Surviving Soundgarden Members Respond to Vicky Cornell’s Latest Lawsuit

February 23rd, 2021 at 11:04am
MetalSucks

The surviving members of Soundgarden have responded to the latest lawsuit filed against them by Chris Cornell’s widow, Vicky Cornell.

Vicky and surviving members Kim Thayil (guitar), Ben Shepherd (bass), and Matt Cameron (drums), have been at odds since at least 2019, when Thayil alleged that Cornell’s vocal tracks for the final Soundgarden album were being witheld. Several months later, Vicky sued the band, alleging that they’ve been “withholding hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties owed to her and Chris’ 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 subsequently countersued, arguing that Cornell wasn’t the sole author of the recordings, and that they should therefore be returned to the band; that they learned about Cornell’s death from Facebook; and that Vicky used revenue from a Chris Cornell charity tribute concert for “personal purposes.” That final part of the countersuit was later dropped.

Last week, Vicky filed a new complaint against the band, alleging thrio attempted to buy out her share of Soundgarden with an insultingly low offer of $300,000 — which she says is less than she made from Soundgarden-related royalties in 2018.

Unsurprisingly, in a formal statement released earlier this week, Thayil, Shepherd, and Cameron deny all the allegations:

“The buyout offer that was demanded by the Estate has been grossly mischaracterized and we are confident that clarity will come out in court. All offers to buy out our interests have been unsolicited and rejected outright. For more than a year, Soundgarden’s social media accounts have been hijacked; misleading and confusing our fans. Being a band from Washington State since 1984, we are proud of Soundgarden’s musical legacy, work and career. We look forward to completing the final Soundgarden album.”