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Soundgarden perform at London's Shepherds Bush Empire tonight - 18 years after they became the first ever band to play the West London venue.

The US grunge stars return to the venue ahead of the release of their new album King Animal on Monday (12 November 2012), and reveal that the venue was so new when they previously played, it still smelled of paint.

"They were still finishing it when we turned up for soundcheck. I remember really liking the building a lot, and we were at the pinnacle of success," says Ben Shepherd of the band. "I usually judge crowds by how bad they smelt, the wilder they were the more I liked them. But the crowd didn’t smell like anything there because all they smelt like was new paint - so I can’t wait to fill in the blanks when we play there."

He also spoke of his surprise at selling out their show tonight in just ten minutes when tickets went on sale in October, saying that British audiences had previously sent the band 'hate mail'.

"They told us that it sold out in like 10 minutes, so I was all happy because I was like 'Wow, I didn’t know the British liked us that much'," he adds. "I just remember getting hate mail all the time."

Chris Cornell of Soundgarden at Hard Rock Calling in 2012

Shepherd also spoke of his excitement at releasing thier new album next week, insisting the band were closer than ever after 28 years together.

"We’ve reestablished ourselves to be able to make more records if we want," he adds. "Like, yeah, we can go make another record. It’s truly for the art of the music and the brotherhood of the band, you know, it’s really cool."

Photos: more shots from Soundgarden's Hard Rock Calling gig