in exile

In a stroke of sensationally good timing, Rip It Up's scheduled interview with the legendary Chris Cornell fell the day after his supergroup Audioslave announced they were calling it a day after six years together. Despite the shock revelation, Cornell was in good spirits when Rip It Up came calling, chatting freely about the demise of Audioslave, the fall of Soundgarden and what the future holds.

by michele manelis, rip it up, april/may 2007

Well, the big news is that Audioslave has broken up ...

What??? Shit! I'm out of a job (laughs).

So where, when and why?

Well, "when" was kind of yesterday, really. Here (LA) is the where and ... The big why ... ? Why, well, it's really the typical reasons bands split up, I suppose. But for Audioslave, maybe it was a little more likely to happen, when you have a band made up of people from two previous bands that were pretty important to different kinds of rock music at that time they happened, and Soundgarden had been together for a long time and had a lot of experiences, RATM was the same thing. They were together for a long time and had a lot of experience, but the next band you're in you don't want to have any arguments or trials and tribulations - you've been through that. You've been in a band for 14 years, in the next band you don't want to get into arguments or disagreements that disrupt what you're doing - your record-making or songwriting or anything like that. And I, like Audioslave suffered from that a little bit. Certainly my attitude was I don't want to be in another band unless we're having a good time and it's easy to do and it's fun for everybody. Those guys also agreed but then we started having issues early on. It's nobody's fault but it created a problem early on, and one that exists even up to now is that it was three guys from a previous band, three guys who have been together for years and years and years and they have a particular way of how they do things and who they work with and me being an outsider. I'm pretty good at sticking up for myself and basically saying what's on my mind, I have no problem with that, but it starts to feel like I was kind of the odd man out. These guys have a way they work together and the way they make decisions. My way is not that way and I tended to be disagreeing with those three where they would kind of agree and I would be the odd man out in a lot of ways. Like I said, I don't think it was anybody's fault, it was just a situation that was there.

But obviously you knew about that dynamic going in - that can't be a surprise.

Sure, it's not a surprise at all - when a band starts making records it's not a situation where you say "OK we're going to be a band forever, come hell or high water no matter what'' and I'm certainly not that guy either. I stayed in the band and made three great records as long as I wanted to be in the band, and now I don't want to be in the band any more, which is fine. I'm not unhappy that I started out in the band and I'm not unhappy that we made those records and toured, I had a great time.

What's your relationship with them now?

Well, I don't really talk to them and I don't really have a friendship but in terms of how you classify a friendship ... I don't think it's something where we'd ever hang out or go and have dinner or go to each other's houses. We really focused on the band and got along great - for the most part - we always did. Same with Soundgarden, really. With Audioslave it's not a situation where we hate each other or were at each other's throats. That didn't happen. We're adults.

What's next for you then? Will you continue as a solo artist or look for another band?

No, I don't really need a band. I feel at this point in my life I shouldn't really be in a band - there's no real point in it. I feel I can do more creatively alone than with the parameters a band brings and the limitation a band brings.

I would have thought the parameters would expand if you have more ideas being thrown in.

No, of course not. Because your likes might be in contrast to someone else's dislikes. I've never heard of a band where everybody does what everybody wants. It's a give and take - like a relationship.

Can you be objective if you're on your own?

I don't know. There are a lot of successful solo artists that manage to do it, so I'm guessing I can too.

So you'll look for hired help and tour as Chris Cornell?

Yeah, exactly.

On your new solo record, Carry On, you have a cover of Michael Jackson's Billie Jean - how did that come about?

I was having lunch with Michael and he was wearing a dress and it reminded me of that song ... (laughs). No. I was having a conversation with my wife about cover songs and I was explaining that the ones that are the best are the unlikely couplings of a band or an artist with a song you'd never expect, and she wanted an example of that. I thought one of them was when Johnny Cash did Rusty Cage. When Johnny Cash did that I started getting phone calls and people leaving messages about how great the lyrics were and no one had ever said that when all anyone heard was the Soundgarden version. They were focusing more on the aggression and he slowed it down and kind of shone a new light on it, and it added a new emotion to it. So, when I was forced to come up with an example of an artist I might cover I was trying to think of someone the furthest away from anything that would make any sense at all. And Michael Jackson just popped out.

Did you like the song in its day?

Yeah, I had to come up with a song once I came up with Michael Jackson (laughs) and that was the only one I could even think of. I bought Thriller just so I could get the lyrics to his songs. I should have just gone on the internet. I'm still getting used to how easy that is (laughs).

Is there one song on your record that is indicative of where you are now?

Well, the last song Killing Birds, I wrote a week and a half ago because we had some extra time and they pushed the release of the record back and they had more set-up time and I've been writing a lot and just enjoying it so I thought, why not write and record a couple more songs?

