Kim Thayil

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Kim Thayil
Thayil (left) with Kim Warnick of The Fastbacks, 2007
Background information
Born	September 4, 1960 (1960-09-04) (age 49) Seattle, Washington, US
Genres	Alternative metal, grunge, alternative rock, heavy metal
Instruments	Guitar
Years active	1984 - present
Labels	A&M Records SST Records Sub Pop
Associated acts	Soundgarden No WTO Combo Probot Dark Load

Kim Thayil (born September 4, 1960 in Seattle, Washington) is an Indian-American guitarist best known as member of the Seattle-based grunge band Soundgarden, which he cofounded with singer Chris Cornell and bassist Hiro Yamamoto in 1984. Thayil was named 100^th best guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone Magazine.

Early life

Although he was born in Seattle in 1960, Thayil grew up in the Chicago suburb of Park Forest. Thayil's parents are from the Indian state of Kerala.

Thayil met Hiro Yamamoto at Rich East High School in Park Forest. After graduation, they moved to Washington, where Thayil studied philosophy at the University of Washington. There they met Chris Cornell, a roommate, and the three formed Soundgarden in 1984.

Soundgarden (1984-1997)

Soundgarden became the first of Seattle's grunge bands to sign with a major label (A&M Records). They went on to release five albums, including three which went platinum at least once, and win two Grammys.

Thayil became acclaimed for his guitar work, which was typically characterized by heavy riffing, and was cited among other grunge guitarists as an influence and a pioneer of the "Seattle Sound." In 1994, Thayil commented, "I think Soundgarden is a pretty good band and I'm a fine guitarist. I'm not God, but I'm certainly not average. I feel very comfortable with the fact that not many other people can do what I do on guitar. I think my guitar is happy with the way I play it."

During the recording sessions for Soundgarden's final album, Down on the Upside, Thayil clashed with Cornell over the vocalist's desire to shift away from Soundgarden's traditional heavy riffing. In the midst of these tensions, which increased on the subsequent tour and came to climax at a show in Hawaii (where Ben Shepherd flung his bass into the air in frustration after suffering from several technical failures), Soundgarden announced that it was disbanding in April 1997.

Originally one of Soundgarden's main songwriters, Thayil's contributions as a writer eventually dwindled to just one song on Down on the Upside, "Never the Machine Forever." While a member of Soundgarden, he wrote the following songs for the band:

After Soundgarden (1997-present)

After the demise of Soundgarden, Thayil went on to contribute guitar to work by Pigeonhed and Presidents of the United States of America. More recently, he contributed guitar to the track "Blood Swamp" from the 2006 SunnO)))/Boris album Altar, for which he also wrote liner notes. Thayil also plays lead guitar on a track called "V.O.G." by Ascend, which features Gentry Densley (Iceburn, Eagle Twin) and Greg Anderson (Sunn O))), Engine Kid, Goatsnake). Ascend's record, titled Ample Fire Within, was released in 2008 by Southern Lord Records.

In 1999, Thayil formed a punk band, the No WTO Combo, with Jello Biafra (formerly of Dead Kennedys), Krist Novoselic (formerly of Nirvana, at the time a member of Sweet 75), and Gina Mainwal (also of Sweet 75). The band was formed to celebrate and further the rampant protest activity against the WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999, which was held on November 30, 1999. Originally scheduled to play at the Showbox on that same evening, police prevented the band from doing so, forcing the show to be rescheduled for the following night. This was Thayil's first live concert since the breakup of Soundgarden. The show was recorded by Mark Cavener and mixed by Soundgarden producer Jack Endino; it was released as the album Live from the Battle in Seattle in May 2000.

In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine named Thayil #100 on the list of the "100 greatest guitarists of all time".^[1]

In 2004, Thayil played guitar for Probot, Dave Grohl's heavy metal side-project; he was featured on the songs "Ice Cold Man" and "Sweet Dreams."

Thayil was a recurring participant on the Almost Live! sketch comedy show, calling things "lame" during "The Lame List" segments.

In 2009, Thayil played with Soundgarden's Matt Cameron and Ben Shepherd at a show in Seattle on March 24, 2009 at the Crocodile Cafe that was headlined by Tom Morello's The Nightwatchman. It was the first time the three had played together in public since the band's 1997 breakup. The three were joined by Tad Doyle of fellow '90s Seattle band TAD, and performed three Soundgarden songs. For the last song (Spoonman) they were joined by Tom Morello. Thayil is currently playing with Greg Gilmore of Mother Love Bone and Danny Kelly of Heliotroupe in the group Set & Setting. Their debut performance was October 31st 2009 Above the famed K Records warehouse now known as the Cherry St. Loft in Olympia Washington.

Gear

Early years

Guitars: Guild_s-100
Amplifier: Bass Ampeg mesa boogie w/15" speaker
Effects: Jim Dunlop Crybaby wah, MXR chorus

Badmotorfinger

Guitars: Guild_s-100, Gibson Les Paul Custom Lite, Gibson Firebird
Amplifiers: Peavey VTM-120, Music Man HD130, Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier
Effects: To get the heavy sound in studio, many guitar tracks were layered and panned to add the body that was lacking from previous albums.

Superunknown

Guitars: Guild_s-100, Gibson Les Paul, Fender Telecaster, Gibson SG
Amplifiers: Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifiers, Mesa Boogie 50-watt Mavericks, an old Fender Super, a Fender Princeton, Fender Twin Reverbs and Vibro-Kings, and an old Orange head.
Effects: Intellitronics LA-2 and Summit DIs. (To get him to play most comfortably, Thayil's living room couch was brought into the studio, as per an article published in the May 1994 issue of Guitar World)

Down on the Upside

Guitars: Guild_s-100, Diet Gibson Les Paul, Fender Telecaster, Fender Jazzmaster, Gibson SG.
Amplifiers: Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifiers
Effects: Jim Dunlop Crybaby wah, Colorsound wah, Jim Dunlop Rotovibe, Mu-Tron

Discography

Soundgarden

• Screaming Life (1987)
• Fopp (1988)
• Ultramega OK (1988)
• Louder Than Love (1989)
• Screaming Life/Fopp (1990)
• Loudest Love (1990)
• Badmotorfinger (1991/1992)
• Superunknown (1994)
• Songs from the Superunknown (1995)
• Down on the Upside (1996)
• A-Sides (1997)

No WTO Combo

• Live from the Battle in Seattle (2000)

Probot

• Probot (2004)

Footnotes