Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil has reaffirmed his belief that Soundgarden are done for good, explaining he doesn’t “see the dignity” in reforming the group without their iconic frontman.
Back in October, Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil explained that following the passing of frontman Chris Cornell, the iconic grunge act appear to be at their formal end.
“I don’t think that’s anything we’d give reasonable consideration to at this point,” Thayil began. “When I say ‘at this point,’ I mean perhaps ever .”
“I don’t know really what kind of thing is possible or what we would consider in the future,” he continued. “It’s likely nothing.”
“The four of us were that. There were four of us and now there’s three of us, so it’s just not likely that there’s much to be pursued other than the catalog work at this point.”
Now, in a new interview with Billboard, Thayil has discussed the group’s current status, and their plans for future releases.
“It’s not likely that we could ever do Soundgarden without a missing piece,” Thayil explained, referring to the tragic passing of frontman Chris Cornell.
“I’d like to do more with Matt in the future. I’d like to do something with Ben in the future. It’s likely Matt and Ben and I will do something in the future – it just probably won’t be Soundgarden. I don’t see the dignity in pursuing that course.”
While Kim Thayil explained that he was “completely satisfied” with Soundgarden’s legacy, he revealed that he’s taken charge of the band’s catalogue and merchandise, ensuring that new and old fans continue to hear the group’s music.
When asked about future releases from the band, he explained that Soundgarden’s early days are set to get a look-in, along with a number of live shows.
“[It’s] really the Screaming Life and Sub Pop sessions,” Thayil explained. “We recorded enough material for an album-plus, but we only released an EP initially (in 1987), and the moved on to doing the Fopp thing (in 1988) and had some new songs for that.”
“There’s interest in putting out the Live at the Paramount that was part of the Badmotorfinger 25th anniversary, in the super deluxe version, as a standalone. We’re coming up on the 30th anniversary of Louder Than Love, and the Louder Than Live album was never released commercially, just as a promotional thing.”
“I’m sure there’ll be another greatest hits recording. And there are so many lives shows we recorded over the years that have interesting takes and covers.”
Just yesterday, members of Soundgarden, Audioslave, Temple Of The Dog, Metallica, Foo Fighters, and Ryan Adams were confirmed for a Chris Cornell tribute event that is taking place in January.
While a new Chris Cornell retrospective is set to be released this Friday, Thayil also revealed that unheard studio sessions with Cornell might also be released at some point.
“[At the time of Cornell’s death] we were working on an album and there’s material there that we demoed that we can flesh out when we can access some of the basic, multi(-track) recordings, sure,” he explained. “That’s being discussed.”
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