8/5/2023 0 Comments Pearl drumsOne thing I did accomplish on the new Soundgarden record is that the drum parts are pretty musical in a way that I haven’t done in the past.” I’ve always strived to make it more musical over the years. I’m not always impressed by what my drum track sounds like. But when I break my drumming down it is pretty basic. I’ve always strived to be musical in that sense. “Obviously, I don’t play jazz, but that has always been an influence on the way that I play. “The jazz greats knew exactly how to incorporate every part of the kit and create that type of feeling with space and rests,” Cameron says. King Animal blasts off with the raging “Been Away Too Long,” goes dreamy on “Halfway There,” enters odd-metered terrain on “Non-State Actor,” dropkicks unusual rests and accents in Cameron’s “By Crooked Steps,” creates a fusion Irish jig on “A Thousand Days Before,” brings out the black sludge on “Blood On The Valley Floor” and the gorgeously terminal “Bones Of Birds,” and gets experimental on Cameron’s oddball “Eyelid’s Mouth.” Throughout, Cameron’s grooves uplift the music like an eagle wearing metal boots and a paramilitary jazz trench coat. Accompanying vocalist and guitarist Chris Cornell, guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Ben Shepherd, Cameron extends his trademarsk “dynamics, pauses, and surges” in a great set of new material that has the band sounding like they never left. That’s been a real effective way for me to create a drum part or how a percussion part might add to a drum part or how the drums are fitting with a guitar pattern or if I’m accenting the guitar pattern too much or not enough.” Coming HomeĬameron does all this and more on Soundgarden’s first album in 15 years and a stunning return to form, King Animal. “That approach does require analysis and I’ve done most of that in home recording. “As a drummer I’ve always strived to play music and not just play chops over a song,” he adds. He performs with all the gut-ripping power associated with the Seattle scene of the ’90s but within a unique style that is pure art. On every song Cameron plays with manic majestic intent – this guy delivers serious punch and power – while crafting insanely clever parts that push and prod rhythmically yet always establish an undeniable sense of air, space, and propulsion. Cameron’s drumming in such epic Soundgarden tracks (21 million units sold) as “Slaves And Bulldozers,” “Jesus Christ Pose,” “Holy Water,” “Let Me Down,” “Fell On Black Days,” “Rusty Cage,” and the band’s 1994 masterpiece, “Black Hole Sun,” is the quintessential drumming beast of brains and brawn. Though his work in fellow Seattle stalwarts Pearl Jam shines brightly, Cameron’s classic Soundgarden drumming established him as a major rhythmic stylist (he’s also composed many songs for Soundgarden and Pearl Jam). That’s what turned me on initially to Soundgarden – there’s a fusion element to the music that I’ve always loved.” He had a way of playing a beat solidly but the placement was wicked. I copped his snare drum sound, and a lot of his snare patterns – those fives and sevens. Listening to a lot of Bruford prepared me supremely to play in Soundgarden. And Bruford’s first solo album, Feels Good To Me, with ’Beelzebub.’ The sound of his drums on that record is just mind-blowing. “For Bruford,” he continues, “I loved Discipline, later era King Crimson. There were so many amazing studio drummers from the ’70s, man. And Stewart Copeland and Steve Gadd and Jeff Porcaro and the studio greats. But I’ve always been drawn to that type of odd time signature music. The way that everything lines up isn’t as hard as it sounds for me. It’s always made sense even though it’s not always in 4/4 time. That’s what Soundgarden music has always sounded like in my head. “The music is giving me all the cues to set up the sections and make sure there’s a constant element of underlying meter. “I’m always following the music,” the 50-year-old says from his home north of Seattle. Renowned for his brainy but ultimately slam-headed drumming which slithers through Soundgarden’s odd-metered rhythms and even odder melodic phrases while his bandmates explore unique tunings and unconventional harmonies in some of the greatest rock of the past 30 years, Matt Cameron is a master of taste, a master of space, and a master of adaptation.
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