Rock
Soundgarden close to finishing unreleased songs featuring late frontman Chris Cornell
Kim Thayil says Soundgarden are steadily completing long‑unfinished recordings, calling the project vital to honouring both the band’s legacy and Chris Cornell’s.
Kim Thayil has revealed that Soundgarden are finally nearing the finish line on a collection of long‑unreleased tracks.
The guitarist says the surviving members - also including drummer Matt Cameron and bassist Ben Shepherd - have been quietly working through the material whenever their schedules align.
Speaking to Joann Butler on Joann Butler In Studio With… for LifeMinute, Thayil explained that the recordings date back more than a decade and began life as "rough sketches".
He said of the demos: “They’re very rough.
“They’re sketches. You start with a little pencil sketch and you fill it in with chalks or oils or pastels. What we have to do is finish the sketches and we’re in that process ”
Because the Black Hole Sun band are operating without a label‑driven timeline, progress has been steady but slow.
Thayil noted: “It’s atypical in the way we approach it.
“There isn’t a record label budgeting time and money with a particular schedule with everybody else’s obligations, professionally or with family or whatever We have to find tBlack Hole Sun‑ordinate amongst ourselves to address the work. It’s coming.”
For Thayil, the project carries deep emotional weight.
He said: “It’s important for the legacy of Soundgarden.
“It’s important for the legacy of Chris Cornell. It is doing right by our collective work. It is doing right by our partner a d f iend.”
Alongside the music, Thayil is preparing to release his memoir A Screaming Life: Into the Superunknown with Soundgarden and Beyond, co‑written with Adem Tepedelen and due out June 9
He describes the book as a personal journey that begins with his childhood in Chicago and follows his move to Seattle with Hiro Yamamoto, where the pair connected with Chris Cornell and helped shape the city’s underground scene.
Thayil said: “It tells my story as an American son of immigrants growing up in Chicago.
“Then, along with another immigrant’s American son, Hiro Yamamoto, we travel to Seattle as idealistic youths, involve ourselves with underground and independent subcultures, and connect with Chris Cornell to form Soundgarden.
“It follows my experiences, journeys and growth with the band and the building of the Seattle music scene; ultimately, to partner with Matt Cameron and later Ben Shepherd as we worked and played towards our worldwide successes. I explore the heights, depths and insights gained from my experiences within the unique and special brotherhood we built.”
