Almost two-and-a-half years after the passing of Chris Cornell, his Soundgarden bandmate Kim Thayil has claimed there’s still plenty of unreleased material they hope to unleash.
When the music world lost Chris Cornell back in 2017, so ended the story of Soundgarden, one of the most beloved and respected grunge outfits on the scene. Having been around in various forms since 1984, Cornell’s passing marked the end of the band as a whole, though members had reunited to pay tribute to their lost bandmate occasionally.
Earlier this year, guitarist Kim Thayil revealed that prior to Cornell’s passing, the band had been working on a new album. However, issues with obtaining his pre-recorded vocals have meant that this record remains unfinished to this day.
Speaking to Billboard yesterday, Thayil discussed the band’s recent nomination for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, while also noting that there’s still a lot of material still to come for Soundgarden fans.
“Well, there’s still catalog issues to address,” Thayil noted. “There’s still things we want to release — old tapes, some live performances.
“The Louder Than Love album just passed its 30 anniversary. We were very busy this year with other anniversary releases and, of course, the Artists Den release, but Louder Than Love will get a special package, probably to celebrate its 31st anniversary.
Check out Soundgarden’s ‘Black Hole Sun’:
“And I think we’d like to put the Louder Than Live album out; It was released promotionally back in the day but never available commercially,” he added.
“Since it’s all over YouTube we should make a nice little package available for release, including the DV, which was us live at The Whisky (in Los Angeles). That would be the one document of (bassist) Jason Everman’s time with us.”
However, one of the most exciting points was the revelation that there is still unheard material set to be shared one day, including music from their early days, and (hopefully) their final period.
“There’s stuff we recorded back in the early days with Sub Pop, just low-budget eight-track stuff we did with Jack Endino that never came out,” Thayil added.
“In terms of stuff we’re working on, that’s kind of static right now. At some point we hope to work on that and complete the material we were writing.”
Speaking in regards to the band’s Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame nomination, Kim Thayil explained that it’s definitely a milestone in the band’s history, and will help to cement the impact that Soundgarden had upon the music world.
“I thought this is important, especially for the legacy of Soundgarden, and for Chris’ legacy,” he explained. “It’s really important now to understand this from the perspective of the fans and to understand Soundgarden as both a current enterprise as well as a posthumous exercise.”
While it remains to be seen whether Soundgarden will be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, or if we will see this unreleased material in the future, it’s clear that their music will never be too far from the hearts of fans.
Check out ‘Fell On Black Days’ by Soundgarden:
