Rolling Stone has issued an interview with SOUNDGARDEN guitarist Kim Thayil, conducted by Greg Prato. The following is an excerpt:

Q: What did you think of Live On I5 when you heard it from start to finish?

A: "Ben and I were just talking about this last weekend – we're both still in awe of this album, the performances and the songs. It's kind of ridiculous how fast we're playing 'Jesus Christ Pose' or 'Ty Cobb' – it's much faster than the studio version. And there are some crazy fills in there from Ben, Matt and me. Guitar solo things, weird bass runs and drum stuff. I think everyone was listening to the recordings and were surprised by individual performances, flourishes, and collective performances."

Read the full interview at this location.

Soundgarden recently issued the following update:

"Over the past few months, we've been busy jamming, writing and hanging out together - exploring the creative aspect of being Soundgarden. It feels great. We have some cool new songs that we are going to record very soon. Thank you for all of the support!"

More photos from the studio can be viewed at this location.

Soundgarden will release their first-ever live album, titled Live On I-5, on March 22nd.

Fans who order the album via the band's website will receive a bonus SoundCheck CD. Full details can be found at this location.

Live On I5 was recorded during the west coast leg of Soundgarden's tour in 1996 between November 30th and December 18th. The band states,"we had always intended to release this as a live record and now it’s time to unleash the fury!"

The complete tracklisting to Live On I-5 is as follows:

'Spoonman'

'Searching With My Good Eye Closed'

'Let Me Drown'

'Head Down'

'Outshined'

'Rusty Cage'

'Burden In My Hand'

'Helter Skelter'

'Boot Camp'

'Nothing To Say'

'Slaves And Bulldozers'

'Dusty'

'Fell On Black Days'

'Search And Destroy'

'Ty Cobb'

'Black Hole Sun'

'Jesus Christ Pose'

Bonus SoundCheck CD:

'No Attention' (Oakland soundcheck)

'Never The Machine Forever' (Oakland soundcheck)

'Waiting For The Sun' (Oakland soundcheck)

'Room A Thousand Years Wide' (Vancouver soundcheck)

'Somewhere' (Sacramento soundcheck)

The 17 songs that comprise Live On I5 were recorded in the following five cities:

Del Mar, CA

Oakland, CA

Vancouver, BC

Salem, OR

Seattle, WA

(Photos courtesy of Soundgardenworld.com)