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By MARKO JOVANOVIC
SOUNDGARDEN drummer Matt Cameron has dropped a significant update on Chris Cornell’s final recordings, which were held back for several years by the band’s feud with Chris’ widow Vicky .
Chatting with Billboard, Matt now revealed that while the recordings are highly unlikely to drop before the group’s November 8 Rock Hall induction, they will be unveiled in the near future. This strongly indicates that the feud is over after the settlement was reached back in 2023.
Matt said about the new material, “There’s not a set release date or anything as of yet. There were a couple schools of thought, like, ‘Hey, let’s put out a single.’ I think eventually we decided we want to make sure the whole thing is completed before we start releasing singles. I’m excited for people to hear it.”
The drummer added about working on Cornell’s final tracks: “Emotionally it’s been extreme highs and extreme lows. Hearing his [Cornell’s] voice on these powerful hard rock songs is the most empowering thing in the world for me.
“Then I listen to his voice soloed up when I’m working on stuff, or if Kim [Thayil, guitar] or Ben [Shepherd, bass] is working on something and it all comes back to the fact that he’s not with us and he left us in a way that has so many questions.
“It’s been gut-wrenching but at the same time very empowering.”
The feud started back in late 2019, around two years after Cornell’s death, when Vicky sued the band for allegedly withholding royalties of seven recordings.
The suit called the group out for “shamelessly conspiring to wrongfully withhold hundreds of thousands of dollars indisputably owed to Chris’ widow and minor children in an unlawful attempt to strong-arm Chris’ Estate into turning over certain audio recordings created by Chris before he passed away.”
The band responded by saying the unreleased recordings came to be during the group’s writing sessions back in 2015, offering tangible evidence and citations from public interviews to back their claims.
Ultimately, the two parties have reached an out-of-court resolution in 2023, which paved the way for the recordings to finally be released.
The April 2023 announcement reads, “Soundgarden and Vicky Cornell, on behalf of the Estate of Chris Cornell, are happy to announce they have reached an amicable out of court resolution.
“The reconciliation marks a new partnership between the two parties, which will allow Soundgarden fans around the world to hear the final songs that the band and Chris were working on.
“The two parties are united and coming together to propel, honor and build upon Soundgarden’s incredible legacy as well as Chris’s indelible mark on music history – as one of the greatest songwriters and vocalists of all time.”
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