Chris Cornell‘s last publicly released email to Soundgarden bandmate Kim Thayil has been leaked in a new statement in the Soundgarden vs. Vicky Cornell lawsuit. Vicky Cornell, Chris’ widow, is alleging that Soundgarden are withholding royalty payments, and that certain unreleased music is not their property, while Soundgarden believe it is their property. Eddie Vedder’s wife recently reacted to a Chris Cornell widow insult.
Thayil said, “The song ‘Stone Age Mind’ was brought to Soundgarden by Chris shortly before his death, but was intended by him to be a Soundgarden track for the planned new album. Chris sent me an email dated March 3, 2017, in which Chris states of the song: ‘Needs you guys for it to sound right….I think it needs work with all of us in a room. Once I sang on the chorus I wasn’t sure what to do with it, so all three are different…Anyway, we will improve it when we get in a room.’ On this basis, I believe that audio files of this song would have their instrumental parts, as well as vocals, performed solely by Chris.”
Matt Cameron said in his statement about the album, “In late 2015 and early 2016, we returned to a Seattle studio to continue working on our new album.
In an effort to finish the album, we booked more multi-day recording sessions at Strange Earth studios in Seattle during August-September 2016 and January 2017. In late April 2017, we again assembled in Seattle for studio time.”
He added, “We interrupted our April 2017 studio session in Seattle to begin a national tour which started on April 28, 2017.”
Vicky is suing the band from Florida, claiming Chris recorded his parts there, which would means the laws in that state would apply to this case. Cameron said, “When he died, Chris possessed digital multi-track recordings of the seven Unreleased Sound Recordings as well as many other Soundgarden-recorded audio files intended for the new Soundgarden studio album (collectively the ‘Album Files’).
The Album Files were stored on at least one (and perhaps more) of Chris’ laptops, and perhaps on other of Chris’ computers or devices, because he had been working on his vocal and instrumental parts for the new tracks while on tour (using the method of “overdubbing”). Out of respect for Chris’ family, the Soundgarden band members and our team promptly arranged delivery of all of Chris’ personal effects, including his laptop(s), to Vicky Cornell. Unfortunately, we subsequently realized that Chris had the only existing multi-track versions of the seven Unreleased Sound Recordings that include Chris’ vocal and instrumental overdubs, along with other unique Album Files.”
Cameron later stated, “All of the Album Files, including the Unreleased Sound Recordings, are Soundgarden material. This is easily provable by abundant evidence, including emails between the Soundgarden band members (including Chris) exchanging audio files and lyrics, file metadata through Dropbox, and other tangible evidence such as full ‘live’ audio recordings of Soundgarden working on and performing the songs at its Seattle studios.
The Album Files were not exclusively ‘recorded’ by Chris in Florida in 2017, nor were they ‘solely recorded’ by him. Many of the Album Files significantly predate 2017: for example, the track ‘Ahead of the Dog’ had been performed by Soundgarden much earlier. I understand, including based on my communications with Chris and knowledge of his working style, that Chris’ work on the vocal and instrumental overdubs for the Album Files took place in various locations including Seattle and on the road during tours. I also know that Chris often worked from his personal recording studio at his home in New York City.” Billy Corgan recently broke his silence on Chris Cornell widow ‘backlash.’
