Last November, Soundgarden took part in SiriusXM's Town Hall series, which featured an intimate Q&A and performance with the band for a handful of lucky spectators at New York City's legendary Electric Lady Studios. Below, watch the band discuss Johnny Cash's cover of "Rusty Cage," following be a performance of the Badmotorfinger classic.
In a recent Guitar World interview, guitarist Kim Thayil discussed the band's path to their new studio album, King Animal, which began with the band regrouping in order to take creative control of their online presence.
"I think it was in January 2010 that we restarted our fan club, put up a web page and began to develop a web site," said Thayil. "We were working on merchandising deals for T-shirts and posters and some of our records, and making them available online. Then we started in on the social media stuff. Because we had no e-presence. And all the rumors and interest that was generated from that led to offers for us to play live.
"It was just a matter of time before we got in a room together to jam. And that was fun. It went well. So it was, 'Let’s play a show.' We did a few shows and then we played Lollapalooza. And through performing and rehearsing, we naturally jammed and improvised and introduced riffs and ideas to one other. That stimulated the interest in writing and recording together. And now here we are."
Read the full interview here.
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Josh Hart is a former web producer and staff writer for Guitar World and Guitar Aficionado magazines (2010–2012). He has since pursued writing fiction under various pseudonyms while exploring the technical underpinnings of journalism, now serving as a senior software engineer for The Seattle Times.