Soundgarden Reveal Future Plans, Will Chris Cornell Be Replaced?

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Kim Thayil has appeared to declare Soundgarden disbanded in a new Seattle Times interview, stating that the band was ‘the four of us.’ He said carrying on as Soundgarden without Cornell wasn’t something they’d ‘give reasonable consideration to at this point.’

He left the future a bit more open ended, but said it would be ‘likely nothing.’ He did say many new Soundgarden releases are in the works, including unreleased material, and that he will continue to work with Ben Shepherd and Matt Cameron.

As for Soundgarden’s future, Thayil says more releases are in the works. Thayil is managing the band’s catalog, working with Sub Pop on possible compilations, live albums and other unreleased material, as well as discussing potential projects with A&M. While Thayil plans to continue making music with Cameron and bassist Ben Shepherd (among other friends), writing or touring under the Soundgarden banner again seems doubtful. “No, I don’t think that’s anything we’d give reasonable consideration to at this point,” Thayil says. “When I say ‘at this point,’ I mean perhaps ever [laughs].”

Pressed for more, he adds: “I don’t know really what kind of thing is possible or what we would consider in the future. 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.”

Soundgarden were working on a new album at the time of Chris Cornell’s death, with ‘six strong songs’ written. It’s unclear if Thayil’s mention of unreleased material had to do with the King Animal followup material.

Surviving Soundgarden members Kim Thayil, Ben Shepherd, and Matt Cameron did their first joint interview since Chris Cornell’s death with Rolling Stone on Sunday, and they dropped hints at playing together again in the future.

“We’re just still taking our time and giving ourselves space to process everything,” Cameron said. “We would certainly love to try to continue to do something, figure out something to do together.”

“On a personal level,” Shepard said, “We haven’t even gotten a chance to hang out, just us three, yet. … We’re going through natural healing, then thinking about the natural next step.”