There's no way to be a 30-year-old band, go on tour, and pretend the nostalgia isn't happening.
One of the Robinson brothers from the Black Crowes turned me on to Nick Drake.
I rejected most of the folk I was exposed to in the Seventies. I came around later to Tom Waits, some parts of Jim Croce, and a lot of Cat Stevens.
'Superunknown,' maybe more than most albums, didn't reveal itself to be what it was until the very end - literally until we were three quarters of the way through mixing it.
I never felt bad about being lumped in with other Seattle bands. I thought it was great.
Music is supposed to be inspired.
It's good for me to be involved in different things.
'Superunknown' was one of the most dramatic shifts in what we were doing musically. I don't think I realized it at the time.
Fans should be encouraged that I want to try different things.
In the beginning of Audioslave, I was very honest. I said, 'We make great albums and write great albums - but don't be under the impression I'm going to be a lyricist that writes anything other than what strikes me as inspiring in the moment.' The lyrics weren't going to be focused politically.
Audioslave was something that I felt had become a career decision. It became three albums over a period of years touring with a specific group of people.
A band that makes records and tours is also a business. That's usually where a lot of disagreements come. It's four guys who are musicians and don't really know much about business, but are very passionate and have very specific ideas.
You can't always make out the words I sing with Soundgarden.
When you have four guys in a room writing songs, it different. It's great - that's what makes a band a band. Audioslave was great.
Bands work in a way where everyone, at some point, has to have a similar idea of how you do things.
When I did the solo acoustic tour in 2010, I fell in love with that kind of performance.
When I started writing songs for Temple of the Dog, I went to my room with my acoustic guitar, and I was happy staying in that mode. It was more chordal based and more lyric driven. I enjoyed not making riff-based songs built around a guitar idea.
The first time I ever went to Hawaii, I was listening to island music, thinking, 'I could've been born here, and I'm pretty sure I would never play that.'
I used to hate playing Seattle shows.
There's something about that blind trust between Timbaland and me - two people that have almost nothing in common except for a love of music - that is really rejuvenating.
