With their Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame induction imminent, grunge legends Soundgarden have been doing the press rounds. The Seattle Times recently caught up with two surviving members of the multi-platinum outfit to discuss their thoughts on receiving the honor as they prepare for the November 08th induction ceremony.
At this point, there’s little mystery left around the guests involved with Soundgarden‘s induction. Photos of the rehearsals for it have already been circulating, with the likes of Alice In Chains vocalist/guitarist Jerry Cantrell, The Pretty Reckless vocalist/guitarist Taylor Momsen, Heart‘s Nancy Wilson and Pearl Jam‘s Mike McCready all expected to partake in the performance. That ceremony will be held at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, CA on November 08th, streaming live across Disney+.
The conversation mentioned above also swayed towards the band’s plans for their long-awaited final album with their late vocalist/guitarist Chris Cornell. That record has been hit with a number of legal setbacks over the years, but as of this past September, was officially back on track.
Speaking in an interview with Billboard at the time, drummer/vocalist Matt Camreon revealed the group were halfway done tracking their final parts. Those contributions were being built around the recordings and song ideas they worked on for the record prior to Cornell‘s 2017 death.
Speaking with The Seattle Times on tackling that record now all these years later, Cameron offered:
“It’s a massive emotional roller coaster. A lot of highs, a lot of lows. The highs are based on the fact that the music is seeing its light of day, it’s coming to life. Some of it feels like it could have been a new chapter in songwriting for the group, so that’s super bittersweet. But it’s been challenging to work on some of this music, soloing up Chris’ vocals and hearing that beautiful voice come through the speakers all on its own.”
Guitarist Kim Thayil added:
“The delay in the process was damaging in some ways to the emotive nature of the experience. Certainly, it’s great that we’re doing it now. I’m wondering — because you can’t help but wonder — how that emotive and creative journey might have been undertaken six, seven, eight years ago. You will never know that, and there’s something unfortunate (and) damaging about that. But there’s something also beneficial about that because we’re doing it now, and it’s beautiful. It’s a way to post tribute to our beloved brother. All of it just has that much more weight emotionally and creatively, and we don’t take that lightly.”
As for if the band would ever perform any of these new songs live, Cameron remained cautious, but didn’t rule out the idea:
“We haven’t really gotten there yet. We’re just trying to get the music together. But I think there might be some situations where it would be really cool to do that. It’s just a matter of getting the right people together, and we’ve got some amazing people that we’ve been working with, some singers that have expressed interest. So, we’re really, really excited about what that could potentially look like.”
