Pearl Jam say the death of Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell has impacted their new album.

Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam

The 'Black Hole Sun' hitmaker - who was also a member of Audioslave and Temple of the Dog - passed away in May 2017 when he took his own life, and now Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament has said his death has been "tough" for the band to deal with, and has in turn delayed their work on a new album.

He said: "It'd be fun to record or even just write a song together. I think when Chris [Cornell] passed, that's really been a tough one to wrap our heads around, and then there's just life stuff."

The 'Even Flow' musicians - also comprised of Eddie Vedder, Mike McCready, Stone Gossard, and Matt Cameron - insist they are "going to make a record" in the near future, but they're still "in the middle" of the process.

Guitarist Stone Gossard said: "We're going to make a record, and we're in the middle of it. We're just going to keep plugging away until we get one done."

To which Jeff added: "We've gone in, probably, four or five times in the last couple of years, so we have a whole ton of unfinished stuff. We're just sort of in a little bit of limbo. I'm sure everybody's got a bunch more riffs, and I'm sure Ed's got a handful of journal lyrics. It's just going to take us all getting into a room together for six weeks and just knocking something out."

Jeff already has plenty of music which he would like to use on a Pearl Jam record, but says if it doesn't work out, he'll use it as solo material instead.

Speaking to Rolling Stone magazine, he said: "Some of the stuff, it could turn into Pearl Jam stuff, and if I get a big group of songs together, I'll just put it out as a little solo release, which I've done three of or something. When I do those, it's mostly to clean off the shelves and finish stuff; it's stuff that has been on the Pearl Jam shelf for a few years and nobody is really responding to it."

A new Pearl Jam album would mark their first since 2013's 'Lightning Bolt', and their 11th overall.

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