Shaina Shepherd, the singer who recently fronted Soundgarden at a charity show, has responded to a question about the future of the band.
Surviving members Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron and Ben Shepherd reunited last month for a performance at the Showbox in Seattle. Aiming to help raise money for the Seattle Children’s Hospital as part of the SMooCH benefit show, they were billed as Nudedragons – an anagram of Soundgarden and the same name they used in 2010 when they reunited to play their first show since 1997.
Breaking out tracks including ‘Hunted Down’, ‘Outshined’, ‘Flower’ and ‘Beyond The Wheel’ with Shania Shepherd providing vocals, it marked the third ever time that the surviving members had performed together since frontman Chris Cornell’s passing.
As expected, the gig led to fans debating whether or not the band could be planning a comeback, and how they’d feel about potentially seeing the members reform with a new vocalist replacing Cornell.
Music outlet Hot Metal got involved in the discussion too, asking followers on Facebook if they’d like Shepherd to become a permanent fixture in the line-up.
🔦 Have you checked out this footage of the recent Soundgarden reunion show? Should their alliance with singer Shaina Shepherd become a more permanent thing?
Posted by Hot Metal on Thursday, January 9, 2025
There was a variety of responses to the post, with some being adamant that the original singer shouldn’t be replaced. The post also drew a response from Shepherd herself, who took to the comment section to dismiss some of the critical comments.
“Haters gonna hate while I live my dream,” she wrote.
One user responded to the singer, saying that they should be able to express their opinion without being accused of “hate”.
Responding again, Shepherd said: “Soundgarden is a revolutionary band that changed my life, your life, the world. I could never front Soundgarden. But I love making music with those guys. I did it for me, for them like any other music endeavour.
“I don’t care what any of you think – never did. I care what they think – always will. This whole article is meaningless. Just like your timeline.”
Chris Cornell helped found the iconic grunge band back in 1084, and was the frontman up until his death by suicide on May 18, 2017. He was aged 52.
Before the show in Seattle last month, his remaining bandmates only ever appeared together twice – once during a tribute show for the singer in 2019 and again in 2021 when they performed with Brandi Carlile.
Also in 2021, the Chris Cornell estate released ‘No One Sings Like You Anymore: Volume One’. This was a collection of cover songs handpicked by the late Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman and sequenced to celebrate artists and songs that inspired him.
At the time, his widow, Vicky, revealed that there was still a lot of music remaining in the vault and that there were plans to release a second volume.
