On August 2, 1996, Matt Cameron was interviewed online via the WebChat Broadcast System by Addicted To Noise Editor-In-Chief Michael Goldberg. The interview was not only available in text form, but was streamed in realtime using RealAudio. The text was accompanied by periodic photos taken by ChatCam -- you can view the photos if you wish.

The banner ad that WBS used to promote the event is below -- it is made of pieces of images taken from both the unofficial and official websites. The photos are ©1996 Mark Van-S and originally appeared in Request magazine; they also graced the front of the unofficial SG site for a couple of years.

The following is the transcript of the event:

[note: "Addicted to Noise" is Michael Goldberg and "Lollapalooza" is Matt Cameron -- the typos are due to the fact that this was really an audio interview, and there were people typing the questions and answers as fast as possible for those people tuning in at WBS]

WBS Moderator (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:15PM
Welcome to the WebChat Broadcasting System, the leading Internet broadcaster. Thank you tore coming, we hope you enjoy the show. Today's back stage shows are brought to you by Lollapalooza and addiced to noise. Our Matt

WBS Moderator (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:15PM
is Matt Cameron from Soundgarden our host is Michael.

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:15PM
Actually Matt is with Soundgarden. Why don't you tell us about R A Z A

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:15PM
She he is my media consultant. He is here hanging.

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:15PM
This tour, Lollapalooza tour, is a pretty unusual thing, I would think. You guys did Lollapalooza back in I think '992. But how do you feel about the situation where it's like a traveling group of musicians heading across the country for five weeks, six weeks

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:16PM
The potential for fun in a situation like that is great. So we try to, you know, hang out as much as we can, together, and in situations like that it can be really fun. As long as you enjoy the company of the band mates that you are haging out with, you know, on this tour it's been a lot of fun.

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:16PM
Well, isn't it true that you guys actually requested that the Ramones, you wanted the Ramones on the tour?

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:16PM
Yes, yes. That was our request.

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:16PM
How come?

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:16PM
Because we are big fans of the Ramones, we know they are going to be winding down pretty soon, just felt like this would be a really good opportunity for them to get exposed to, you know , a lot of new fans.

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:17PM
Did you and -- did you and the other guys in the band, you know listen to the Ramones when you were younger, did you grow up up with them at all?

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:17PM
Kim used to be in a Ramones cover band and we all listened to them growing up, we were influenced by them, they were the originators, they deserve the respect, you know?

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:17PM
You have been hanging with them and some of the Rancid guys, is that right, on this tour?

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:17PM
Yeah, yeah.

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:17PM
I mean, is it going to be when this is over, which is in like four days, is that going to be kind of a drag?

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:17PM
Uhm, I don't think so. I mean, we will have made some new friends but, everyone is all on the different tours, and so we all got stuff to look forward to but I'm sure the very last night will be pretty raging all nighter.

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:18PM
How does this compare to, you know, when you did Lollapalooza in '92?

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:18PM
That one seemed a little less strict as far as some of the security and just the organization was newer and fresher, it felt a little bit more soulful the first time that we did it. Whereas this time it's way more business, we are like heavy security presence at all the gigs, we have been playing really weird place s this time around, like out in the middle of no where, a dirt field, bunch of weird looking kids, it's been a whole different vibe this time around

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:18PM
Has it been okay?

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:18PM
The places we have played have been really difficult. As far as the big rock show it's been extremely difficult

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:18PM
Getting sound?

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:18PM
Just everything, it's just been really tough but we pulled through, everyone is doing the gig, but it's like the first one we played proper stages, you know, theaters that were set up to do big rock shows, this has been a lot more work.

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:19PM
Could you talk a little bit about the new album? Just about, you know, the recording of it and kind of what was, you know, how you approached it in maybe a different way than you had approached the previous albums?

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:19PM
Well, the main difference was that we produced it ourselves. And that can lend itself to, you know, a lot of different sounds and experimentation with trying to get sounds, so essentially we wanted to have a very direct sounding record and not spend too much time on getting the perfect drum sound or guitar sound and just try to have the music be the main focus whereas sometimes with big time producers they focus in on the sound more so than the music

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:20PM
Did you feel you got more, were able to translate the energy of the bands on to the album?

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:20PM
Yeah, I think so.

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:20PM
Are there particular songs that, you know, that you are personally, you know, really proud of on it?

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:20PM
Well the won I'm really proud of didn't get finished, so

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:20PM
What's that called

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:20PM
Christy and it was just a wonderful, really good rhythm track that me and Ben and Kim did, so, hopefully that will see the light of day

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:20PM
Will that show up as a B side or maybe a feature on an album

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:20PM
Maybe. The rhythm track is perfect. Chris just has to do the vocal part and it will be done.

