In 1991, five future Seattle rock icons released their lone, self-titled LP as Temple of the Dog. To mark the album’s 25th anniversary, the Soundgarden-Pearl Jam supergroup will reunite for a five-show tour ”“ their first-ever trek. In November, the quintet ”“ singer Chris Cornell , guitarists Mike McCready and Stone Gossard, bassist Jeff Ament, drummer Matt Cameron ”“ will perform in Philadelphia, New York, San Francisco, Los angeles and Seattle.
“We wanted to do the one thing we never got to do … play shows and see what it feels like to be the band that we walked away from 25 years ago,” Cornell said in a statement. “This is something no one has ever seen. We wanted to stop and recognize that we did this and pay homage.”A special ticket sale for fans signed up to the Ten Club, Soundgarden and Chris Cornell email lists is ongoing until Wednesday, July 27th. General on-sale tickets will be available at noon local time on Friday, the 29th. For each ticket sold, $1.50 will benefit the Chris and Vicky Cornell Foundation and $1.50 will benefit Pearl Jam’s Vitalogy Foundation. On September 30th, UMe will release a 25th anniversary reissue of the band’s self-titled LP, newly mixed by Pearl Jam/Soundgarden collaborator Brendan O’Brien. The set will be available in four versions: a four-CD Super Deluxe package, a double-LP, a two-CD edition and a single CD. Physical pre-orders are available now.
The Super Deluxe and two-CD editions feature five studio outtakes and seven demo recordings (including two songs that didn’t make the album sessions, “Angel of Fire” and “Black Cat”). The former includes a DVD featuring a mix of live footage, music videos and more.
Cornell formed Temple of the Dog after the overdose death of close friend and roommate Andrew Wood, frontman of Mother Love Bone. After channeling his grief into music, he recruited Mother Love Bone members Gossard and Ament, who recruited McCready. Finally, they rounded out the lineup by bringing in Soundgarden’s Cameron.
Gossard, Ament and McCready were simultaneously forming a new project, later to be dubbed Pearl Jam, featuring frontman Eddie Vedder ”“ who added backing vocals to three tracks on Temple of the Dog .
“Temple was about making an album simply for the joy of doing it,” Cornell said. “We weren’t concerned what anyone outside of our group of friends would think of it. It was the first and maybe only stress-free album that we all made.”
Though they never toured, Temple of the Dog have performed live several times over the years ”“Â first in Seattle, in November and December of 1990. Cornell also joined Pearl Jam in 2014 at Neil Young’s Bridge School benefit show and for a pair of 2011 dates at PJ20 in Wisconsin. The Temple line-up united to play two tracks, “Reach Down” and “Call me a Dog,” last year at Seattle’s Benaroya Hall.
Temple of the Dog 25th Anniversary Tour Dates
November 4 – Philadelphia, PA @ Tower Theater
