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Out of exile and into Austin
Rock supergroup Audioslave set to reveal new material

By Austin Powell
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With its new album set for a May 24 release, Audioslave is currently touring the country to showcase its new arsenal of songs.
With its new album set for a May 24 release, Audioslave is currently touring the country to showcase its new arsenal of songs.


Audioslave drummer Brad Wilk has an obsession with the number three. He has it tattooed on his arm and even counts everything in threes. His drum rhythms often have a triplet feel to them over the standard four-beat sequences. In fact, the number three is thanked in the liner notes of Audioslave's debut album, which itself begins on page three.

The name Audioslave came to lead singer Chris Cornell in a "shaman-like" vision. The name, however, was already taken by an unsigned Liverpool band and $30,000 had to be given to share the moniker.

The cover for Audioslave's debut album was designed by Storm Thorgerson, the same man responsible for the covers of Pink Floyd's "The Wall" and "The Dark Side of the Moon," as well as many other prominent albums from the '70s. Thorgerson first built the enormous flame structure and then took a picture of it on a volcanic island on the coast of Africa. The man standing in the red shirt gazing at the structure on the cover is Thorgerson himself.

There's not a lot to say about Audioslave that hasn't already become common knowledge. Public interest and obsession with the future of Rage Against the Machine began immediately after the announcement of the departure of frontman Zach de la Rocha in October 2000.

De la Rocha's last album with Rage, "Renegades," was recorded (with vocals in a separate location) with famed producer Rick Rubin. It was his suggestion that the three remaining members, guitar extraordinaire Tom Morello, bassist Tim Commerforf and drummer Brad Wilk, should audition former Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell to fill the void left by de la Rocha's departure.

Cornell's solo effort, "Euphoria Morning," released two years after the disbanding of Soundgarden in 1997, showed that the Seattle grunge icon still had a powerful and passionate enough voice to carry himself but that he could still greatly benefit from a talented backing band. Exactly how the combination of his dark and intricate lyrics with the bass-heavy, funk rockings of Rage would sound was the only real question left for fans and the band alike.

In May 2001, the foursome recorded in a studio. In just 19 days the group recorded 21 songs. With the public in suspense, and still without a name, the group signed on for a summer stint on Ozzfest on March 22, 2002. Three days later, Cornell called off the entire project. Initial reports stated that the recorded material would still be released regardless of the band's future. After the mixing of the album was finished, roughly six weeks later, the group reformed and simultaneously fired their former management companies and hired The Firm. Their previous labels, Epic and Interscope, also settled their differences by agreeing to alternate who releases their albums.
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