Nine Inch Nails, Soundgarden, Cold Cave
Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2014 • Sleep Train Amphitheatre

In 2009, Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor tweeted a darling message to Chris Cornell of Soundgarden that read, “You know that feeling you get when someone embarrasses themselves so badly YOU feel uncomfortable? Heard Chris Cornell’s record? Jesus.” So five years later, it was a surprise to everyone when Cornell and Reznor announced a full-throttle tour in which they would be joined hand-in-hand in holy matrimony to re-live their ‘90s glory. On Aug. 27, I hit the dusty trail that leads to Sleep Train’s Wheatland amphitheater to see Nine Inch Nails and Soundgarden and witness said partnering.

First, let’s discuss what could have been. Originally, Sacramento’s favorite dysfunctional darlings Death Grips were set to open for this tour. As everyone knows, Death Grips suddenly broke up and removed themselves from the NIN/SG bill. It’s nothing new for Death Grips to simply do whatever they want, when they please (a bit bratty, but I suppose that’s part of their schtick?), but we still love them.

{Soundgarden}

Cold Cave opened in lieu of Death Grips, and it seemed to be a much better fit, anyway. Cold Cave was more of a calm-and-cool, clean/electronic “goth” duo that suited the ‘90s-seasoned crowd. While watching the few people scattered in the audience bob their heads to keys and wails while awkwardly trying to dodge the plastic chairs that were atrociously placed in what should have been the pit, it was clear that Death Grips may have dodged a bullet.

{Soundgarden}

After the opening, Cornell approached the stage, getting right into Soundgarden tunes that span their 20-year legacy. After all these years, Cornell’s still got it. Soundgarden’s set started with “Searching With My Good Eye Closed” from 1991’s Badmotorfinger, and soon segued into “Black Hole Sun,” heralding the 20th year anniversary of the 1994 alternative staple Superunknown. The performance offered part classic grunge, part classic rock on steroids.

Lastly, Trent Reznor embraced the stage with his intriguing bottoms that were either a man skirt or a pair of extremely saggy-butted pants. No matter; he led his Nine Inch Nails through a perfect set of eclectic noise that shows why he has been an innovator in the music industry for decades. The set started with “A Copy of A,” a song from their newest album, Hesitation Marks. Then, without missing a beat, they delved into beloveds from The Downward Spiral. The naughty classic “Closer” made the air a little mistier with its blatant sexual demands, while Reznor’s silhouetted face bobbed in and out of a red screen as if he was the devil presenting himself. Following were the thrashers “March of the Pigs” and Broken’s “Wish,” in which drummer Ilan Rubin absolutely shined.

{Nine Inch Nails}

{Nine Inch Nails}

The set perfectly spanned the moody and complex music of Reznor’s career. The songs would go from a dizzying mess to a clearer layout that perfectly paired synths with masterfully played drums, snarling guitars and hints of piano that show Reznor’s background as a classically trained pianist. Nine Inch Nails always puts on an amazing show, and this was no different. The show was tight and clean and without flaws. So much so, that it made me almost wish for a bit of spontaneity. It was so well-practiced and laid out, its predictability left me wanting a hint of that ‘90s NIN that would punch each other in the face and cake mud on their bodies… then again, that was called drug use, and Reznor has since swapped that for lifting weights, clearly.

{Nine Inch Nails}

In what might be the weirdest tour of the summer, Sacramento’s rap/punk group Death Grips will be opening for Nine Inch Nails and Soundgarden. NIN frontman Trent Reznor has been outspoken in the past about his dislike of Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell, so the two musical powerhouses combining to co-headline a tour together is a bit of a surprise. Not only that, can you even imagine the looks on the faces of typical old-school Soundgarden fans as Death Grips takes to the stage with their ferocious, in-your-face, this-sounds-like-the-end-of-the-world type shit? It’s going to be hilarious. Someone should film their reactions and make a funny montage video for the Interwebz! Anyways, in typical Death Grips fashion, the tour does not come to Sacramento (I know it’s not their fault the tour doesn’t come here, but I’m going to blame them anyway since they haven’t played a show in Sacramento since 2011, and I’m still bitter about them flaking on Sacramento Electronic Music Festival in 2012!). Instead, you’ll have to make the trek to Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, Calif., on Sunday, Aug. 24, 2014. By the time you read this, tickets will be available. For more on Death Grips, visit Thirdworlds.net

Thrice’s Ed Breckenridge talks about his band’s new album and the struggles of losing a parent

Family can take on many forms, but there is no doubting that it’s important. Thrice could be considered as strong a family unit as there is in modern rock music. The band formed in 1998 and has been together ever since, fronted by singer Dustin Kensrue with Teppei Teranishi on guitar and two brothers in the rhythm section, Riley (drums) and Eddie (bass) Breckenridge. Sure, family can be a headache. The oncoming holidays are always a reminder of that, but during the most difficult times, such as the trying period the members of Thrice endured during the making of their most recent album Major/Minor, it’s always good to know you have someone to rely on.

