(RockAAA) Soundgarden are getting set for their month-long North American summer tour, which kicks off July 2 in Toronto. The live dates give the band a break from the studio, as the reunited unit continues work on new music."We're recording. We're kind of doing it in stages," guitarist Kim Thayil tells Stereogum. "We have about 14 songs in various stages of completion. Previously, we'd just block out a bunch of time and go and track everything at once, but we can't really do that right now. Matt [Cameron] has commitments to Pearl Jam, Chris [Cornell] has a solo tour happening and Soundgarden is touring in July. So we do the studio thing around those other engagements, which actually is turning out to be a lot better for us. It takes the pressure off in some ways. It's not like, OK you've got three weeks and everything needs to get done in those three weeks. We can work at our own pace right night and take things one step at a time. We're really enjoying it. We don't have a record company or management pressuring us to hurry up, so we can really savor the process this time."
It's still early in the project, but Thayil shares his thoughts on the new material. "The vibe of the songs is definitely very heavy," says the guitarist. "We've always tried to explore how to make this really heavy, aggressive music without sounding like a bunch of knuckle-dragging meatheads. I think these songs are kind of exploring that idea. more on this story
