Kim Thayil wants to complete unfinished Soundgarden tracks

Soundgarden (Image credit: UMC)

Kim Thayil says he’d like to complete work on Soundgarden tracks that were left incomplete following the death of Chris Cornell.

The guitarist was speaking with Music Radar when he was asked about the state of material on the unfinished Soundgarden album.

Thayil replies: “It was demos, but the demo quality was pretty good, because both Chris and Matt Cameron had become very interested in their home recording technique, so they might demo a song, and then Ben Shepherd and I would add our guitars or bass.

“Maybe Matt might play drums to a riff that Chris had recorded – and that would be recorded by one of our engineers or techs.”

He adds: “Right now, that’s all kind of stalled. We tried to get this going two years ago, but we’re not in possession of any of the demos that Chris was working on with them. We have copies, but what we need are the files, so that we’d be able to overdub and finish the record. We are not in possession of those.”

Asked what it would take to get hold of the files, Thayil says: “We don’t know. We’ve asked nicely, we’ve suggested that this will benefit all parties, if the band could just have these files, and we could finish the songs we were working on.

“But there seems to be some confusion amongst various parties as to what that would entail and how that works, and who that would benefit.

“It’s been tiring and we can’t move on until some future date when someone realises the value of allowing the creative partners to have access to the material.”

Soundgarden’s Live From The Artists Den will be released tomorrow (July 26) UMC/Polydor.

It’ll launch on 2CD, 4LP, limited edition 4LP, Blu-ray and as a deluxe box set, featuring the 29-track concert film, with more than 30 minutes of bonus interviews on multiple LP, CD and Blu-ray formats.

Scott has spent 37 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in 2014 before moving into e-commerce in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, highlights deals, and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 12 years, Scott has written more than 11,500 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from news and 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.