Kim Thayil, the quiet Nigel Tufnel to Chris Cornell's David St. Hubbins, piped up to Rolling Stone about the unreleased Soundgarden tracks that will be on the upcoming b-side, and the incredibly minor, almost nonexistent obstacles standing in the way of a Soundgarden reunion:

What will be on the box set?
Stuff that was released only in Europe, Australia, and Japan, on movie soundtracks, sessions we did for John Peel in England, and then stuff that was never released — demo versions of things, alternate versions of songs, and songs that were recorded, but never released in any form, that we would simply have to mix and maybe re-edit, which would be like brand new Soundgarden songs. Songs that no one's heard, except for maybe a few people close to Soundgarden's circle.

What are some titles of these unreleased tracks?
"Dirty Candy," "Ocean Fronts," "Open Up," "Summation" — that was a pretty heavy song, in 5/4 time. "Ocean Fronts" is a little bit more of a trippy, arpeggiated song. A song called "Beast," which is going to sound exactly like the title. "Beast" and "Summation" were really strong songs live — from the mid-late '80s. I cannot believe those two songs have never been released. "No Shame" is another title. There's enough stuff out there to fill up three or four albums. There's enough original stuff that's been released but hasn't been compiled — B sides — to make an album. There's enough covers to make an album. There's enough remixes that Moby, Steve Fisk and Bill Rieflin did, that could constitute a pretty interesting EP. There's enough unreleased stuff to make an album. It's just getting the business and creative machine on the same page.

I'm salivating at the thought of an album's worth of Soundgarden covers. And the reunion:

Ben told me he thinks that if Soundgarden were to get back together, you guys could pick up exactly where you left off.
I think he's right. We all play enough and are acquainted with the material enough that I think it would take a few rehearsals. When Ben, Matt, and I got together with Tad, it was like falling off our bike and getting back on.

That said, could Soundgarden ever reunite?
People would have to want to. I think more importantly, tending to the merchandising catalog is something that would be satisfying for the band members and for the fans. I never say never ... but I'm not losing too much sleep over it, either.

I predict Coachella 2010 at the latest.

Chris Cornell didn't rule out (i.e. completely sealed the deal that there will be) a Soundgarden reunion, when commenting on the surprise mini-set performed by "Tadgarden" (Soundgarden members Ben Shepard, Kim Thayil and Matt Cameron with Tad frontman Tad Doyle) last month.

“I thought it was cool that they’d actually get together and rehearse some songs. I was kind of surprised by it, to be honest. And I love Tad. We toured with Tad; I’ve always felt he was a really amazing person and a really talented guy,” Cornell told the Post. “So I just really thought it was a cool thing for them to do. They were just getting up there and doing it for fun, and I think that’s great. The only thing I didn’t like is that I wasn’t there to see it.” As for whether Cornell would ever reunite with his old bandmates, Cornell admitted, “You never know.”

Coachella's when, next weekend?

Well, the pranks have begun. Continuing on his Twitter-originated diss on Chris Cornell's new Timbaland-produced album, Trent Reznor has a hilarious sendup at the Nine Inch Nails site about a strange new album with songs like "Everybody's Doing It" (featuring Chris Martin, Jay-Z AND Bono). We'll bring more rock star April Fools jokes as they develop.