Soundgarden legend Chris Cornell sadly passed away in 2017. Prior to his passing, however, the band had been working on a batch of songs that the group plans to finish and release at some point. Guitarist Tim Thayil, drummer Matt Cameron and bassist Ben Shepherd are collaborating with producer Terry Date, who previously worked with the band on their 1989 album “Louder Than Love” and 1991 album “Badmotorfinger,” on the new album.
Guitarist Kim Thayil told LifeMinute: “This material has been in existence for over 10 years in some cases, 14, 15 years. It was in various stages of writing, sharing, learning, recording. So what we need to do is finish that process, and most of the process, most of the writing had been complete. So it’s mostly about recording. There were things that had been demoed by me, by Matt, by Chris, by Ben. But, again, demo. They’re very rough. They’re sketches. You start with a little pencil sketch, and you fill it in with whatever, chalks or oils or pastels. And that’s what we have to do, is finish the sketches. And we’re in that process. It is atypical in the way we approach it. There isn’t a record label budgeting time and money, with a particular schedule. With everybody else’s obligations, professionally or with family or whatever, we have to find the time and coordinate amongst ourselves to address the work. And it’s being addressed.”
He added: “It’s very, very important to all of us. It’s important for the legacy of Soundgarden. It’s important for the legacy of Chris Cornell. It is doing right by our collective work. It is doing right by our partner and friend.”
Could Soundgarden perform again at some point? “Well, we like playing together — Matt and Ben and I like playing together — and we know that if we want to enjoy the songs that we’ve played for decades, that that satisfaction of performing this material can only really happen with the three of us,” Thayil said. “It could only happen with the four of us. But since there’s three of us remaining, then we know that that is that window of opportunity for us to share with each other material that we’d performed on and wrote on together.”
