Music

Soundgarden working on first new album in 15 years

by Ciaran Thompson

Since reuniting for a few shows last year, ’90s alternative rock alumni Soundgarden have decided to head back into the studio and give it another go. Most recently, drummer Matt Cameron revealed to Billboard that the Seattle quartet will be in the studio this week working on 12-14 new songs they’ve written over the past few months.

“There’s a little bit of evolution going on with some of this new music, but we’re not straying too far from the formula,” Cameron said. “It has all our signature elements and more. I think people are going to really love it.”

While the majority of the songs were written during the band’s recent sessions, which started in early December, some of the new tracks contain parts that go all the way back to their last album, Down on the Upside from 1996.

“We’ve tried to update the super-old stuff,” he added. “It doesn’t sound too old and dusty and crusty to my ears, but maybe to someone else it will. I think guitar-based music is not really as popular as it has been in the past, so it might sound kind of out of date or out of tune with what’s going on right now. Or it might be a breath of fresh air to have an unabashedly loud guitar band out there.”

No word yet on when we’ll get our hands on the new studio album, but the band’s first concert recordLive on 15 is set to come out March 22.