Chris Cornell (Soundgarden, Audioslave) passed away on May 18th, 2017 at the age of 52. His death was ruled as a suicide by hanging. Soundgarden bandmate Matt Cameron paid tribute to Cornell on the one year anniversary of his death with an Instagram post, found below.

 

Can't believe it's already been one year since I lost my musical soulmate and special friend Chris Cornell. Chris always led by example-his work ethic, his sense of humor, his love of animals, his love of the Cascades, his love of family. Bands are nearly impossible to get right, but Soundgarden felt incredibly fierce and so right for me on day one, mid February 1986. I auditioned for Soundgarden in Chris' living room, sat behind his rusty Tama kit and counted in Ocean Fronts, my all time favorite SG tune. The tune had kind of a long intro, it sounded great and then all of a sudden Chris starts singing the verse. I was instantly blown away by the impact of his voice and I felt myself settling into the band on my first try. It was all because of that mind blowing voice. When the song was over Chris turned to me with a big smile on his face and said "you played it perfectly, we have a gig at the Central in one week, want to do it?" "Yes, I want to do it," I replied. I will forever praise him for the decades of encouragement he gave me and for the fierce friendship we forged. I love you buddy.

A post shared by Matt Cameron (@themattcameron) on May 18, 2018 at 11:04am PDT

Cameron and guitarist Kim Thayil will perform together for the first time since Chris Cornell's death, on June 8th at Denmark’s Northside Festival. He is set to make a special guest appearance with MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer's MC50, which includes Kim Thayil, at the festival.

 

Kick Out the Jams: @PearlJamʼs Matt Cameron will perform at @NorthSide_DK with @MC50th! https://t.co/KCNQ298jCq

— PearlJamOnLine.it (@PearlJamOnLine) April 17, 2018

According to the festival website:

The most iconic beginning to a punk song ever was delivered by Detroit’s own Wayne Kramer, who in 1968 shouted, “And right now … right now … right now it’s time to … kick out the jams, motherfuckers!”, from the stage of the Grande Ballroom in Detroit. That’s how the title song from the debut album Kick Out the Jams by MC5 starts, which today is considered one of the most important albums from the time just before the world fell in love with Sex Pistols, Ramones, Black Flag, and The Clash.

To celebrate the upcoming 50th anniversary of the groundbreaking album, Kramer has gathered a new band around him, which he calls the MC50. The band consists of the guitarist Kim Thayil from Soundgarden, Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty, King’s X bassist Doug Pinnick, and Marcus Durant from Zen Guerrilla. They will this summer perform all eight songs from the debut album plus other favorites from the MC5 catalog .

MC50 will play Friday, June 8th at NorthSide 2018.