Audioslave
Audioslave was a hard rock supergroup that consisted of the former instrumentalists of Rage Against the Machine: Tom Morello (guitar), Tim Commerford (bass and back-up vocals), and Brad Wilk (drums), together with Chris Cornell (former lead vocalist & rhythm guitarist of Soundgarden) as their lead singer. The band formed after the break-up of Rage Against the Machine.
On February 15, 2007, Chris Cornell issued a statement that he was leaving, putting the band's future into question.[1][2]
The band's history dates back to October 2000, after Rage Against the Machine broke up when lead vocalist Zack de la Rocha left the band. The other three members of the band decided to stay together, planning to continue as a trio under the "Rage" name. Several vocalists jammed with the band at this time, including B-Real of Cypress Hill and Maynard James Keenan of Tool. Music producer Rick Rubin later suggested that they jam with Cornell and "see what happens".[citation needed] The chemistry between the singer and the three musicians became immediately apparent, and they began work in the studio in May 2001, writing 21 songs in 19 days (the first of which was "Light My Way" and the third being "Set It Off").
After the name was announced, it emerged that it was already being used by an unsigned band from Liverpool. The two bands worked out a settlement, with the U.S. band paying $30,000 in a deal that allowed each band to use the name. Part of the agreement was that each band was to be true to its own identity when marketing and promoting recordings or concerts.
Allegations that they argued during production are not entirely unfounded; the group broke up in April 2002, before they had even released an album. Under the tentative name "Civilian" (or "The Civilian Project"), 14 rough demo tracks were leaked onto various peer-to-peer filesharing networks around the same time as their pre-Audioslave breakup, confirming any rumors of the new RATM/Chris Cornell formation. The most notorious aspect of their temporary dissolution came that summer after the band cancelled their appearance in the popular annual rock festival Ozzfest. Subsequent interviews with the band revealed that early problems had been partly due to external pressures which were resolved when the band members sacked their previous management companies and hired Los Angeles-based company The Firm.
Once that was completed, the Audioslave moniker was chosen by the band, and in August 2002, Audioslave's first single, "Cochise", was released, named for the famous American Indian chief, the last to die free and unconquered. Later in the fall, they would go on to release their debut, self-titled album on November 19, 2002.
The group's first studio album, Audioslave has attained triple platinum-selling status. Some lambasted the group as millionaire musicians who constantly argued during album production, and whose 1970s rock sound is primarily the result of post-studio modification. Others compared them to Led Zeppelin, saying they added much-needed sound and style to contemporary mainstream music. They toured extensively worldwide in 2003, gaining largely positive reviews for their live performances, including overshadowing the headlining "reunited" Jane's Addiction at that year's version of Lollapalooza.
-- wikipedia.org
PHOTOS |
