Ever since Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell tragically passed away last year, fans have been wondering what the future holds for the band. Now, guitarist Kim Thayil has revealed that fans shouldn’t expect too much more from the band.
Back in May of 2017, the music world was shocked to learn of Chris Cornell’s death at the age of 52. Of course, for many fans, the next question involved what the future holds for Soundgarden.
In the months following Cornell’s death, one fan took to Facebook to share an encounter he had with Soundgarden bassist Ben Sheppard, indicating that the group had in fact decided to call it quits.
“I met Ben Shepherd this morning from Soundgarden, he bought me a cup of coffee,” Soundgarden fan James began. “You can tell he’s hurting.
“I didn’t know who he was at first. When I asked him what he does, he said I used to be in a rock band. I asked him what band, he said Soundgarden.”
While the group’s surviving members did however perform together back in June at Denmark’s Northside Festival, it appears that the group’s members don’t intend to continue under the Soundgarden name.
Speaking to the Seattle Times recently, guitarist Kim Thayil explained that while he wants to keep on making music with drummer Matt Cameron and bassist Ben Shepherd, Soundgarden appears to be at its 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.”
Just last month, Thayil spoke to Billboard, where he noted that his desire to continue making music with his Soundgarden bandmates is as strong as ever.
“We often reference rock history and we’ve often commented on what other bands in similar situations have done, not as a plan or anything but just commenting on how bands have handled situations like this and what bands seem to have been graceful and dignified in how they manage their future musical endeavors and how some maybe were clumsy and callous.”
While it appears that we may have heard the last piece of new music released under the Soundgarden moniker, we can only hope that Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron, and Ben Shepherd continue to record together, while honouring the life and legacy of the late legend that is Chris Cornell.
If you or somebody you care for needs help or information about depression, suicide, anxiety, or mental health issues, contact Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636 or Lifeline on 13 11 14.
Check out Soundgarden’s ‘Spoonman’:
