SOUNDGARDEN Guitarist Says New Album Won't Surface Before 2012

Dean Goodman of Reuters recently conducted an interview with guitarist Kim Thayil of reunited grunge legends . A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On how the members of SOUNDGARDEN remained good friends during the band's 13-year hiatus:

"Any acrimony was toward the band as a collective, not toward any individual. We're just too interconnected, going back to the '80s with so many mutual friends and family in common."

On singer Chris Cornell's cryptic tweet on the first day of 2010 about the relaunch of the band's website and merchandising efforts, which was misinterpreted as a reunion announcement:

"I spent a lot of time on the phone with my mom. 'Are you going to believe what someone told you they saw on the Internet? Or are you going to believe what your son told you? ... We're not back together.'"

On playing a handful of shows last year including the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago:

"There never was a time when we said, 'Hey we're a band again.' But I think some time last fall ... we realized we're doing all the things that a band does now, not just designing a website."

On SOUNDGARDEN's first new album since 1996's "Down On The Upside", which will likely surface next year:

"If we were to say, 'Let's get this record out by the fall', I think it would put a lot of pressure on us and the quality would at some point suffer. And the more we enjoy it, the more our fans should end up enjoying it."

On SOUNGARDEN's uncertain future:

"The band is definitely handling its career situation in a lot freer way than it did before. The way we're doing it is diminished pressure for us. Probably consequently, maybe it's diminished expectation!"

Read the entire interview from Reuters.