Taylor Momsen spoke with Spin about the impact that Chris Cornell’s death had on her latest record, Death by Rock & Roll.
The Pretty Reckless was on tour with Soundgarden in 2017 when their lead singer took his own life. Momsen told the magazine, “I talked to him at night I gave him a hug and said goodbye. When I wake up to that news the next morning … It just went from the most elating experience to the one of the most devastating.”
The band was supposed to be on the road for another year after Cornell’s suicide, but Momsen left the tour. She said, “I couldn’t grieve and continue to get on stage every night and pretend, put on this big rock show like everything was okay.”
Eventually, she picked up her guitar and was able to begin work on what would become the band’s fourth studio album.
Momsen said of the process, “I didn’t have to try to write it. It was more just a necessity that I didn’t even know I needed. It just kind of poured out of me. There were a lot of tears during the recording. We put everything we had into this album, physically, emotionally There are good days, bad days, obviously. I think the full spectrum of emotions was spanned on making this, from anger to tears of happiness to tears of sadness.”
Death by Rock & Roll is set to be released on February 12th.