Have you tried to move away from the Audioslave sound?

Well, it was pretty easy because with Audioslave we really wrote everything together and I didn't really write any riff-oriented songs. I wrote maybe a couple of songs entirely but the rest I would write parts for, because that was a collaboration. Just me writing songs on my own sounds pretty different. I didn't have to think about it consciously. Just writing songs would be naturally different.

Do you think if the last Audioslave record did better commercially, you might still be together?

Well, I think the record didn't do as well commercially because we weren't together.

I liked that record.

I did too. I think it's my favourite one but we didn't support it. We didn't go on tour. We did press for it when it came out but we didn't do any shows - otherwise it would have sold twice as much, easily. Nowadays you really have to get your face out there and do the shows and to the different parts of the world and the different territories and say ' here we are and these are our new songs'. Otherwise it won't sell.

Is it hard to do as a family man?

No, I think it makes it easier than it's ever been in a way, because they can come with me. This is a family that really likes to travel. My wife's travelled a lot and my in-laws have travelled a lot since my wife was a baby and our babies have travelled with us all the time since they've been born, so they're kinda used to it. It enabled me to do a lot of touring and that's a really lucky thing because usually when people are in rock bands, or any other kind of musicians, the usually get to a point where they have children and touring becomes really difficult across the board. Country artists tour a lot and having a children is a difficult thing, trying to raise children while you're on the road or on the bus or a plane. So, I feel fortunate that I'm part of a family where everybody really likes to tour and travel and likes that lifestyle. I think it can be a great thing for children provided there's some normality. Obviously if children were being around what's know as the "rock 'n' roll' lifestyle", I would never allow that. But for my part, if I'm on the road or touring it's really pretty normal. There's no drugs or alcohol or stupidity - nothing that a kid can't be around.

If you tour with your new band, would that be a rule - no drinking or drugs?

Definitely. Even if I had no family there would be no drugs around. Drinking, that's okay. I don't care if somebody drinks a little bit but as far as getting loaded - my experience pretty much across the board is that someone's doing that, the music is not coming first. Definitely with Audioslave the music always came first. Whereas Soundgarden suffered sometimes because of alcohol for example, or just being on the road and raging and spending all night being awake and not sleeping and then going to go out to play a show.

Is there anything about those days you miss? The wild nights being up until morning?

Not at all. That's a hard thing to do (laughs).

And you've got to be young to do it.

Yeah, and there were a lot of days when it was hard to be up on stage and do what we did. And also there were a lot of shows and performances that weren't that great. It's a band [Soundgarden] that was a fantastic band and we ended up being inconsistent live, because of a lot of extracurricular activities - it was part of who were were and I don't regret it. And we had a lot of fun and it was exciting but it's also probably part of why we're not a band now.

Any chance of a Soundgarden reunion? If the Police can do it ...

I don't think so [laughs]

Not even a mini one?

I doubt it. I don't think so. Somebody has to really rally behind it and make it their goal in life to make that happen, and I don't think any of us feel that way.

Are you still in touch with those guys?

Not often. We've always been friendly.

How important is it for you that your solo record goes well?

For me it's the same as any other record in that as far as I'm concerned it's always successful if I like it and I feel like I've accomplished something musically - which I do on this record. After that it's out of my hands. It doesn't really matter.

Do you get nervous the first week of release?

Yeah, for sure. I want people to like it or want to hear the music I just created. I want to reach the most people as possible and I want to feel that people like what I do. But having said that, Euphoria Morning is a record that sold 400,000 copies. That never really bothered me and I don't feel that was a record for mass consumption anyway. My chief goal on that record was to make something that didn't sound like anything I'd ever done; do songs that I could sing like nothing else I'd ever sung, and be able to go out and do that. The whole question of the importance of records doing well in 2007 is an odd one anyway, because it's so unpredictable, and the market for the hardware of an actual CD has dropped 60 per cent.

Well, you don't have to buy the physical CD any more.

Exactly. So what the record sales do, I'm not really sure what that even means to me any more. I want people to hear my music. I know that's possible. Fortunately, having the experience that I've had and the ability to actually go out and perform and create a consistently good live performance for people, what's most important to me is the opportunity for people to hear it in whatever way, whatever form -- and then that I get to go out to perform and people can come and see me live, that's important too. That's more important than how many CDs get sold, although having said that, I would love it, if it sold a ton. I want to make only the records I want to make, write only the songs I want to write and not have to ever worry about commercial success. But when I put out a record, I'd like it to sell a ton anyway (laughs). Why not? It doesn't always happen and I've had little ups and downs but as long as I'm inspired by music that I create there always seems to be someone that wants to hear it, so I've always gone by that. Any time I've seen anyone worry too much about commercial success, they seem to go away.

Reprinted without permission from Rip It Up.(Thanks Anna for typing it up!)