,” he laughed. “We’re a difficult band to copy because we frequently use odd time signatures and odd tunings for our guitars, and Chris has such an incredible range that it’s difficult for a singer to simply sound like us.”
Nirvana knock-offs aside, Thayil admits he’s a fan of music above all else. “Bands that do something innovative are the ones that I really love. The Dillinger Escape Plan is an amazing progressive hard-core metal band. They’re incredibly technical in the way they write songs and the way they play – much more so than we are. But they definitely cite us as influence and I’m very proud of that recognition because they’re an original band.
“Oh man, there are some amazing bands out there that I feel haven’t got the recognition they deserve,” Thayil continued. “The Melvins have been a fantastic influence on us. Over the years we’ve met the guys from Sleep, they’re a fantastic band. When they broke up they formed a band called High on Fire and another band called Om. Om is an incredibly creative band, and bands like Sunn O))). They’re an amazing doom-drone band that took inspiration from us and we met those guys a number of times and we’ve become good friends.”
Thayil says they’re calling on friends and fans to help them in compiling rare interviews, memorabilia, personal photos and bootleg audio or video for an up-coming Soundgarden documentary. “We’re really excited about working with Banger Films, they’ve a great body of work. They did ‘Beyond the Lighted Stage’ for Rush, ‘Super Duper Alice Cooper’ and the Iron Maiden story. Banger Films also worked on 12-part series for VH1, a 12-hour history of hard rock and heavy metal, so they’ve got a pretty strong background in documentary film-making and rumour is they’re going to do a Black Sabbath doco as well!
“Maybe you guys will get some good stuff when we come to Australia next month for Soundwave next month?” Thayil challenged. “It’s going to be so much fun! There’s a lot of amazing bands on the bill. There’s definitely a lot of old friends. We go back to the mid-’80s with Faith No More and they’ve been friends and supporters of ours for quite a long time. Of course Slash, we’ve with played with Guns and Roses a number of times and we’ve got in touch with him over the years and Chris played on his solo record. We’ve been fans of the Smashing Pumpkins and Marilyn Manson forever. Be part of Soundgarden history, go to [email protected] to contribute.
When & Where: Soundwave, Melbourne Showgrounds – February 21 & 22
Written by Natalie Rogers