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Audioslave

Audioslave is a rock supergroup consisting of Chris Cornell (former frontman of Soundgarden) and the former instrumentalists of Rage Against the Machine, Tom Morello (guitar), Tim Commerford (bass), and Brad Wilk (drums). As with Rage Against the Machine, the band prides itself on the fact that all sounds are produced using only vocals, guitar, bass guitar, and drums. They never use keyboards, synthesizers, or samples.

History

Formation (2000–2001)

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 seminal hard rock band stayed 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". The chemistry clicked between the singer and the three musicians, 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").

Audioslave (2002–2003)

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, drew mixed reactions from critics but has since 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.

Out of Exile (2004–2005)

After spending some time off in 2004, they returned in fall of the same year to record the follow-up. In early Spring 2005, Audioslave announced that their follow-up album was completed and would see release that summer. As a special treat to fans who did not see them on Lollapalooza, the band secretly booked a small club tour to promote their upcoming album. On this tour, the band began performing songs from their previous bands, including Soundgarden's "Spoonman", "Outshined", and "Black Hole Sun", Rage Against The Machine's "Bulls on Parade", "Sleep Now in the Fire", and "Killing in the Name" as well as several new songs, including "Your Time Has Come", "Be Yourself", "Doesn't Remind Me", "The Worm", and "Man Or Animal". Overwhelmingly positive reviews concluded that this was undeniably a great experience for fans to see a multi-platinum selling band in venues so tiny.

On May 31, 2005, Audioslave became the first American rock group to perform a concert in Cuba, playing for free in front of an audience of 70,000. The concert was organized with the joint authorization of the United States Department of the Treasury and the Instituto Cubano de la Musica. This concert was recorded, and released on DVD on October 11, 2005. It came in two versions, a basic package consisting of only the DVD, and a deluxe edition consisting of a DVD and a CD of the Sessions@AOL.

Their second album, Out of Exile, was released on May 24, 2005. It debuted #1 on the U.S. charts, and featured the song "Be Yourself" as the leading single. "Be Yourself" was soon followed by "Your Time Has Come" and "Doesn't Remind Me", the latter given rave reviews and frequent radio airplay. The fourth single, "Out of Exile", also received moderate to high airplay on radio nationwide. The whole album was uploaded online at Audioslave's Myspace site for previewing. Critics did note Cornell's stronger vocals on Audioslave's second disc, likely the result of his quitting smoking and drinking.

That summer Audioslave performed at the Live 8 concerts. Their performance was in Berlin, Germany. On August 19, 2005, Audioslave announced their first-ever headlining arena tour across the U.S. and Canada. Audioslave were nominated for the 2006 Grammy Awards in the "Best Hard Rock Performance" category for their song "Doesn't Remind Me".

In 2006, video game company Empire Interactive announced that two songs from Out of Exile, "Your Time Has Come" and "Man Or Animal", would be featured on its racing game, FlatOut 2.

Revelations (2006–present)

The band wasted no time, soon recording their next album Revelations. They hired producer Brendan O'Brien, who had worked with acts including Rage Against The Machine, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Incubus, and Bruce Springsteen. Audioslave had 20 songs written and returned to the studio in early January to finish recording them. As the bulk was sampled during their 2005 tour, the recording process took only 6 weeks. Revelations was released on September 5. The album is said to have a number of songs influenced by old-school R&B and Soul, with guitarist Tom Morello describing the album as a cross between Led Zeppelin and Earth, Wind & Fire. Several of the songs on the new album, such as "Wide Awake" and "Sound of a Gun", take a more overtly liberal political stance than previous Audioslave releases. "Original Fire" the first single from the effort, was directed by P.R. Brown between July 3-July 7 and released July 17. On July 11, the song was made available online on Audioslave's official website for free streaming.

Two songs from the new album are prominently featured in Michael Mann's summer film, Miami Vice, and the title song "Revelations" is also featured on the soundtrack for the EA Sports football title Madden '07.

With first-timer Wilk and Chris Cornell both having kids this year, Tom Morello told Launch Radio Networks that it has been difficult to plan a supporting tour for the new album: "Currently we've got, Chris has a brand new baby, Brad has a baby, so it's really more of a nursery than a touring apparatus right now," he said. "So I'm not certain, we don't have shows booked yet, but hopefully in the not too distant future we will" [1]. Touring is likely to begin early-mid in 2007; Chris Cornell also has a solo album in line for February-March release.[citation needed]

Solo projects

Lead singer Chris Cornell released a solo album, Euphoria Morning, during the time between his leaving Soundgarden and forming Audioslave. Cornell recorded "You Know My Name", the theme song to the James Bond film, Casino Royale, and will provide a song for the upcoming Lionsgate thriller Bug. He will release his second solo album in 2007. [1]

Guitarist Tom Morello also performs solo under the name The Nightwatchman, though he has yet to release or announce a solo album. It was recently announced on Billboard that Morello is going to release his first album One Man Revolution under the Nightwatchman moniker in April 24. The 13-track set was produced by Brendan O'Brien and sports more acoustic-based compositions than his work in Audioslave and Rage Against the Machine.

Bassist Tim Commerford and Drummer Brad Wilk have recently been in the studio together recording some Bass/Drums only tracks. Currently there is no word on a CD release.

Name

Tom Morello described the origin of the name to LAUNCHcast:

That was Chris's suggestion that sort of came to him in a vision. We're all on the two-way pagers, and Chris one night said, "I got it. It's Audioslave." We were all, like, "All right, fantastic."... To paraphrase Elvis Costello, talking about band names is like dancing about architecture – there's just no point in it because the band name becomes the music and the people.

Morello added of the name, "I think it adds a kind of three-dimensional depth to the rest of the package."

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.

Political Agenda

While Rage Against the Machine's music was politically influenced, Audioslave's originally was not, as Chris Cornell said he did not want to become the new singer of Rage Against the Machine and needed the freedom to write lyrics which were not overtly political. However, some songs on their newest album, Revelations, are politically influenced, which was explained by Cornell who says that he always tries to evoke his feelings into lyrics with no matter of subject. The band is part of the "Axis of Justice," which is a non-profit organization formed by Tom Morello and Serj Tankian of System of a Down. Its purpose is to "bring together musicians, fans of music, and grassroots political organizations to fight for social justice." [2] Despite their newfound ability to remain traditional artists without direct political involvement, Audioslave has remained active in politics. Some of their music videos, their affiliation with other political bands, and the foundation of the Axis of Justice is testament to the "Rage Against the Machine" vibe still lingering in the three instrumental musicians.

Discography

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References

Studio albums
DVDs
Singles
Related articles
  1. ^ Blabbermouth, October 2006 [3]
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