Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil recently opened up about the logistical and emotional hurdles of completing the band’s final album, which features previously unreleased recordings from late frontman Chris Cornell.
Speaking with Jason Kerepesi and Paul Ghiglieri on the “State of Love & Trust Podcast“, the guitarist detailed the unique recording process. Thayil, alongside drummer Matt Cameron and bassist Ben Shepherd, is currently collaborating with veteran producer Terry Date. Date previously worked with the grunge legends on their classic studio albums Louder Than Love (1989) and Badmotorfinger (1991).
When explaining the technical challenges of piecing the record together without their frontman, Thayil stated:
“In terms of the process, the goal is gold. It’s difficult because it’s atypical in the way we’re pursuing this recording. Obviously we’re missing a creative member. Fortunately, we have his works, we understand, that aspect of his vision. And we have to understand what our vision is from our creative viewpoint because a lot of these songs were written with us or by us — Chris or Matt or Ben or myself. So we have to explore that kind of down one person. But also the whole process, it’s not as obviously linear. There isn’t a start point and then a budgeted schedule and an ending point. There’s kind of a series of sideways moves and retroactive visitations. It’s, like, ‘Oh, we have to go back and fill this in,’ because, the track we have is just a demoed part and I gotta redo that guitar part. So that’s unusual and very different. And, again, the budgeting of the time and the money is also different. It’s not, like, ‘Here, we’re gonna go in in March and we’ll finish by May, and hopefully by May we’ll be doing the background vocals and guitar solos. And then we send it off to mixing.’ We’re kind of fitting it in with the schedules of the individuals, the producers, engineers, Matt, Ben and myself.”
He also touched on the heavy emotional toll the studio sessions have taken on the surviving members as they navigate the music Cornell left behind.
“It’s emotionally difficult and challenging because we tended to write songs that we liked, songs that we enjoyed, songs that moved us,” Thayil continued. So if it didn’t do anything for us, we probably weren’t gonna pursue it. So it is moving us emotionally, intellectually, psychologically. So you’re constantly re-exploring that within this context. And that’s different. That’s a trip. So the fact that we love it, that we enjoy it, we enjoy the goal, we enjoy where we want to be, where we want this project to be, that makes it pleasant and a labor of love. The process is different and at times difficult. But the goal and the end game of the project is the best that we can have.”
Speaking recently with LifeMinute editor-in-chief Joann Butler, Thayil detailed the ongoing collaboration involving himself, Matt Cameron, Ben Shepherd, and Terry Date.
Kim Thayil provided deep insight into the current state of the unreleased material, explaining that while the core writing was largely completed years ago, the band is currently focused on fleshing out the rough arrangements into full-scale studio tracks.
“This material has been in existence for over 10 years in some cases, 14, 15 years. It was in various stages of writing, sharing, learning, recording. So what we need to do is finish that process, and most of the process, most of the writing had been complete. So it’s mostly about recording. There were things that had been demoed by me, by Matt, by Chris, by Ben. But, again, demo. They’re very rough. They’re sketches. You start with a little pencil sketch, and you fill it in with whatever, chalks or oils or pastels. And that’s what we have to do, is finish the sketches. And we’re in that process,” he said at the time.
Unlike a traditional album cycle driven by strict corporate deadlines, the guitarist noted that the current creative process is highly fluid, relying on the members’ ability to coordinate their schedules amidst other personal and professional obligations.
“It is 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 the time and coordinate amongst ourselves to address the work. And it’s being addressed.”
Emphasizing the massive emotional weight and responsibility tied to the project, Thayil stated unequivocally that the final record serves as a crucial tribute to their fallen brother.
“It’s very, very important to all of us. 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 and friend.”
Beyond the ongoing studio work, Thayil was also asked about the possibility of the surviving trio eventually returning to the stage together. While stopping short of confirming any official plans, he openly acknowledged the deep, irreplaceable bond the three musicians share when performing their classic catalog.
”Well, we like playing together — Matt and Ben and I like playing together — and we know that if we want to enjoy the songs that we’ve played for decades, that that satisfaction of performing this material can only really happen with the three of us. It could only happen with the four of us. But since there’s three of us remaining, then we know that that is that window of opportunity for us to share with each other material that we’d performed on and wrote on together,” he concluded.
During an interview last November with Allison Hagendorf, the trio of Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron, and Ben Shepherd discussed the heavy process of revisiting the unreleased recordings.
Thayil explained that Date was the obvious choice for the project, specifically because of his “hands-off” sonic philosophy.
“That’s one of the cool things about Terry, is he never imposed his production style or sound on any bands. He would learn from the bands,” Thayil told Hagendorf at the time. “There are a lot of producers out there who have a particular style — for instance, you think about Phil Spector and the ‘wall of sound’. It’s, like, okay, well, that’s his thing… but with the way bands are post-1977, they have a sense of what they’re writing and what they wanna sound like, and the producers should simply facilitate that.”
Thayil added that Date‘s lack of a “signature” sound is his greatest strength: “It is him helping the band be the band.”
While the album serves as a tribute to the band’s legacy, drummer Matt Cameron hinted that fans should expect sonic evolution rather than a pure retread of the past. He admitted that hearing the new direction was an intense experience.
“There’s very familiar elements in some of this new music, but, yeah, there was a couple songs that felt like it was kind of a new chapter or it could have been a new chapter,” Cameron said. “So it’s really exciting to hear that. It’s bittersweet, of course.”
Cameron confirmed that the recording process is in its final stages. “We’re pretty close [to finishing it],” he noted, adding, “It’s fun for us to be working on it. And sometimes listening to it, it’s overpowering.”
For Ben Shepherd, the magnitude of the material didn’t truly hit him until he stepped away from the recording console. He recalled a specific moment of realization while taking a break with assistant engineer Nate and producer Date.
“I was going to get coffee down the hall from the control room, and Nate and Terry were playing it back,” Shepherd recalled. “It was, like, ‘Holy hell. That’s Soundgarden. It’s so cool to hear it again.’”
Thayil echoed that sentiment, describing the transformation of the demos into full-fledged tracks as a moment of clarity: “It’s almost like you can pinpoint before and after. It’s, like, ‘Now it’s Soundgarden.’”
Kim Thayil has also unveiled an emotional excerpt from his forthcoming memoir, “A Screaming Life: Into The Superunknown With Soundgarden And Beyond“, which you can read here. Scheduled for release on June 9, the book includes a deeply somber chapter where the musician reflects on the tragic 2017 death of Chris Cornell.
