Soundgarden’s Ben Shepherd: We Kept ‘Live to Rise’ Family-Friendly

2012-06-13

Story by Cat Badra

Bass player says movie studio asked Soundgarden to keep their soundtrack cut tame

When Soundgarden got the call to write a song for the “Marvel’s the Avengers” soundtrack, there were a few stipulations. Speaking with Digital Spy, bass player Ben Shepherd explained that when Soundgarden put together the song that would eventually end up on the soundtrack, “Live to Rise,” they were given guidance to keep it family-friendly.

“I personally never think about what studios or people like that want, but they said it couldn’t be as extremely hardcore as some Soundgarden material,” he said. “We didn’t want to scare off families, so it had to be toned down a little.”

Still, he’s happy with the outcome of “Live to Rise,” which hit No. 1 on the active rock chart last month. “ …It was fine,” he said. “The lyrics are still beautiful, powerful and dark. We’re probably the darkest band to ever be associated with Disney. It sounds like Soundgarden to me.”

Last month, frontman Chris Cornell told Rolling Stone that the guys enjoyed the process of writing a song specifically for a movie soundtrack. “The first thought was, ‘Let’s take one of our songs,’” he said. “That thought lasted about three minutes. I didn’t believe that we had anything that was gonna really work. But it did seem like it would be a cool challenge to try and write [a new song].”

Soundgarden wrapped up gigs at the Sweden Rock Festival in Solvesborg, Sweden, as well as the U.K.’s Download Festival this past weekend. Soundgarden’s new full-length, which will be the follow-up to their 1996 release “Down on the Upside,” is expected to drop in October of this year.

 




Cat Badra
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