ABC/Randy Holmes

ABC/Randy HolmesPrior to Chris Cornell‘s death May 2017, Soundgarden had begun working on a new album, the follow-up to their 2012 comeback effort, King Animal. Speaking to Music Radar, guitarist Kim Thayil says the grunge rockers would like to finish recording the album, but the project has been “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,” Thayil explains. “We have copies of them, 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.”

Thayil adds that he and the remaining members of Soundgarden — drummer Matt Cameron and bassist Ben Shepherd — have “asked nicely” for the demos, but to no avail.

“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,” Thayil says.

“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,” he continues. “And it’s been tiring…we can’t move on until some future date when someone realizes the value of allowing the creative partners to have access to the material.”

Meanwhile, Soundgarden will release a new live album and concert film, Live from the Artists Den, this Friday, July 26. The special was recorded in 2013 at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles.

Copyright © 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.