AUDIOSLAVE Bassist: 'We Just Try To Be Better On Every Record'

Pat Douglas of the Great Falls Tribune recently conducted an interview with AUDIOSLAVE bassist Tim Commerford. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

On getting the band together immediately following an extensive tour to record the new album, "Revelations":

"It seems like whenever you're a band and you're playing music and you're on tour ... there's always something that impedes you from being able to go into the studio right after you've been on tour and make a record because that, ideally, would be the best time to do it. So, we did it. We knew we had a lot of songs that we had kind of started to work on and gotten some rough recordings of."

On the band's decision not to tour behind the release of "Revelations" and breakup rumors surrounding the new album:

"It bums me out [referring to the rumors — Ed.], to be honest with you. A break is kind of due. This is the first little bit of time in months where I've been able to just relax and enjoy my family and that sort of thing."

On his previous band RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE:

"I'm still really proud of RAGE as much as I am of AUDIOSLAVE. I still love it when I turn on the radio and I hear a RAGE song. I love that. I love that RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE is my other band, or was my other band."

"I'm just really proud of the fact that with AUDIOSLAVE, our sound is based on a completely different thing than RAGE. With RAGE, we wrote riff rock and had rap vocals, so we didn't really concern ourselves with melody for the most part. With AUDIOSLAVE, it's all about melody and chord progressions. It feels like this is the right direction to go."

On AUDIOSLAVE's work ethic and a penchant for regularly getting together to jam and record:

"It's sort of like a job. It's a way of utilizing the skills that we have to write songs and record 'em and put 'em on a tape. That's been our credo, don't waste any time. If we're gonna rehearse then we should have something to show from every rehearsal."

On his legendary tattoo is legendary, which covers his arms, upper chest, back, and shins:

"I love my tattoo and I think it looks great. It's like an old pair of jeans, it's beat up. I remember when I first got it outlined. I'm like 'why don't more guys do this?' Then I realized the pain. It was all about the pain and all about the fear of getting some sort of disease."

"There's scars and there's areas where you can see one person's style is not as good as another and you can see a patchwork of filling in."

On AUDIOSLAVE's future material:

"We just try to be better on every record. The next record will be a challenge to make a better record. I do believe this record is a perfect third record. I love the way it sounds. I love how we made it and I love the people we worked with. It's all good."

Read the entire interview at www.greatfallstribune.com.