King Ultramega partners with Joe Satriani on new single “Be Yourself”

Alternative rock collective King Ultramega, featuring members of Alice in Chains, Anthrax, Mastodon and Soundgarden, have returned with a haunting instrumental rendition of the Audioslave classic, “Be Yourself“. This new single release once again aims to celebrate Chris Cornell’s musical genius while raising funds and awareness for MusiCares. MusiCares is the Recording Academy’s nonprofit that provides mental health, addiction recovery, and emergency services to those in the music community. 

“Be Yourself” features legendary guitarist Joe Satriani on lead guitar, echoing vocalist Chris Cornell’s melodic motifs and building on the song’s phrasings. Though following in Cornell’s footsteps on a different instrument sounds like a tall order, Satriani rose to the challenge, proud to show his love for a fallen hero. Expertly replicating the essence of the song with crystal-clear lead tones, tasteful vibrato, and subtle pedal effects, Satriani lets his guitar sing with all the passion and tenderness that the song’s lyrics originally conveyed. This loving instrumental homage proves that the message and power behind Audioslave‘s composition transcends words.

Satriani comments:

[Chris Cornell] was a brilliant vocalist and communicator. He often used his voice like an instrument, shaping the tone of his voice like a guitarist would finesse riffs and phrases. I took a deep dive into his magical sensibilities and came up with a multi-tracked guitar production approach that I felt would pay proper homage to his brilliance.

The concept for an instrumental rendition of “Be Yourself” originated with the bassist, producer, and mastermind of King Ultramega, Mark Menghi. As a producer, he envisioned a version of the song that deftly balanced the art of paying respect to the original, while also reimagining the song with a unique musical voice from Satriani. As a bassist, Menghi strove to keep the bass parts nearly identical to the original song, allowing Satriani the freedom to lend his own voice to the music. Renowned drummer Kenny Aronoff, who has been named one of the greatest drummers of all time by Rolling Stone magazine, and has toured and recorded with a who’s who of legendary artists such as The Rolling Stones, The Smashing Pumpkins, Paul McCartney, John Fogerty and many more, provides the laid-back, but emotionally-resonant groove of “Be Yourself“, laying the foundation with Menghi for Satriani‘s melodies to shine.

Menghi comments:

I remember like it was yesterday, I was on a run through some crazy trail,  just zoning out and the original song came on through my headphones… as I was running, I remember hearing Chris sing ‘to be yourself is all that you can do’ it was like he was talking to me… then thought to myself ‘I can totally hear this as an instrumental a-la Satch style’… My hope is that whomever is listening to this song hears Chris over Joe’s guitar and understands that we are paying homage to Chris with our take on this tune.

Aronoff comments:

I listened to ‘Be Yourself’ over and over again, absorbing the lyrics and the feel and vibe of this song, then I recorded my drums. Their recording had an emotional impact on me and that had a big effect on my performance.

Watch the video:

Listen: https://kingum.rpm.link/beyourself

Lineup for “Be Yourself“:

Joe Satriani – Guitar

Mark Menghi – Bass

Kenny Aronoff – Drums

More by King Ultramega:

‚Rusty Cage (feat. Bill Keliher & William DuVall)‘ OFFICIAL LYRICVIDEO: