Soundgarden (1990–1997) Shepherd was a fan of Soundgarden ever since their early days as a three-piece. His introduction was deemed by Soundgarden as helpful towards their musical evolution, bringing his own compositions that showed a new style, and guitarist
Kim Thayil adding that Shepherd gave "a creative and emotional punch". In addition to his role as bass player, Shepherd's role as a singer and songwriter increased during his tenure with Soundgarden. On his first recording with the band, the studio album
Badmotorfinger, Shepherd took part in writing the following songs: "
Slaves & Bulldozers" (music, co-written), "
Jesus Christ Pose" (music, co-written), "Face Pollution" (music), and "Somewhere" (music and lyrics). Shepherd also introduced some of the now signature
alternate tunings to the band, such as in the singles "
The Day I Tried To Live", "
My Wave", "
Pretty Noose", and "
Burden in My Hand". In 1993, Shepherd and Soundgarden drummer
Matt Cameron formed a side-project band called
Hater with
John McBain of
Monster Magnet. Shepherd sang vocals and played guitar in Hater, in addition to writing several songs on the band's first release, a self-titled album. A second album called
The 2nd was recorded in 1995 after Superunknown tour's end, but was not released until 2005, ten years later. In 1994, Soundgarden released
Superunknown, which featured Shepherd's compositions "Half" and "Head Down". The latter of which was heavily influenced by
The Beatles and was written after experimenting with mic placement on his Gibson L-50, picking up the guitar and strumming it to find he liked the wildly out of tune sound, making up the song's composition on the spot. "Half" was marked by an Indian flavor and was the first song on a Soundgarden album for which Shepherd sang lead vocals. Shepherd has said that "Half" was a song he wrote in case his daughter ever wanted to learn guitar. In 1996, Soundgarden released
Down on the Upside, in which six of the sixteen album tracks were lyrically and/or musically composed by Shepherd. The tracks were: "Zero Chance" (music), "Dusty" (music), "
Ty Cobb" (music), "Never Named" (music) "Switch Opens" (music) and "An Unkind" (music and lyrics). Shepherd once said he penned the music for "Never Named" at the age of sixteen. "Ty Cobb" was the first song Shepherd wrote that was made a single. The
Down on the Upside tour ended on February 9, 1997, in
Honolulu, with an acrimonious meltdown started by Shepherd. With the band in a bad mood and facing technical problems in their performance, Shepherd eventually got so frustrated he smashed his bass during "
Blow Up the Outside World", gave the audience
the finger and left the stage. He later said, "I'd had it up to here with my equipment dying. So I wasn't going to stand onstage and fake what I was playing." He then started a heated argument with Thayil backstage that nearly escalated into a fistfight, leading to only Cornell and Cameron returning for the encore. Two months later, Soundgarden announced it was breaking up, citing dissatisfaction and artistic differences.
Post-Soundgarden (1997–2010) Shepherd said that he was the one most affected by Soundgarden's breakup: "my fiancée broke up with me; and then I broke three ribs. I got addicted to pain pills, drank a ton, and wound up
OD'ing on
morphine. I was laid out in my house for five days, and no one knew it. It was a fucking horrible time — this total rock'n'roll cliché." In 2005, Shepherd formed the shortly lived band Unkmongoni and released the second Hater album,
The 2nd. In 2008, following the sale of the warehouse Soundgarden's equipment was being stored in, Shepherd was robbed of all his equipment including guitars, basses, and amplifiers collected and used through Soundgarden's career, and two records he had completed. Following the incident, a downtrodden Shepherd decided to quit music altogether and became a carpenter's assistant until he was eventually coerced into making his solo record
In Deep Owl and reuniting with Soundgarden shortly thereafter. In an August 2010 feature about the Soundgarden reunion with
Spin, Shepherd stated that before reuniting he was "totally broke" and was sleeping on friends' couches. Shepherd has since downplayed the statement, stating that he was only "sleeping on couches in studios when I was recording my solo album", preferring to stay in Seattle rather than go back home to
Bainbridge Island. Featured musicians include: • Ben Shepherd – Guitar, Bass guitar, Vocals,
Mandolin, Drums •
Matt Cameron – Drums, percussion •
Matt Chamberlain – Drums, percussion • Joseph Braley – Drums, percussion •
Greg Gilmore – Drums, percussion • Klaus – Winds (Sax) ==Personal life==