solo effort suits nicely

by zach hanner, myrtle beach online, november 2007

They're rare these days. Artists whose voices are immediately identifiable, singular and contain such power that they make your hair stand on end.

But it seems like for a brief moment 15 years ago, there were several of them clustered in the Pacific Northwest, drawing the music industry's eye and the customer's cash. Eddie Vedder, Kurt Cobain and Layne Staley all possessed their own trademark howls and vibrato. But the powerhouse among them was Chris Cornell.

As the front man for the seminal Seattle act Soundgarden, Cornell established himself as a commanding stage presence with a combination of fortified guitar work, prolific songwriting chops and that voice. Smoky and raspy, Cornell's vocals can also vacillate to the honey side at his whim, making him capable of tearing your face off with "Rusty Cage" and melt your heart with "Arms Around Your Love," from his latest solo effort "Carry On."

Following a brilliant but tempestuous collaboration with former Rage Against the Machine members Tom Morello, Tim Comerford and Brad Wilk as Audioslave, Cornell returned his focus to solo efforts. Most of "Carry On" was written in his current home of Paris. And how has living abroad affected his creative approach?

"It's difficult for me to tell," Cornell said. "I know it has influenced me somehow, but I'm not sure in exactly what way. As a songwriter, I'm never looking for anything. I'm just usually living my life and when I sit down to write, what I come up with is rarely connected to an event. I don't get too involved in the 'why' or 'how,' I just usually let it happen."

Cornell recently read the Ernest Hemingway novel "A Moveable Feast," and while its description of the 1920s bohemian expatriate lifestyle resonates with him, his personal setup suits him nicely.

"You read that book and it gets in to that community feeling that these artists had," Cornell said. "Yeah, they're in Paris, but really it's about the people being together. My experience is sort of the opposite. I'm living there with my family and, otherwise, I'm kind of an outsider, a foreigner. I don't hang out with a group of musicians, I'm a bit isolated by the language, and I kind of like that distance."

"Carry On" proves that Cornell can surround himself with any group of talented musicians and create great music. He's a catalyst in every collaboration, and it's his willingness to experiment - a cover of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" is on the album - that keeps things fresh for fans and for him as well.

The cover began as sort of a playful joke towards the sometimes too-serious-for-their-own-good members of Audioslave. But then Cornell plugged it in to an acoustic set during a show in Stockholm and the result was magical.

"I didn't even know what the song meant until I looked up the lyrics," Cornell said. "Then, when I started playing it and working my own ideas around it, I realized that it's a really great song. In Stockholm, the first time I did it, people started clapping right away but they didn't know what it was. Then, when I got to the chorus, there was this huge, sweeping reaction when everyone figured out what they were listening to."

Cornell also struck pop culture gold when he landed the song for the latest James Bond film, "Casino Royale." "You Know My Name" contains several classic Bond song stylistic elements but Cornell, once again, is instantly recognizable, that voice tearing through the music like a bullet from a Walther PPK.

"In writing songs for films, you sort of get to go in to this fantasy world, in a sense," Cornell said. "You get to be someone else and write songs that you wouldn't normally write. 'Live and Let Die' isn't a song that Paul McCartney would have written without the film behind it. The great thing was that it enabled me to use a side of my voice that I wouldn't normally."

With nearly a quarter-century of blistering rock under his belt, Cornell is still in his stride, adapting his game to a changing industry and continuing to create powerful, relevant music. It's certain there's another "Black Hole Sun" lying somewhere on a Paris sidewalk for him to pick up and give voice.

Reprinted from the Sun News, Myrtle Beach Online. Originally available as an online feature here.

Chris Cornell Fan Page © Clare O'Brien 2007