Metal Allegiance’s Mark Menghi, Anthrax’s Charlie Benante, and The Winery Dogs’ Richie Kotzen have released a cover of Temple Of The Dog’s “Say Hello 2 Heaven” as part the Chris Cornell tribute project King Ultramega. Proceeds from the track will be donated to MusiCares.
All three musicians commented:
Kotzen:
“‘Say Hello 2 Heaven’ is one of those songs that’s bigger than genre or era — it hits a universal nerve. I didn’t approach it thinking about how to reinterpret it — I just focused on honoring the emotion. I played guitar and sang in service to the song and the legacy it carries. I’m honored to be part of a tribute that holds this kind of weight.
I lost my sister to suicide in 2022, and that kind of loss changes how you experience certain songs. It’s not something I set out to bring into the session, but it showed up. That’s when it stopped feeling like just a tribute and became something more personal.”
Menghi:
“Once I knew King Ultramega was going to unfold into a project of sorts, ‘Say Hello 2 Heaven’ was one of the first songs I picked (with Charlie) because of the lyrical message. Temple of the Dog was (and remains) a tribute to the late, great Andrew Wood of Mother Love Bone. However, the lyrical message in ‘Say Hello 2 Heaven’ strikes a chord when you think back on how Chris wrote about Andrew’s untimely passing and he we are 30+ years later paying tribute to Chris with his song about his untimely passing. It’s an emotional rollercoaster to say the least.”
Benante:
“I was a huge Mother Love Bone fan and I remember being in Lonn Friends office at RIP Magazine when he got the call that Andrew Wood had passed away and I was just so bummed about it, I loved that record and I thought this was gonna be the next big thing. It was very sad. Let’s fast forward, I’m on tour and someone from our management came on the bus and knew I loved Mother Love Bone and they gave me an advance copy of Temple of the Dog. I’ll never forget the first time I heard it because I put it on and the first song was ‘Say Hello 2 Heaven’ and it was magical… the song is amazing but Chris singing on it… everything that went into that song was pure love. Not Love Bone, just pure love. When the pandemic hit and I started doing all these songs and asked my friends to be a part of it, ‘Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns’ was a big one to do. ‘Say Hello 2 Heaven’ was another song that I just felt the need to do and when I was talking to Mark (Menghi) about it, that was one he suggested too. ‘Say Hello 2 Heaven’ is probably one of my favorite songs of all-time and I’m glad we had a chance to do it and hopefully everyone thinks we did it justice.”
Metal Anarchy 