Submerge caught up with Eddie over the phone before a show in Grand Rapids, Mich. The group had something of a “family day” the day before in Grand Haven, about half an hour west of Grand Rapids, on the shore of Lake Michigan.

“We spent the time walking around and sightseeing,” Eddie says of the much-needed day off. The band has already been out on tour for over a month supporting the release of Major/Minor, which was released on Vagrant Records on Sept. 20, 2011. “The day before, we acquired a bunch of barbecuing stuff, so we ended up doing a little barbecue outside the bus at the hotel where we were staying. Thank God we didn’t get harassed by any police for loitering in the hotel parking lot. It ended up being pretty fun.”

These family dinners have been a tradition for Thrice almost since their inception, Eddie says.

“I think that some of the earlier bands that we toured with, we always tried to meet up and go out to dinner,” he explains. “Whether we’re in the same town as another band or not, we try to have everyone in on a family-type meal.”

These sort of gatherings have probably become even more important during the most recent tour. The Thrice family suffered serious losses during the writing process of Major/Minor. Teranishi mourned the death of his mother, and the Breckenridge brothers’ father also passed away. The pain of these losses is certainly noticeable in Major/Minor, which is a potent mixture of hope and sadness. “Treading Paper,” placed in the middle of this sequence of songs, has Kensrue wailing in a scratchy but forceful voice “Carrying on; unwitting orphans of an unyielding despair.” Later on in the same track, the words look for the light at the end of the tunnel, “If anything means anything / There must be something meant for us to be.” It’s this interplay between light and dark that works its way throughout the album. Musically, Major/Minor is rife with big, crunchy riffs, pounding rhythms and raw vocals. Eddie says the album’s songs have caught on almost immediately by fans.

“When we did a record like Vheissu, it seemed to take a full touring cycle before people seemed like they wanted to hear those songs,” he says. “It’s cool, but at the same time, I can’t help but think, ‘Are we doing something wrong?’”

The album’s producer, David Schiffman, who worked on Thrice’s 2005 album Vheissu, went as far to describe Major/Minor as a grunge record. Eddie Breckenridge doesn’t necessarily agree with that sentiment, but during our interview, he does confess his growing love for Pearl Jam and he also touches upon the loss of his father. Thrice is currently on the road with O’Brother, Moving Mountains and La Dispute.

You’ve been touring for almost a month now on the new record. How has it been going?
It’s been great. It’s been going pretty well. All the bands are a bit different, but I think they all work together really well as far as like a cool-sounding show for everyone. There’s a lot of different dynamics to the music. The people are pretty great too. It’s been really fun. I can’t believe we’ve been on it for as long as we have. It doesn’t feel like that.

You mention that the sounds are really different between the bands. Was that what you were looking for when you headed out on the road?
I think you always try to make it so there’s no band that’s like an odd ball, but I think this tour, we’ve been really fortunate in picking bands, because I think nobody is an odd ball, but nobody sounds too much like everyone else. I think it’s a cool lineup. I think O’ Brother is a bit heavy, and their songs are a bit darker. Moving Mountains is more atmospheric, but they still have some heavy stuff. La Dispute has some really cool instrumental stuff, and their energy is a little more intense than the other bands–maybe not as dark or as heavy, but intense. And then there’s us. Whatever we are.

I definitely want to talk about Major/Minor. It’s funny because when I first listened to it, my first impression was that it reminded me of an old Soundgarden record. After I started reading up on it, I saw that your producer had likened it to a grunge record. Is that something you get when you listen to it?
We weren’t going for anything specifically. When we were writing the record, we were experimenting a lot with major and minor chords in the songs, and I think that’s the thing that sounds grunge-y. I think a lot of bands in that time period were experimenting with a lot of the same kind of stuff. They might have a song that’s really heavy, but it’s in a major chord. I think that ended up stylistically being a grunge-y sound. Maybe that’s where that came from, but it wasn’t an intentional attempt to make stuff grunge-y. I can see how you can relate it, but I don’t think the album on a whole sounds like a grunge-y record.

