ESIMS
Snakes
61x39
57 MM SNAKEBITES
SIMS
61 MM SNAKES
Interview by Michael Corcoran
Like Minneapolis, Athens and Austin
before it, Seattle is currently the city pegged
with having the most happening new music
scene in the country. Birthplace of Jimi Hen-
drix and hometown of such beamshakers as
Queensryche and Metal Church, Seattle has
long been a metal mecca. Blues have been
well-represented by Robert Cray and pop by
Heart and Young Fresh Fellows. Thanks to
the emergence of SubPop Records, the new
"Seattle Sound" is a highly-flammable mix
of metal and punk called "grunge." The
makers of this new strain of post-punk
include Mudhoney (ex-Green River), Nir-
vana, Tad, Cat Butt and Soundgarden.
The Garden's new Lp Louder Than Love
invents a new kind of hard, just as AC/DC
did 14 years ago. The power chords, heavy
riffs, screaming vocals and pounding bass
sound familiar to listeners of "classic rock,""
but this time around it's better, harder. Louder
Than Love is what you put on after a really
hot session as a companion to victorious
sweat. It makes you feel invincible, like the
theme from Rocky, only instead of raising
your arms in triumph, you want to swing your
hair around and pound some plywood.
Though I generally hate the favorite music
of white guys with dreadlocks, I do have to
agree with them on Soundgarden.
I recently ventured to Seattle and met with
Soundgarden's singer Chris Cornell, guitarist
Kim Thayil and brand new bass player Jason
Everman. Drummer Matt Cameron was at al
sound check for a band in which he moon-
lights. The reason none of the quotes below
are attributed to Jason is because he was
transfixed to a bootleg Slayer video during
the entire interview.
THRASHER: Do the comparisons to Led
Zeppelin bother you?
Chris Cornell: Boy, you don't waste time.
Interviewers usually wait until the third or
fourth question before they ask us about Led
Zeppelin. Yeah, the endless comparisons to
Led Zeppelin are starting to get to me. I think
a lot of that has to do with lazy critics who
read where one guy compares us to Led
Zeppelin, so they do too. Saves time.
Kim Thayil: The funny thing about all the
Zeppelin comparisons is that nobody in the
band is a big Led Zep fan. We're more into
Black Sabbath, Metallica, Kiss.
Cornell: I was never into Kiss. Alice Cooper
was my band. I remember in sixth grade,
every Friday the teachers would let kids bring
in their favorite records and they'd play them.
I brought in Billion Dollar Babies once and
they wouldn't let me play it. It was the first
time they had ever vetoed someone's choice
and it made me realize that certain rock and
roll music can scare the shit out of people.
Thayil: Kiss was the first band to make me
realize that there was a whole harder direc-
tion in rock besides the Beatles and the
Stones. Kiss was bubble gum in that they,
were cartoony and a lot of little kids liked
A garden of sound, a farm of hair (L to R): Chris Cornell, Jason Everman,
Matt Cameron, Kim Thayil.
them, but it was a sinister sort of bubble gum.
Kiss sure wasn't the Archies.
Cornell: I was into Bauhaus, Chrome, Killing
Joke. Everyone in the band was into Scratch
Acid and, closer to home, Green River.
Thayil: After they broke up, Green River splin-
tered into Mudhoney, which is a raw, cool
band and Mother Love Bone, which isn't..
Why is the Seattle scene so hot now?
Thayil: There are a lot of great bands here.
Plus, there's a real sense of community. You
look at what bands wear onstage-T-shirts
advertising their friends' bands. It's not all
cutthroat here, like in New York or L.A.
Cornell: SubPop Records has really made
the most difference. Because the liquor laws
here are so tight, clubs can't have all-ages
shows, so there isn't much of a club scene
at all. Maybe one night a week there's some-
one playing worth seeing. But because of
SubPop a lot of Seattle bands are being
heard all over the world. It's a lot easier for
Seattle bands to go on the road now because
being from Seattle means something. People
who have never heard of you will show up
because you're from Seattle..
Isn't one of the guys in Guns n' Roses
from Seattle?
Cornell: Yeah, Duff McKagan, the bass
player. He used to be in a band here called
Ten Minute Warning, which was really the
first band in town to cross metal and punk.
SOUNDGARDEN
Thayil: I remember the first time Guns n'
Roses played Seattle, the poster said "Guns
n' Roses" and then real big it said "Featur
ing Duff, from Ten Minute Warning."
Didn't Axl tout you in an interview?
Cornell: Yeah, he said I could blow him away
vocally. A&M wanted to use that quote in
some ads, but we didn't want them to. It
seemed like a goofy thing to do, you know.
to try and coast in on Axl's coattails.
Has it been difficult to deal with a major
label after releasing your last two records
on SST (Ultramega OK) and and SubPop
(Screaming Life)?
Cornell: Not really. We used our own pro-
ducer (Terry Date) and had complete control
over the recording, which was the main thing
to us. There have been a few minor head-
aches over such things as cover art.
Wasn't your album delayed six weeks
because the cover wasn't right?
Cornell: Let's talk about something else.
before I get sick. Ask us about Led Zep some
more, anything.
Okay, is it true that you got a perm so
you'd look more like Robert Plant?
Cornell: Yeah. I also go to an aging booth
twice a week, I've been reading books about
wizards, castles and swords, and I have big-
chested girls in halter tops to help me with
my lyrics.
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