Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron and Ben Shepherd of Soundgarden have filed a legal response to the suit filed against them by Chris Cornell’s widow Vicky Cornell on 9 December 2019.
Soundgarden have told Vicky Cornell “We don’t have possession of our own creative work.”
Soundgarden, through a media statement, say the main points of their response are:
• Vicky Cornell has possession of the only existing multi-track recordings of the last Soundgarden tracks that include Chris Cornell’s instrumental parts and vocals. All of the band members jointly worked on these final tracks, Vicky now claims ownership of the final Soundgarden album.
• Vicky Cornell’s complaint claims she is owed monies. In fact, all of the band members are also owed monies, but none of the band members nor Plaintiff will be paid until expenses are paid and the partnership shares of earnings can be calculated and distributed.
• The plaintiff lives in New York. All surviving band members live in the Seattle area. It is unclear why the lawsuit was filed in Florida.
• During what Soundgarden felt were productive and amicable conversations trying to find a way to work with Vicky, the complaint was initiated without notice.
• The complaint alleges that the band members behaved callously at the time of Chris Cornell’s death. This is patently false and emotionally abusive.
In their response the three surviving Soundgarden members says they learned for Chris Cornell’s death from Facebook.
In response reads, “As their buses were headed to Columbus in the early morning of May 18, the Surviving Band Members learned that Cornell had been found dead in his hotel room in Detroit after midnight (tragically, Cameron first saw a “RIP: Chris Cornell” item on his Facebook page, called Thayil who was on the other bus, who then woke Shepherd, and they and their crew frantically searched news, social media and called friends and family, until they received the awful confirmation from their tour manager).
“Thayil, Cameron and Shepherd were utterly devastated to lose their beloved friend, brother, and comrade, and were in a state of shock. As they pulled their buses to the roadside, embraced each other, and struggled with what to do next, their tour manager advised them not to go back to Detroit as it would be swimming with police, press, and other media, and there was nothing positive that could be achieved. They also had a throng of highly-distraught crew and tour team members already in or headed to Columbus who needed support”.
The Soundgarden response is to dismiss the suit by Vicky Cornell for unpaid royalties which she claims they are doing to force her to release demo tapes of the band in her possession.
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