Definitely. There are some songs that give you that impression–maybe because of Dustin’s vocal delivery–but it definitely sounds like a Thrice record. It definitely doesn’t sound like Mother Love Bone or something like that.
Did you see that documentary, by the way? Pearl Jam 20?

No, I really want to though. Have you?
Oh, it’s amazing.

Why did you like it so much?
I’ve been a fan of Pearl Jam. I didn’t really follow them as much as I would have liked to now after seeing the documentary. It’s just really awesome seeing how they came about and how they tried to deal with what was going on. It was just inspiring. I think two weeks later all I could sing in my head were Pearl Jam songs.

Well you guys have been together for 13 years now. Were you able to see any parallels between that movie and your own band’s career?
Maybe, but not really. They became a huge band pretty quick. I think there were some parts where Eddie Vedder was talking about how hard it was to be in a huge band, but still wanting to play songs that reminded him of Fugazi and people not understanding that–struggling with what people think your identity is, and you wanting them to understand your real identity, but also not wanting them to be too close because you still want to be yourself in private. On their scale, that’s insane. I couldn’t imagine dealing with that, but I can definitely see where they were coming from, on a much smaller scale.

As a band that’s not afraid to do different things, is that something that plays into what you’re saying? Dealing with what people expect of you?
I think it’s important not to give into what people expect, because then you lose your identity as a musician. You need to create. You need to be inspired by things that inspire you, not inspired by people’s assumptions of what they think you should be. That would be a really rough spot to be in, and I don’t think our band would have lasted as long as it has if we were catering to other people’s tastes. It might be selfish in a way, but it’s really important to have it come from a natural place.

You and your brother Riley lost your father during the making of this album, and Teppei lost his mother. Now that other people are hearing the music, does that make it feel less personal to see other people react to it?
It’s hard for me to really play the music with my emotions that were involved with losing my dad. I think playing the music live is a huge release as far as that. I would never want to exploit my feeling for the sake of the music, but I definitely will be playing shows and think of my dad at moments, but I know my dad would enjoy it, because he supported us a ton. I can’t help but feel that sadness turn into some sort of energy. I become, I don’t know, strangely empowered by his memory. It’s crazy. It’s so hard for me to describe because there’s so much involved in it, as far as losing somebody, but also, I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m saying. It’s just been a rough, rough year. There’s no escaping it. Not that I’d want to escape it either. It’s this struggle that I don’t want to escape, but it’s hard not to let it ruin my ability to be happy, I guess.

Thrice and company will play Sacramento on Nov. 6, 2011 when their tour takes them to Ace of Spades. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased through Aceofspadessac.com.

Seattle’s Soundgarden is working on its first album in 15 years, and fans of the grunge material that made the band famous may be surprised. Guitarist Kim Thayil told Kerrang!, “We want to make sure the material excites us. The last thing we want to make is another grunge or metal record.” Thayil says the band wants to record and release the album as soon as possible but that Chris Cornell’s solo tour and drummer Matt Cameron’s commitments with Pearl Jam are priority. Soundgarden has announced four dates thus far for their summer reunion tour. Expect more to come soon.
-Brad F.

Toronto’s Molson Canadian Amphitheatre on July 2; Philadelphia’s Festival Pier at Penn’s Landing on July 13; Denver’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre on July 18; and Los Angeles’ Forum on July 22.

More dates will be added soon.

April Fools was in full effect this year. I fell victim to an official-looking post by Björk on her Web site, saying she has accepted the position of lead vocalist for legendary Led Zeppelin. The post went on to say Björk has “put forward her wish that they only cover with her songs from album I and IV” and that the tour would begin in June. A link for further information and tickets revealed it was an April Fools joke and confirmed my gullible nature. Jokes are funny, but that’s scary.

In keeping the spring prank theme alive, Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor joined in on the fun. After calling out colleague Chris Cornell (Audioslave, Soundgarden) on the electronic/pop direction of his new album produced by Timbaland, Reznor took it a step further on April 1 posting information about a new NIN “album” that was available for download. The fictitious post said NIN is releasing Strobe Light, also produced by Timbaland, for just $18.98 plus a $10 digital delivery convenience fee. The track listing included guest appearances from Justin Timberlake, Fergie, Sheryl Crow and Chris Martin and song titles like “Everybody’s Doing It,” “Pussygrinder” and “Laid, Paid and Played.” The album cover features Reznor in a black leather jacket with white Kanye West shades. I think it’s safe to say he’s not a fan of Timbaland.

Brad Fuhrum