Soundgarden – 2012 New Album Preview

Soundgarden fans will have much to celebrate in 2012 as they anticipate the release of the band’s first album in 16 years, tentatively set for a spring release.

In an interview with Billboard, frontman Chris Cornell talks about the new album and says, “It sounds to me exactly like it should sound — like we took a break and we got together and we’re making an album.” He goes on to say, “We've all had a decade-plus of more experience in writing and recording and took a long break... So it's very refreshing and it feels to me like the next logical step in Soundgarden, creatively."

It will be the band's first disc since 1996's 'Down on the Upside.' For the new album, the band got producer Adam Kasper (Pearl Jam, Queens of the Stone Age, Foo Fighters) to lend a helping hand.

With the wheels in motion for the new disc, guitarist Kim Thayil spoke with the 'Blog of New Orleans' about the band collaborating on what may be the first single off the new record. “If things are going the way we’ve been talking, one of the earliest songs we release will be a collaboration where we all wrote,” he divulges, adding, “It came about out of an idea [from drummer] Matt [Cameron]. We all contributed some music; Chris came up with the lyrics afterwards.”

Thayil also spoke to SeattleWeekly.com about how the band decided to reunite. "I have nooooo idea. I ask myself that question. I think it's one of those things that just fell back into our laps. We initially were attending to shared properties, both financial and legal, and from mainly there we realized there was an absence of online presence in terms of a web site or Facebook . . . we kind of had neglected our merchandise over the last decade.”

“Then Internet gossip led to promoters inquiring about our status and offering us shows and pretty good billings that we considered. So we got into a room together and jammed and enjoyed each other's company.” Thayil concludes. “Every time we got together to rehearse, it was good.”

Fans have been stoked about the reunion and are anticipating this long awaited new album. If you need your Chris Cornell fix immediately, don't fret. He recently released his album ‘Songbook’ on Nov. 21, which includes a mix of tracks from Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog, Audioslave and his solo releases.