Kim Thayil recently addressed the question of a potential Soundgarden live comeback without the late Chris Cornell. He shared his thoughts in an interview with Joann Butler In Studio.
Thayil spoke candidly about the surviving members’ desire to continue playing together. He clarified what performing Soundgarden material means to him, Matt Cameron, and Ben Shepherd — while also touching on the final album featuring previously unreleased recordings of Cornell.
“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,” Thayil said.
He went on to acknowledge the irreplaceable role Cornell played in the band’s identity.
“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 continued.
Thayil also shed light on the status of the long-in-progress final Soundgarden record. He explained that much of the creative work had already been done before Cornell’s passing in 2017.
“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,” he added.
No official release date for the album has been announced yet. It remains to be seen whether the surviving members will take the stage together in the future.
The road to completing the album has been anything but straightforward. Legal disputes and unresolved questions around Cornell’s vocal recordings kept the project in limbo for years before any real progress could be made.
In 2023, Soundgarden and Cornell’s widow Vicky Cornell reached a settlement that cleared a significant legal obstacle. This finally opened the door for the surviving members to move forward with the unreleased material. The dispute had centered on access to Cornell’s vocal tracks, which are central to the album’s completion.
With that hurdle behind them, the remaining work appears to be largely technical rather than creative. Cameron indicated that the band had already completed most of the writing. He noted that finishing the record is now primarily a matter of editing and assembling the existing recordings, rather than building new material from the ground up.
Thayil’s recent comments reinforce that the band’s approach to any live return is equally measured. He and the other surviving members have made clear that a live reunion is not something they want to force. Thayil emphasized that the songs feel whole only when performed as a unit — one that inherently includes Cornell’s irreplaceable role.
For now, the focus remains on honoring that legacy through the album. The surviving members appear committed to seeing the project through, treating it as both a creative obligation and a final tribute to the band they built together over more than three decades.
