A Screaming Life: Into the Superunknown with Soundgarden and Beyond is Kim Thayil's first book. A memoir from the guitarist who co-founded Soundgarden. It's published by HarperCollins, written together with Adem Tepedelen, and it had been on our radar from the moment we heard it existed.
Since our t-shirt production is based in Seattle, which means I'm there every few months anyway, I lined my travel up with the two events set up around the book's promotion. I'm not a journalist. I knew that going in, and I didn't try to pretend otherwise. So instead of guessing at smart questions, I did the legwork: I watched the podcasts and interviews other people in my circle had already done with Kim, and ruled out anything that had already been asked. Then I sat down with the book's co-author and we talked for a long time about how the book actually came together — that conversation is where a lot of my real questions came from. After that, I asked a mutual friend of ours to help me out, mostly fishing for insider jokes, because more than anything I wanted the conversation to be light and funny, not another formal Q&A.
The signing event was so great. So many people showed up in 90 tees that day...So many people showed up in 90 tees that day. If you were one of them: thank you. Seeing the shirt out in the world like that, on people who chose to wear it to come meet Kim, made me so proud I genuinely don't have better words for it. I wish I'd taken a photo with every single one of you. I didn't, because I was too nervous — and now you know exactly why.
Once the store closed and it was just few of us, surrounded by crates of vinyl. I asked Kim the questions I'd spent days putting together. Here's what they were, and how he answered.
The full interview is live now on YouTube — influences, the Pearl Jam question, the lightning round, all of it. A Screaming Life: Into the Superunknown with Soundgarden and Beyond is available now at 90theoriginal.com.
To everyone who showed up at Easy Street in a 90 tee — this one's for you too.
— Anita
