i feel fine with who i am

by tom lanham, shockhound, march 2009

A demon slayer’s work is apparently never done. Midway through a backstage interview at San Francisco’s historic Fillmore, Chris Cornell is interrupted by his three-year-old son Christopher, who jumps wide-eyed into his lap, points a quivering hand out the second story window, and announces the presence of a red-eyed fiend lurking down below. Dad looks horrified. “You see a monster in the street? Oh my goodness!” he gasps. “And you want me to fight with the monster, to fight that monster in the street?” Junior nods, shyly. As soon as a high-noon duel is scheduled, the singer turns his attention to his daughter Toni, 4, who’s gobbling as many SweetTarts as she can in one sitting. “Now, angel,” he purrs. “You’d better drink some water and not have any more candy or your tummy will hurt!”

It’s curious, to say the least, to witness one of rockdom’s most towering, brooding belters do the soft-spoken paternal shuffle. Then again, the 44-year-old Cornell has been assuming a lot of unusual new roles lately, like Top 40 pop songsmith (David Cook’s “Light On”), restaurateur (Black Calavados, his chic eatery in his adopted hometown of Paris), and even Bond guy (Casino Royale theme “You Know My Name”). Topping the list is Scream, his sonically surreal collaboration with hip-hop producer Timbaland, which cages Cornell’s furious, feral wail inside a blipping, bleeping , scratch-syncopated box. The results are surprisingly dramatic; as Cornell explodes, Hulk-like, from the hi-tech mix on interlude-connected howlers like “Enemy,” “Watch Out” and the “Billie Jean”-spoofing “Part Of Me,” the message is crystal-clear: You wouldn’t like dad when he’s angry, kids!   

SHOCKHOUND: So you still live in Paris, right?

CHRIS CORNELL: Half the time. I’m on the road a lot, so I live in Hollywood, too. But when I made my new album, I lived in Miami for a while. The first six weeks, I was graveyard shift, ‘cause Timbaland kinda works at night. So somewhere between 7 and 10 p.m., I’d start working on whatever — writing lyrics, singing. And he’d come in around 1 a.m. with a new idea, and we’d go over that for a while. Then I would leave and come in the next day and start working on that. So for the first month and a half, it was just basic writing and recording the songs for Scream — I never really saw the daylight because I never really went outside. So it wasn’t until and my wife Vicky came over without the family that we went out in the daytime. And I was like, “Oh my God! This city’s incredible!” I loved it. So we ended up really liking Miami a lot. But I still like living in a city that’s a hub. I didn’t realize until I was living there that Paris was kind of the cultural hub of Europe.

SHOCKHOUND: How’s the restaurant doing?

CORNELL: Good, good. It’s still a restaurant, but it’s more nightclubby than it was before. So rather than you making reservations, sitting down and having dinner, now it’s more open, so you can go there and just drink and hang out. I’ve turned it into a house party almost, and everybody loves to hang out there, so it’s doing really, really well.

SHOCKHOUND: I noticed that your son has his own set of headphones backstage. Will he still get to appreciate your show?

CORNELL: Well, they mute the sound. And as a father, I’m fully there. I’m a little bit like the father steer, a nervous father. And I only realize that when I’m around people that I know, who haven’t seen me like that. And then I realize “Oh, they probably notice how I get really nervous.” Like, I’ll be talking to you and listening, but I’ll be watching my kids all the while. And [Christopher’s] the youngest, and boys are very different in their personalities. Girls are very particular at birth, literally — they know how to run things and they’re never fussy as long as they get things done in a particular way. [Toni] and her older sister Lilly, too, were very much that way. But as he gets older, I started noticing these strange differences. Like, boys will pick up a heavy, heavy thing and just throw it as hard as they can against the wall. For no reason. They’re not mad. And girls don’t really ever do that. So I’m not some gender scientist, into assigning roles — I don’t take an opinion, I just watch. [To Christopher] Hey! Only a little bit more candy, okay? Only a little bit more! I tell ya, candy is like crystal meth to a kid!

SHOCKHOUND: Years ago, you had an idea for an eco-friendly moped-exchange program. Now it’s happening with Zip Cars and other convenient rentals.

CORNELL: Yeah. Everywhere in Paris now, they’re doing that with bicycles. You swipe your credit card and then you take the bike. And then when you click that bike onto another bike stand, it’ll read that it’s been returned and charge you for that amount of time that you used it. And then you take care of the business you rode there for, then get another bicycle and ride back across Paris. So now I’ve got another idea, too: I’ve never been that production-oriented, but as far as stage stuff, when we did that Projekt Revolution tour with Linkin Park, while I’m looking at the semis in the parking lot I’m thinking about the diesel fuel and thinking, “Why couldn’t somebody create a company where they have production-value stuff that’s unique to the person that’s going out on the road? And then send the schematic or blueprint for whatever they need, so they don’t have to bring anything? A company that has production stuff for that particular market, and then they just deliver it to the venue?” For movies, this last summer was the biggest box-office summer in movie history. But in terms of concerts, things are becoming less production-oriented, so you get less for your money now. And you’re trying to create that, like a movie theater. But to bring a movie to a theater, you don’t have to put it on five semis and haul it around. So I dunno if it’s just a ridiculous idea, or if it’s actually possible.

SHOCKHOUND: Who is the “Enemy”?

CORNELL: That’s a good question. I think it’s that part of yourself that you don’t like — that’s what I was thinking when I was writing. Whatever it is, it’s that inner voice that tells you you’re an idiot.

SHOCKHOUND: Is “Get Up” a wake-up call to the Paris Hilton generation?

CORNELL: Yeah. And it’s not the first song I’ve written with that kind of sentiment. But I was an emancipated youth — I had a full-time job from the time I was 15 years old. I was actually too young to legally work. And I had a lot of friends through the years who kinda never did anything and never really tried anything and never took any chances, so they wouldn’t fail. And I’ve always sorta been the opposite. I have those moments where I wanna crawl inside a hole, but then I come back out and stick me neck out again. It’s just my nature, I think.

SHOCKHOUND: I was shocked to learn that your old friend Natasha Shneider, from the band Eleven, passed away a few months ago.

CORNELL: It was horrible, I know. But that’s what happens when you get older. And she was co-writer on a lot of (first solo album) Euphoria Morning. And over the last several months, I’ve had a lot of fans that I’ve come in contact with who are sick or terminally ill, and I’ve been texting them and talking to them. And first of all, being able to make somebody happy just by doing practically nothing other than just being you is kind of a privileged position. And also it’s a check on my own reality — there are a lot of people who are going through a lot of bad stuff that could hit anyone at any time. And I’m put in this occasionally privileged position to add some levity or create a bright spot for people who are fans. That — and learning that the songs and music are having their own life, being out in the world and doing whatever it is that they do, that has nothing to do with me — have been some interesting realizations. And I also realize how fortunate I am just to be healthy, and to have a healthy family.

SHOCKHOUND: Back in your Soundgarden days, your songs often touched on death. What’s your take on mortality now?

CORNELL: There’s nothing I’m really feeling at the moment. In my heart, it doesn’t scare me or worry me — I feel fine with who I am, and whatever happens, happens. But I could easily sit in a corner and conjure up some really terrifying possibilities. And then I would be horrified. And for some reason, I’ve always had the ability to do that!

originally available as an online feature here

Chris Cornell Fan Page © Clare O'Brien 2009