chris cornell digs into politics, grunge days, gay flattery

by albert rodriguez, seattle gay news, april 2009

Chris Cornell likes to talk. Unlike other artists I've interviewed, suffering from a hangover and not knowing how to reply to questions thrown at them before 3 p.m., Cornell was enthusiastic early in the day and was full of answers - he went on and on, and was not only answering my questions but was deeply engaged in the topics that surfaced during our conversation. The Seattle music legend became an overnight success story when his band Soundgarden, and other groups from the Puget Sound, were discovered and melded together in what's now referred to as the "grunge movement." Since those days, Cornell has fronted the rock ensemble Audioslave and released three solo albums, including this year's experimental project with hip-hop producer Timbaland called Scream. The restauranteur, former John Varvatos model, Grammy winner, Bond theme composer, father of two, part-time Parisian, and head-to-toe hottie was sweet enough to give me a slice of his busy afternoon, marking the second time he's been featured exclusively in The Music Lounge. Cornell's concert at The Showbox SoDo on Monday night is completely sold out.

Without further delay, I give you the one, the only, and the undeniably sexy Chris Cornell.

Albert Rodriguez: Have you ever, even back in the days of Soundgarden, had Gay groupies?

Cornell: Chris I don't know if I would call them groupies. We had Gay fans, there were Gay people in the scene, there were Gay people in the bands that were in the scene. That was one of the things we were pissed off about: that Soundgarden was used to being seen as aggressive, dark, brooding - which we were - but we were sometimes also accused of being misogynistic and macho. We came from a scene where we shared the bill with bands that were largely women, or Gay people, or who were anything and everything. We came from a very liberal place and a very liberal scene, and that was also another thing I remember - heading outside Seattle and starting to tour I would notice a clash between a liberal contingent of our audience and the somewhat more close-minded and really aggressive people that were fans of the visceral nature of our music showing up. The first several years of touring we had shows that were extremely violent, often it was audience members who were assholes clashing with audience members that were cool, and often it was local security who were like giant people beating up small people who were crowd-surfing and they'd crossed over the barrier into the pit. It was pretty chaotic. It was not what Seattle was; Seattle was very liberal and the audience was there to support the band and each other. It was an interesting period in that clash of cultures and different attitudes.

Rodriguez: From a rock star perspective, did you find it flattering when guys hit on you?

Cornell: I suppose that happened even before I was a rock star, and you have to find that flattering unless it's creepy or it makes you uncomfortable. If it's inappropriate, then it's inappropriate. But if it's positive attention, it's positive attention and anybody that doesn't like it is lying.

Rodriguez: How did you celebrate the Obama victory?

Cornell: It was actually a very strange moment because we all had to vote on absentee ballots, me and the band I tour with because we were touring Canada. We were performing shows for the Canadians, but it was also interesting to see that we were in a country where there was such a huge positive reaction to what another country's presidential choice was. It was all over the news. I was watching local news in Vancouver, in Edmonton, and in Calgary to see what their take was on it, and it was all so huge and positive and supportive - it was as if Canada had voted in Obama as their Prime Minister.

Rodriguez: What do you personally want from this changing of the guard?

Cornell: There's a certain amount of accountability in the world of big business that needs to happen. Without sending a lynch mob to murder people, big business accountability is not only non-existent but has been promoted by big government, and that needs to absolutely turn the other way. Everyone is losing their jobs, everyone is losing their money, and it's all because of that. Rather than a government keeping tabs on it, we've had a government that promotes it, supports it and participates in it - that needs to turn around. The other thing that really needs to turn around is the foreign policy and protection of our government and our people. I think just electing Barack Obama sent a huge signal to the world about the attitude of the citizens of the country, and that is important. It's really easy when you buy into the propaganda of this war, particularly by biased media, to portray not just the political regime, but its country and its people as being bad.

Rodriguez: If you were to move back to Seattle, where would you choose to live?

Cornell: If I moved back to Seattle, I would probably go to the peninsula.

Rodriguez: You wouldn't live in the city?

