Hunter Benedict Shepherd (born September 20, 1968) is an American musician best known as the bassist of rock band Soundgarden, with whom he has won two Grammy Awards.

Born in Okinawa, Shepherd grew up in Washington and developed an interest in music after watching Johnny Cash on TV. He played in various punk-rock bands and eventually joined Soundgarden as their bassist in 1990. Shepherd contributed to the band's musical evolution and played a significant role in songwriting. In 1993, he formed a side project, Hater, with Matt Cameron and John McBain. Soundgarden broke up in 1997, leading Shepherd to struggle with addiction and personal issues. He played in various bands before Soundgarden reunited in 2010, continuing until Chris Cornell's death in 2017.

Shepherd released a solo album, In Deep Owl, in 2013, and has two children. He partially owns an upscale Seattle bar, Hazlewood, and resides on Bainbridge Island, Washington.

Early life

Shepherd was born in an American military base in Okinawa. His father worked in the Nike missile program and played the guitar. His family moved to Allen, Texas, then settled in Kingston, Washington, where Shepherd grew up. Shepherd became interested in music after listening to Johnny Cash on television. When Shepherd asked his father for a guitar, his father complied only after insisting he must learn every chord in a large book with nothing but a guitar neck. Shepherd did so—with help from his cousin Ralph "Tony" McMullen—and his father bought him his first guitar.

Musical career

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

Shepherd has two children. He currently resides on Bainbridge Island, Washington. Shepherd is also the partial owner of an upscale Seattle bar called Hazlewood.

Musical style

thumb|Shepherd in 2013

Shepherd started playing bass trying to replace former Soundgarden bassist Hiro Yamamoto. He considers his predecessor a major influence, particularly as Yamamoto differed from bassists "relegated to a role of following along", even if his bass "was mixed so damn quietly on the recordings that I could never hear him well enough to develop a deep understanding of his fluidity or his textures."

Shepherd followed a fingerstyle playing based on Yamamoto, punk rock musicians Chuck Dukowski from Black Flag, and Mike Watt. He also listened to jazz bassist Charles Mingus "because I wanted to learn how to play some dirty, weird shit." Shepherd considers that he approaches guitars "like a horn section", split between rhythm and lead, while "Bass is more fluid; you're a lot more free to do stuff because it's a song within a song". Rather than the more common practice of synchronizing with the drummer, Shepherd's preference is to play the bass along to the vocals, as "it helps to harmonize". Composing is usually done by Shepherd on the guitar, given all other Soundgarden members play that instrument. Bass-minded tracks such as "Switch Opens" are rare because, as he explained "you don't want to write a whole wandering bass line wondering what the drum beat and the guitar chords are going to be."

  • Gibson RD Artist Bass - Tuned to C-F-C-G for the song "4th of July".
  • Gibson Ripper - Seen used in studio work.
  • Gibson EB Bass - Not like the SG styled EB-0 or EB-3, more like an upside-down Mosrite with two humbuckers, a 2014 model in Bullion Gold vintage gloss.
  • Music Man StingRay - Black model with a maple fretboard, as well as an El Dorado Gold model with a rosewood fretboard.
  • Trussart Steelcaster Bass - An all-metal bass. Built by James Trussart in France in a 51 P Bass style with Jazz Bass pickups.
  • Airline Map Bass - Wooden re-issue of the fiberglass guitars of the '60s.
  • Fender Geddy Lee Jazz Bass - Used at the "Tadgarden" show.
  • Hofner 500/1 - Goldtop Icon B-Bass reissue model. 1 of 150.
  • Harmony Sovereign - Acoustic given to Ben by the owners of the OK Hotel in Seattle after their live music venue was destroyed following an earthquake.
  • Fender Telecaster Designer Series
  • Gibson ES-140
  • Gibson SG GT

;Amplifiers:

  • Ampeg SVT VR
  • Ampeg SVT 810AV and 610AV Cabs
  • Mesa Boogie M6 Carbine
  • Mesa Boogie PH 1000 Cab (sometimes used)

;Pedals: