Soundgarden tribute project King Ultramega‘s latest cover features a guest spot from none other than Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil. That project, led by Mark Menghi of Metal Allegiance fame, has been honoring the works of the aforementioned legendary grunge outfit and their late frontman Chris Cornell with a series of guest-filled tributes. Thayil appears on a just released rendition of “The Day I Tried To Live” — the second single from the fourth Soundgarden album, the 6x multi-platinum “Superunknown“.
Thayil isn’t the only guest participant on this track, as Anthrax‘s Charlie Benante is once again involved, while Arch Enemy vocalist Alissa White-Gluz stepped in on vocals. A portion of the proceeds from this single will go towards MusiCares — a nonprofit dedicated to assisting musicians struggling with mental health, addition recovery and other emergencies.
Both this track and King Ultramega‘s previous rendition of “Rusty Cage” featuring members of Alice In Chains and Mastodon have also been earmarked for an upcoming 12″ single, which you can find pre-orders for via bio.to/KingUltramega.
Thayil said of his involvement on this new take:
“I believe that the personal exploration that came out of my accepting the invitation from Mark, and King Ultramega, to participate in these recordings, allowed me to open myself up to the creative risks of sharing an emotive and artistically intimate experience with other creative individuals, and that this has proved to be rewarding and encouraging, for me, of future similar collaborations.”
Menghi went on to say:
“It was a bit nerve racking for me to go in and record this track knowing Kim was going to be on this song, as it’s his band’s song to begin with. In addition, it was equally important for me to keep it true to the original so Alissa had a strong foundation to deliver her magic. ‘What would Chris think?’ was the question that kept repeating in my head over and over.”
White-Gluz weighed in on he sizable challenge of living up to the late Chris Cornell‘s performance and his overall brilliance:
“I felt that I needed to try to embody his unique power and swagger when delivering the vocals here. He has always had such a remarkable way of wording things; ‘I stole a thousand beggars’ change and gave it to the rich’ – just so, so good. He always managed to grab our attention with narrative and keep our interest with thoughtful word choice and intriguing messages.”
Benante added:
“This is one of my favorite Soundgarden songs. I just love everything about the song. I especially love the ending, I never expected it to end the way it ends. It’s just a beautiful piece of music. Matt’s playing on this tune really compliments the song so much. I just tried to stay true to that.”
Soundgarden are set to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame tomorrow, November 08th, in a ceremony that will be held at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, CA. The band are expected to be inducted by actor Jim Carrey, while Alice In Chains‘ Jerry Cantrell, Pearl Jam‘s Mike McCready, Heart‘s Nancy Wilson, The Pretty Reckless‘ Taylor Momsen and Brandi Carlile expected to join the group’s surviving members for an onstage performance.