Cornell: If I was going to live in the city, I'd probably live downtown. I would actually want to try that out. I've lived everywhere else; I lived in Queen Anne, University District, Ballard, Greenwood, and West Seattle. I think that [downtown] would be an interesting place to go - I'd be right in downtown to see what that's all about.

Rodriguez: What was it like to be in the center of the historical grunge scene?

Cornell: It depends which era you look at. If you're looking at where it came from, which to me is like the mid-'80s to late '80s, and that's before a lot of the bands that became the most well-known weren't even formed yet - members of those bands were in other bands that were happening at the time. It was an incredibly relaxed and progressive vital time in what was really a small kind of urban, underground scene that included members of everyone else's band and people from the arts scene, people from the University of Washington, and writers, poets, and people that owned art galleries. It was small, but extremely diverse. What became known as the "Seattle sound" was only a small part of what was going on that became a focus on the noisier, more aggressive and disillusioned sounds and bands that came out of it. But there was so much else going on. There were all of these different groups, from aggressive post-punk indie to almost performance art. It was like we had our own little New York, except it was without the attitude. Then as we discovered, and as Soundgarden started traveling to all these different cities that we heard about like New York or Minneapolis, Athens or Austin, we started to realize that Seattle had something that was better. In a way, we were kind of surprised. From that moment on, we slowly saw the transformation where suddenly the Village Voice would write about us before the Seattle Times would write about us, and that was interesting - and then the Seattle Times would follow. Then we started seeing that UK publications were writing about us, and then labels started to come in and slowly but surely you saw the whole thing lift off. At some point, I guess it was 1988 or 1989, I started to see that we'd been discovered, that this cool little scene had been found and there was going to be an international focus and feeding frenzy on it because it was special, and people were looking for that.

Rodriguez: I was in Paris last fall and should've looked you up. When I go back, where's a good place to meet for cocktails?

Cornell: Well, we own a nightclub-restaurant-lounge called Black Calavados or BC - my wife, my brother-in-law and I - that would be a good place to go. & My brother-in-law also owns a club called Neo that is really great. It's small, but it's big enough that it gets a bit of a rowdy, party atmosphere. I did an intimate, acoustic performance there and it was really great.

Rodriguez: Does Paris have a different kind of open-mindedness that you'd find in US cities known for being open-minded?

Cornell: With Paris, the only city in the US I can compare it to is New York because it's so international. In terms of what it feels like, [Paris] also has socialist leanings and there's a lot of tolerance, and there's a lot of pretty dramatic protesting going on - that doesn't happen in American cities hardly ever - setting things on fire, and people assembling and being really aggressive. But at the same time, illegal aliens are allowed to assemble and protest against certain issues they feel are human rights they're not getting. So there's a tolerance I feel exists at a certain level that I don't think exists in American cities.

Rodriguez: Have you kept tabs on any of the newer Seattle bands, like Fleet Foxes or The Blakes?

Cornell: I hear great things about Fleet Foxes, but I haven't listened to them.

Rodriguez: You call Scream the highlight of your career. Why?

Cornell: Well, there are parts of it that are. In a way, it's like being able to make music now after a 21-year recording career that seems to create emotional responses when I was like 21-years old, and that doesn't happen often in somebody's career. There's also just the factor of the music - I love listening to this album, it's the most album-oriented album I've ever made in the history of making album-oriented albums. I don't think it's the highlight of my career, but I think it's definitely a highlight.

Rodriguez: Where will you party after your show, and can be possibly woo you to Capitol Hill?

Cornell: That's a possibility. I don't have any plans. That's definitely possible.

Rodriguez: Capitol Hill still represents the true Seattle, a diverse mix of live rock venues, Gay bars, mixed clubs, harmless mayhem, and different kinds of people.

Cornell: That was a big part of my musical period, living on Capitol Hill, a place where I had a band rehearsing in my living room and I would have to lock up all my equipment and my furniture because people would always try to steal it. [Laughs.] I got robbed a few times, but it's a place - in terms of Seattle proper - that I have a soft spot for.

 

originally available as an online feature here

Chris Cornell Fan Page © Clare O'Brien 2009