Over the weekend Soundgarden bassist/vocalist Ben Shepherd took the time to publicly reminisce on the band’s late vocalist/guitarist Chris Cornell and their forthcoming final album with him. Yesterday, May 18th, marked the eighth anniversary of Cornell‘s passing, with Shepherd heading down memory lane a day ahead of it.
Speaking on Soundgarden‘s Instagram account (the band themselves use the anagram of ‘Nudedragons’ on social media following a legal dispute with Chris‘ widow), Shepherd recently memorialized Cornell and touched upon that album, which has been mired in legalities since Chris‘ passing. Shepherd stated:
“As i wait for my son Noah to get out of school today im thinking about … well actually its stuck in my head and’s been there since early this morning like a proud spring bird damnit , its a song Chris and Matt wrote ‘The Road Less Traveled’ for our album that has yet to be named , just hearing Chris’ voice helps, i know he did that for everyone he knew …. help them , he did for me , filled with self doubt and indebtedness and in just his tone knew what i was going through and forgave me like he always did even when he was older. Its at this point of recording all of our previous albums id get this overwhelming hit of awe, camaraderie, power of creativity , majesty even , and love, from the music, and my bandmates ….and i guess just pure life force.
Like a torrent of light raging freely towards the sky . That pure life force .
My heart would fill up with life, like helium and it’d lift me almost off the ground. Chris and i used to get giddy like little kids and laugh together in the studio at least once each time recording a record “- wow , we GET to do this , can you believe it !? We GET to record !” It has the power this feeling to well up my eyes with tears , and then make me openly weep. Many, many times this has happened over these 30 plus years .
When stepped back from this raging torrent is a serenity like the cliche of deafening silence , and I am finding in this silence and calm , time to re-grab the canoe edges and brace then reopen my eyes re-see the horizon. There , behind the mountains are the stars. Is it dawn ? or is it dusk ? Ambiguous yet welcoming. Reassuring. Natural paces and cyclical understanding and breath. Mighty .
I hope every one of you reading this can lace positive moments together and make some sense of the calm and the torrent into some kind of constellation for your horizons and appreciate those living along with those you love.
I am very blessed by my loved ones and very honored to have known or worked with each of my brothers Kim , Matt, and Chris in this path of music , and life , of loves and losses , righteousness and folly ,but i can tell you , it feels good and invigorating to hear Chris singing from over that horizon and hear the mighty… mighty life , of souls sharing.
To hear , as a fan …and band member , a song or two Chris brought in a few years ago turn before my very ears and finger blisters into a full blown Soundgarden tune is like feeling a glacier fall away off your chest.
We all have a lot of work to go through in this life.. but we are all to a man trying our best and to do each and every one of us proud , you Chris , are right here with us.
We all miss you brother , see you when we do
ps please say hey to Mark– Ben“
Court proceedings over the aforementioned unreleased album between the band and Vicky Cornell have previously revealed that seven songs were written for that record, they include:
“Road Less Traveled” (Chris Cornell/Matt Cameron)
“Orphans” (Chris Cornell/Matt Cameron)
“At Ophians Door” (Chris Cornell/Matt Cameron)
“Cancer” (Chris Cornell)
“Ahead Of The Dog” (Chris Cornell/Kim Thayil)
“Merrmas” (Chris Cornell/Ben Shepherd)
“Stone Age Mind” (Chris Cornell)
Shepherd‘s Soundgarden bandmate, guitarist Kim Thayil, recently expressed his hopes that the album will see the light of day. New material or not, the legacy and contributions of Cornell are expected to be on full display this fall, when Soundgarden are inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame on November 08th.
