Surviving Soundgarden members “would love” to work together again

Surviving Soundgarden members Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron and Ben Shepherd have spoken about Chris Cornell’s legacy and their desire to continue to work together in the future.

The trio attended the ceremony to unveil the statue of Cornell in Seattle on Sunday, which was commissioned by his widow Vicky Cornell. The event was attended by fans of the late vocalist and guitarist, along with his friends and family.

Speaking with Rolling Stone at the event, drummer Matt Cameron reflected: “There were so many moments with Chris that impacted my development as a musician and later on, just as friends.

“I remember so much of when I first joined the band in 1986. The band was still formulating a sound, but it didn’t take long to get to the sound that it eventually would become and to stay that path. 

“As a guy who’s played in bands forever and ever, it’s really hard to get that so early on in the life of a band, so that’s still significant to me.”

As for their future, Cameron says that the three of them would like to work together again going forward, but it’s still early days.

Cameron said: “We’re just still taking our time and giving ourselves space to process everything. We would certainly love to try to continue to do something, figure out something to do together.”

Bassist Shepherd added: “We haven’t even gotten a chance to hang out, just us three yet. We’re going through natural healing, then thinking about the natural next step.”

Cornell died on May 18, 2017, with Vicky Cornell calling on fans to join her in remembering her husband on the anniversary of his death earlier this year.

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent 35 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott keeps Louder’s buyer’s guides up to date, writes about the best deals for music fans, keeps on top of the latest tech releases and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 10 years, Scott has written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald newspapers, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.