Kim Thayil, Ben Shepherd and Matt Cameron, the surviving members of Soundgarden, have launched new collective social media accounts.
On June 20 the Nude Dragons name appeared on Twitter and Instagram. Although no description or profile photo has been included on either account, both have posted photos of the three musicians together with the photo credits also attributed to them.
This isn’t the first time the band has used the name “Nude Dragons.” The band played under the name during a reunion show in April 2010, their first show together following a 13 year hiatus. “Nude Dragons” is an anagram of “Soundgarden.”
It is not known why Thayil, Shepherd and Cameron created the new accounts. This could be their way to move on following the death of frontman Chris Cornell. Alternatively, it could have something to do with the band’s ongoing legal battle with Cornell’s widow Vicky.
In December 2019, Vicky Cornell sued the band, claiming that they were withholding royalties from her late husband’s estate because the band was looking for files from previous recording sessions that were stored on Cornell’s laptops. The band then countersued in February 2020, saying that they had a right to the files because they were meant for a new Soundgarden album, and that there were no royalties being withheld because none were distributed to anyone in the first place. Another suit against Vicky was filed in May, claiming that they were misled on where the proceeds from the January 2018 Chris Cornell tribute concert were going. That suit also mentioned Vicky’s control of the band’s social media accounts, saying that “Without Band permission, Vicky Cornell, identifying herself as “Soundgarden,” has removed fan comments and has herself posted images and comments to publicly-accessible Band Social Media pages. Some of those postings by Vicky Cornell are intended to denigrate the Band and the Surviving Band Members.”
Soundgarden last performed together during the aforementioned January 2018 “I Am The Highway” Chris Cornell tribute concert. Cornell committed suicide in May 2017.
