Soundgarden - King Animal

OK, so is anyone else as equally stoked to see some new material from grunge legends SOUNDGARDEN?!

“We got together and jammed—we just let the music dictate to us before committing to or planning anything.  If it still wasn’t there, I can honestly say this album wouldn’t have happened. It is still there and I’m just happy to be back playing music with friends that I enjoy the intimate sharing of ideas with.” -Thayil

November 13th, 2012 seems to be the date set (somewhat) in stone for the 6th full album release via Universal Republic Records.  Now since this is all still quite fresh for the online world, this article will be updates once new information comes in (singles, music videos, etc).  

"We were never the party band, or even a particularly social band. We were always really just hard workers and a kind of musician’s band." -Kim Thayil

For now...

Track Listing:

1. Been Away Too Long

2. Non-State Actor

3. By Crooked Steps

4. A Thousand Days Before

5. Blood On The Valley Floor

6. Bones of Birds

7. Taree

8. Attrition

9. Black Saturday

10. Halfway There

11. Worse Dreams

12. Eyelid’s Mouth

13. Rowing

Pre-orders are starting to happen over at Amazon.

"A lot of times bands re-form, and people have changed in ways that might be negative, and you're just fighting to be able to play the music with some degree of efficiency. We're not that." - Chris Cornell

(Photo courtesy of Soundgarden Facebook)

"We're not going electronic, there's no loops, no computers, none of that kind of stuff. It's still humans playing instruments; just it's more mature humans." -Matt Cameron

And HOLY SHIT!  The single is here folks, titled "Been Away Too Long", as well as a brand new lyric video for the track "Non-State Actor":

"It re-establishes that we still rock, we're still heavy, and we're still a little weird." -Kim Thayil

Now for some new news to add to the feed.  Soundgarden have announced another single for release (track #3, "By Crooked Steps").  So far, no sign of it hitting the online world, but Cameron and Cornell had the chance to sit down and share some thoughts on both "By Crooked Steps" and "Been Away Too long", which you can check out below:



In the last 30 seconds of “By Crooked Steps,” the solo guitar wanders into a tonal frontier that sounds a little like Tom Morello with his DigiTech Whammy. How did you get that trippy, atmospheric effect?

"I’m using the Trini Lopez. It has a lot of room to play the strings behind the bridge, and when you do that while bending notes on the fretboard you get this really weird effect. If I pick a note and rub the strings with my thumb or the side of my hand, I get this ringing, buzzing sub-harmonic. What you hear at the end of the song is me rubbing the strings to get the ringing effect, adding a long delay, and then cranking the high end on my amp to push it to a real shrill squeal—like a dentist drill—on top of me picking some intermittent notes." -Kim Thayil (interview with Premier Guitar)



"It's the stress that I feel about not wanting them to have to go through those things, but obviously knowing it's gonna happen." -Cornell



"The music has had a certain quality that people like just because it's a real true expression of how we are as musicians." -Matt Cameron

And only to add more to this article, Soundgarden dropped their debut music video for the hit single "Been Away Too Long" along with their freshly announced tour dates for 2013:



January: 
18 - Washington, DC - DAR Constitution Hall 
19 - Upper Darby, PA - Tower Theatre 
20 - Boston, MA - Orpheum Theatre 
22 - New York, NY - Hammerstein Ballroom 
23 - New York, NY - Hammerstein Ballroom 
25 - Toronto, ON - Sound Academy 
26 - Toronto, ON - Sound Academy 
27 - Detroit, MI - The Fillmore 
29 - Chicago, IL - Riviera Theater 
30 - Chicago, IL - Riviera Theater 



February: 
1 - Milwaukee, WI - Eagles Ballroom 
2 - Minneapolis, MN - Orpheum Theatre 
6 - Portland, OR - Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall 
7 - Seattle, WA - Paramount Theater 
8 - Seattle, WA - Paramount Theater 
10 - Vancouver, BC - Queen Elizabeth Theatre 
12 - Oakland, CA - Fox Theatre 
13 - Oakland, CA - Fox Theatre 
15 - Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern 
16 - Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern