Soundgarden are in the New Zealand to play Westfest 2015 at Auckland’s Mount Smart Stadium and, ahead of their headlining slot, Cameron spoke to Music 101's Sam Wicks about the struggles of being in two huge bands.
What's it like trying to balance two powerhouses like Pearl Jam and Soundgarden?
I'm not 25 anymore, and I don't really need to be out on the road as much as I have in the past. I definitely want to be home a lot more with my family ... I've got kids. And that's part of the equation too. I certainly don't want to trip anyone up. If it ever gets to that state, then we just have to sort of figure it out at that point. But so far it's been working out great. We're all been friends, and we've all been in bands for a long time. We all know that's the reality of our job at this point.
When Matt writes a song, how does he decide which band is the best fit for the song?
If there's a piece of music that has a little bit of a harder edge, I might thing that Soundgarden might like that, but there are other occasions where I bring in a piece of music that has a pretty hard edge to it and the Pearl Jam guys really like it too. I don't really try to differentiate what goes where. I just try to keep writing as much as I can, and try to present the guys with the best stuff that I'm coming up with at that given time. Pearl Jam likes to include one of my songs just to give it a different flavor, but as with Soundgarden I think my music sort of fits the overall sound of the band, but that's just because I've been doing it a little bit longer.
What did Kim Thayil think of You Are?
Ah man! We coulda killed that song!Sorry, Kim!
