You can hear it in the way Kim Thayil talks about these Soundgarden songs. Not like they’re unfinished leftovers. Not like they’re some vault release getting dusted off for streaming numbers. More like old sketches from a lost friend that nobody’s been emotionally ready to finish until now.
In a new interview with LifeMinute, Thayil opened up about the unreleased Soundgarden songs that he, drummer Matt Cameron and bassist Ben Shepherd recorded with late frontman Chris Cornell before Cornell’s death in 2017.
The surviving members are now working with longtime producer Terry Date to complete the recordings.
“This material has been in existence for over 10 years in some cases,” Thayil said. “They’re very rough. They’re sketches. You start with a little pencil sketch, and you fill it in.”
He explained the process has been difficult simply because there’s no traditional album schedule forcing things forward.
“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.”
Still, he made it clear why the band keeps pushing ahead.
“It’s very, very important to all of us,” Thayil said. “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.”
Cameron previously revealed some of the songs felt like the beginning of a completely new chapter for the band.
“There’s very familiar elements in some of this new music,” he said, “but there was a couple songs that felt like it was kind of a new chapter.”
“It’s bittersweet, of course. But I’m really excited for people to hear it.”
One song confirmed for the album is “The Road Less Traveled,” a track Cameron originally sent to Cornell around 2015 or 2016.
“He made an arrangement from my demo and then he added vocals to it,” Cameron said. “The lyrics are mesmerizing, as always.”
He described the song as “hard rock,” but also “sort of bluesy, sort of psychedelic, sort of folky.”
For Shepherd, the emotional weight hit while hearing the recordings played back in the studio.
“It was like, ‘Holy hell. That’s Soundgarden.’ It’s so cool to hear it again.”
Thayil added: “Now it’s Soundgarden.”
The album’s path has been slowed by years of legal battles between the band and Cornell’s widow, Vicky Cornell, over ownership of the recordings. An amicable resolution was finally reached in 2023.
Despite the delays, the surviving members appear determined to finish what they started.
“Our objective and goal was always to complete that,” Thayil told Rolling Stone last year. “It would be a great gift to the fans. And I do think about this… I feel like it’s a gift to Chris too.”
Can one last Soundgarden album truly give Chris Cornell the goodbye he deserves?