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:20PM
How long did you spend recording the album?

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:20PM
We spent about five or six months recording.

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:20PM
And how --

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:20PM
We took a month off in the summer of '95, went to Europe, but total about six months.

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:21PM
And so how And so how intense would that be?

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:21PM
We worked six days a week, 12, 14 hour days. A lot of work.

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:21PM
I mean, how, you know, how does that translate

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:21PM
You mean day-to-day

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:21PM
Is lot of experimentation to end up with a particular track?

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:21PM
Well a lot of the tracks we didn't have fully rehearsed, so it worked out once we got in the studio so there was some time arranging songs in the studio, but mostly it was just getting our tracks down and experimenting with different types of sounds. So that's basically it.

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:21PM
It's a pretty awesome album

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:21PM
Thanks

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:21PM
Fans of the band seem to be really, you know, like happy with it

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:21PM
Yeah.

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:22PM
You didn't just like rerepeat something you did before.

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:22PM
Right. It was a dirtier evolution, I think people appreciate that.

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:22PM
Elaborate on that a little bit

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:22PM
Well, we are not just going for the slick rock album part two , we decided to go back to what we feel natural sounding like and doing. A little more dirt.

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:22PM
I mean now it seems like just audiences, there is an audience out there now that is much more receptive to a more sound whatever than there was five years ago

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:22PM
Yeah, you are probably right. I think people might want to hear more of a natural, you know, sounding band as opposed to slick Rick production quality.

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:23PM
The impression one gets of Seattle and musicians in Seattle is that, you know, they -- a lot of musicians know each other, they are friends with each other, and there is, you know, hanging out, guys in Soundgarden know guys in Pearl Jam, Alice in chain, is that how it really is? Is there like hanging interaction when people aren't on tour?

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:23PM
No, not really. (Laughing.).

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:23PM
Is that an illusion

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:23PM
Yeah, that's an illusion. If I see some guy from Mudhoney or Pearl Jam in a club I will say hello but we don't hang out and have dinner together, we all have friends and family, and for me when I come off a tour the last thing I want to do is hang out with rock people, you know.

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:23PM
Just because you have been doing that

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:24PM
Yeah.

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:24PM
How long, I mean are you guys -- after this is over are you going to head out and tour for an extended period?

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:24PM
We will go to Europe as headliners and possibly come back and do a headlining tour of the states

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:24PM
So that could keep you out into next year?

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:24PM
Yeah, until December, something like that. January.

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:24PM
How do you feel -- the on-line sort of world you guys there is a Soundgarden web site now

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:24PM
There is two

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:24PM
An official one and a pretty cool unofficial one

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:24PM
Yeah, I prefer the unofficial one.

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:24PM
Seth

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:24PM
Yeah.

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:24PM
As soon as someone writes an article about you guys, that seems to be up on that site

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:25PM
Yeah, he is very thorough in adulation for Soundgarden. His web site is informative. The people that subscribe to his service are true fans, I like to read what they say about us, it's pretty fun

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:25PM
So you go on line

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:25PM
I check it out, yeah

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:25PM
What do you think of this whole on line world, web world?

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:25PM
Well, ray is the one Raza is the one who turned me on to computers, he has been showing cool stuff to check out on line. For the most part I think it's a really interesting way to get information out there. Just because it seems like there is no rules and anyone can do whatever they want to a certain extent. So it seems like, you know, it's not going to be stopped. It's just going to keep getting bigger and bigger

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:26PM
What do you think about, like right now already one can listen to music in realtime on the web, you know, RealAudio sound , it's sort of a.m. radio transistor kind of sound

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:26PM
Yeah

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:26PM
But that can happen right now. Before too long we will have high fidelity sound

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:26PM
Yeah. Some things are really slow right now to get that stuff going. It still seems like it has a long way to go, but it is pretty cool you can you can do that stuff. When I have experimented with it and got video and sawed I don't stuff, the quality seems pretty bad, so I'm waiting for it to get better quality, but the fact you can do it now is very impressive.

Addicted to Noise (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:26PM
Is -- this sounds to me it's something Soundgarden is paying attention to and keeping an eye on it as it, you will kind of use it when it makes sense

Lollapalooza (): . . . . Fri, Aug 2, 4:27PM
Yeah, I mean I'm definitely staying aware of it. So it seems like there is going to be an use for it for working musicians hopefully some day we can alleviate the -- or do away with the middle man record company and just, you know, put it straight out on the Internet or something. A buddy of mine is doing that with a record of his, seems like that could be a really good use in the future.