Kim Thayil

At 63 years old, Kim Thayil has this physical status:

Kim A. Thayil (born September 4, 1960) is an American musician best known as the lead guitarist of Seattle-based rock band Soundgarden, which he cofounded with singer Chris Cornell and bassist Hiro Yamamoto in 1984.

Thayil was named by Rolling Stone in 2010 as the 100th best guitarist of all time and the 67th greatest guitarist of all time by SPIN in 2012.

Childhood and early life

Thayil was born in Seattle in 1960 and grew up in Park Forest, Chicago's suburban suburb. His parents moved from Kerala, India, to Seattle. Shanti Thayil, his mother, trained to be a concert pianist at the Royal Academy of Music. Boniface Thayil's father earned a degree in chemical engineering, worked in Chicago, and then moved with his family to Chicago.

Thayil began writing lyrics at the age of 12. He formed Bozo And The Pinheads, a punk rock band in Chicago, in 1977. They performed original songs (mostly the Sex Pistols, Devo and the Ramones), as well as cover tunes (mainly Thayil and inspired by his punk music tastes). They appeared at a school talent showcase for a small audience of about 500 people for their first gig.

In 1980, he played guitar in a post-punk band called Identity Crisis, and "Pretty Feet" was released as a 7" inch EP.

Hiro Yamamoto, a student at Rich East High School in Park Forest, met Thayil. He graduated from the Active Learning Process School (ALPS) at Rich East High School in 1979, the same school Bruce Pavitt attended two years ago. He and Yamamoto decided to go to Olympia, Washington, to study at The Evergreen State College, but they were unable to find jobs and decided to relocate to Seattle. Thayil earned a degree in philosophy at the University of Washington and served as a DJ for KCMU. Chris Cornell, a roommate, was also present in Seattle, and the threesome formed Soundgarden in 1984.

Soundgarden became the first of Seattle's grunge bands to sign with a major label (A&M Records). They went on to record five albums, three of which went platinum at least once and two others received two Grammy Awards.

Thayil's guitar work, which was often characterized by heavy riffing, was praised by other grunge guitarists as a source of "Seattle Sound," and a pillar of the "Seattle Sound." "I think Soundgarden is a good band and I'm a good guitarist," Thayil said in 1994. I'm not God, but I'm certainly not average. I'm pretty sure that not many others will do what I do on guitar. I think my guitar is content with the way I play it."

Thayil's time as a writer as a writer led to just one song on Down on the Upside, "Never the Machine Forever," as did every band member. "Collaboration was vital in our early music, especially right at the start when it was me on guitar, Hiro on bass, and Chris on drums," Thayil said, but eventually, all four members became songwriters on their own, "all writing guitar parts I had to understand." Thayil wrote "Never the Machine Forever" on his own, leading to him to do "Never the Machine Forever" on his own.

He has written the following songs for the band as a member of Soundgarden.

Johnny Cash, bassist Krist Novoselic of Nirvana, and drummer Sean Kinney of Alice in Chains were among Willie Nelson's "Time of the Preacher" who appeared on Willie Nelson's tribute album Twisted Willie, which was released in January 1996.

Thayil continued to play guitar for work by Pigeonhed and Presidents of the United States of America following the 1997 breakup of Soundgarden. He performed guitar on the track "Blood Swamp" from the 2006 Sunn O)/Boris album Altar, where he also wrote liner notes. On a track called "V.O.G." Thayil also plays lead guitar. Gentry Densley (Iceburn, Eagle Twin) and Greg Anderson (Sunn O) are among Ascend's featured artists (Sunn O)) (Sunn O)) is a wiki about Goatsnake's voyage (Iceburn, Eagle Twin) and Greg Anderson (Sunn O)). Ample Fire Within, Ascend's debut, was released in 2008 by Southern Lord Records.

Thayil formed the No WTO Combo in 1999, with Jello Biafra (formerly of Dead Kennedys), Krist Novoselic (formerly of Nirvana), and Gina Mainwal (also of Sweet 75). The band was formed to commemorate and promote rampant opposition to the WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999, which took place on November 30, 1999. Originally scheduled to perform at The Showbox on the evening, but police barred the band from doing so, causing the performance to be postponed for the following night. This was Thayil's first live concert since Soundgarden's demise. Mark Cavener and mixed by Soundgarden producer Jack Endino; the show was released as the album Live from the Battle in Seattle in May 2000.

Thayil #100 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 greatest guitarists of all time" in 2003.

Thayil appeared on Probot, Dave Grohl's heavy metal band, in 2004; he appeared on the songs "Ice Cold Man" and "Sweet Dreams."

Thayil appeared on Almost Live! During "The Lame List" segments, a sketch comedy show called things "lame."

Thayil appeared with Soundgarden's Matt Cameron and Ben Shepherd at a Seattle show on March 24, 2009, when Tom Morello's The Nightwatchman headlined it. It was the first time the three members had performed together in public since the band's 1997 breakup. Tad Doyle of fellow 1990s Seattle band TAD joined the three musicians, who also performed three Soundgarden songs. They were joined by Tom Morello for the last song (Spoonman) (Morello had performed the song before with Audioslave). Thayil has worked with Greg Gilmore of Mother Love Bone and Danny Kelly of Heliotrope in the group Set & Setting. They debuted in Olympia, Washington, on October 31, 2009, above the renowned K Records warehouse now known as the Cherry Street Loft ("The Loft on Cherry).

Chris Cornell's official Soundgarden fanclub had been revived on January 1, 2010. Soundgarden will stage its first show since 1997 at the Showbox in Seattle's downtown on April 15, 2010. 'Nudedragons', an anagram for Soundgarden, was used by the band.

The band appeared at The Vic Theatre in Chicago on August 5, 2010. Three days later, they headlined Lollapalooza's last night in Grant Park, on August 8, 2010.

The band's compilation album Telephantasm was released in September 2010. King Animal was the first studio album since 1996, and it was released in November 2012.

Thayil played a character in Season IV: Church of the Black Klok's "Dethcamp" in the Adult Swim original series Metalocalypse in 2012.

Chris Cornell was discovered dead in his hotel room on May 18, 2017, dropping the remainder of their tour and disbanding the band, with the exception of their one-off performance of Tribute to Chris Cornell in January 2019.

Wayne Kramer, the original member of the proto punk band MC5, announced in March 2018 that Thayil would perform guitar, together with Brendan Canty of Fugazi, Doug Pinnick of King's X, and Marcus Durant of Zen Guerrilla.

Thayil performed guitar solos on the album "The Firebird" for the jazz fusion band, the Barret Martin Group, in 2020. Kim Thayil played lead guitar and Matt Cameron performed drums on the new Pretty Reckless album's track "Only Love Can Save Me Now." Taylor Momsen, a pretty front woman, said that without Thayil, recording the track would have been impossible," says Taylor, "Kim is a master – there is no one like him."

Thayil, Krist Novoselic, Jennifer Johnson, Jillian Raye, Jeff Fielder, and Ben Smith performed the song "Drone" at the Seattle Museum of Pop Culture in December 2020.

Thayil appeared on Mastodon's double album Hushed and Grim in 2021, playing lead guitar on the track "Had It All."

The 3rd Secret formed in 2021, with drummer Matt Cameron, bassist Krist Novoselic, guitarist Bubba Dupree, and singer Jillian Raye. They self-titled debut album, which they recorded at The Bait Shop in Bellevue, Washington with producer Jack Endino, was released in April 2022. The group also appeared at the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle.

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