Kim Thayil: New Soundgarden Album With Chris Cornell Vocals Is "Entirely Possible" | Revolver

Kim Thayil: New Soundgarden Album With Chris Cornell Vocals Is "Entirely Possible"

Guitarist says, "We definitely have another record in us"
soundgarden BORUCKI, Justin Borucki
Soundgarden, 2012
photograph by Justin Borucki

On a recent episode of SiriusXM's series Trunk Nation LA Invasion, Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil spoke at length about the stirrings that the grunge giants could potentially release one final album featuring the late Chris Cornell on vocals, given the amount of material they'd complete before the singer's death in May 2017. 

"It is entirely possible, because that's what we were doing," he confirmed. "We definitely have another record in us. Stuff that's written, stuff that's demoed and recorded — certainly. All it would need is to take the audio files that are available." The musician added that he and surviving bandmates, bassist Ben Shepherd and drummer Matt Cameron, would need to come in and add new parts or at least "tighten" their existing own parts, plus a producer would have to do some work to "make it sound like a Soundgarden record," but the raw materials are there to make it happen. 

As for those all-important audio files, Thayil remains positive that those will eventually make their way into the band's hands. "I think that will happen," he said. "It would be ridiculous if it didn't. But these are difficult things — partnerships and property."

One thing seems for sure, though, and it's that Soundgarden will not go on without Cornell. While Thayil acknowledged the success and viability of bands such as Alice in Chains, who moved on following Layne Staley's 2002 death, he explained that he and the rest of Soundgarden could not follow suit.

"Given our sentiments and love for Chris," he concluded, "I do not see us reconfiguring a tour or anything as other bands have done in the past, without him."