This page collects some of the best interviews involving Chris Cornell. For interviews with musical colleagues which have a bearing on his career, search within the news section.
This page contains interviews from 2010. For 2011 interviews, go here.
December 2010
"We were always an eclectic band. We left things open for whatever we wanted to create. There was no concept of being subservient to the fans." Chris Cornell and fellow Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil are on the cover of the new (Jan 2011) issue of Guitar World. More quotes here - but you'll have to buy the magazine to read the whole thing.
October 2010
"The mythology of a rock star is larger than ever, at a time when the music industry can't create them any more." Chris explains to CNN (video extracts below) why Soundgarden chose to market their comeback through a video game called Guitar Hero.
"Had we not broken up at our peak we could have had that long, slow, depressing slide...." Via Yahoo, Chris and the band remind us why this reunion is all about helping new fans discover their legacy.
All four members of Soundgarden took part in a listener phone-in as part of syndicated radio show Rockline last night (October 11). Displaying their usual sense of humour and irony, they talked about the process of finishing "Black Rain", the background to some of their classic songs, that a B-sides release is definitely one of the projects in the pipeline, and revealed that they have no immediate plans either to tour or to record new music - though they didn't rule out either happening in the future. Ben also revealed that the band have "rhythmic dysplasia". You can download the interview from Jeffgarden's Soundgarden fansite.
September 2010
Here Soundgarden talk about the gaming aspect of their reunion - see this item from G4's "X-Play" show. (Courtesy Jeff Ansari, who recorded it...)
Soundgarden clip on Xplay from jeff ansari on Vimeo.
Another interview in Billboard from the same press day...Matt reminisces, Kim talks business and Chris is killing birds again: chickens this time. With a crossbow.
Here's an interview from MTV news featuring all four Soundgarden members together. As MTV point out, "they seem to be taking everything pretty casually, and it seems to suit them just fine."
If you're still scratching your head and wondering how the bloke below ever got a job with the BBC, refresh your lugholes with this intelligent resume of Soundgarden's career taken from acclaimed Memphis presenter Redbeard's in-depth interview with Chris for "In The Studio". Chris talks about his childhood, his early development as a songwriter and his hatred of musical limits, as well as the making of Badmotorfinger, Superunknown and Telephantasm. Highly recommended.
Following the chat with Zane Lowe, here's another BBC radio interview with the puerile Daniel P.Carter.
More quotes from the "four grunge princes" in USA Today as Soundgarden retrospective set Telephantasm is released worldwide. As well as hinting at the possibility of more Soundgarden shows and maybe some new material, they mention individual projects: Chris is planning more solo acoustic shows, Ben has a new album coming out, Matt is still an active member of the "super-duper suppportive" Pearl Jam and Kim is "working on the archives".
During an interview with Zane Lowe on BBC Radio 1 aired on Tuesday night (21st), Chris said that the band were thinking of getting together to work on some new material to "see what happens". Although there's much fan speculation that this will lead to an all-new Soundgarden album, Chris didn't say whether any such material would definitely be released and like the other band members he refused to be drawn on the subject of tour dates, saying only that the band had received a lot of offers to do live shows which were currently being considered. You can listen to the interview here for one week after broadcast (select chapter 2).
A couple of articles in Spinner this mornth have included interview cautiously optimistic snippets from Chris about the band's future plans. In the first, weighs up the chances of the band making more music: "we're in a room and talking about new music and it doesn't feel like carrying a mountain up a hill." In the second, Chris talks about the Guitar Hero game tie-in, the collapse of the traditional music industry machine and the band's current live plans: "Whatever live shows we might do or whatever touring, it's certainly not going to be the way it was that we used to do....it'll be sort of selected events or, if it's anything that even resembles a tour, it's not going to be scouring the earth doing tours like we used to do." Elsewhere, Kim talks about the video for gem-from-the-vaults Black Rain and some bloke called Scott from Activision describes Soundgarden as "just dudes who rock on guitar and make metal crossover music." Um....whatever, Scott.
Here's a gem of an audio interview with Mistress Carrie of Boston radio station WAAF. Chris explains why the band don't want to do an old-style world tour, talks about the making of Black Rain, new retrospective album Telephantasm, his taste in videogames, and why he likes to tweet more when he's on the road. Oh, and his wife Vicky isn't pregnant again, although she might be "soon".
August 2010
Here's this month's exclusive Spin feature on Soundgarden. What does Chris have to say to those who believe he left Soundgarden, Seattle, his past and rock behind him? "For me, for survival, there had to be a lot of changes. After years of getting fucked up, I got to the point where physically and mentally I was in danger. The idea that I'm not the same person - well, I hope not, because that's sort of the point."
"I think our goal now is to do what we always wanted to do, which is to — at our own pace and in our own time — just do what we want when we want to do it. " Here's a feature from ABCNews announcing Telephantasm, Black Rain and the Guitar Hero tie-in (see news) with some interesting quotes from Chris and other band members.
July 2010
Not an interview as such - but here's a retrospective look from Classic Rock at the choicest moments from Chris Cornell's recording career with Soundgarden, Audioslave and as a solo artist. Oddly enough, writer Phil Wilding labels Scream as "one to avoid" despite his own earlier rave review of the album in the same magazine....perhaps a case of selective amnesia.
May 2010
"Time isn't as much of a factor in remembering a song as is how much we played it live." Along with guitarist Kim Thayil, Chris contributes to this very brief interview with Spin about Soundgarden's forthcoming appearance as Lollapalooza headliners.
April 2010
"It's a waste of time trying to focus on where you want to be 10 years from now, it's better to just live your life." Chris explains the ideas behind the lyrics of "Promise" in Classic Rock's special edition "Slash fan pack".
"I mean this as a compliment...Slash is the most drunk guitarist I have ever seen play well". Chris (and many others!) spoke to Classic Rock magazine for the special 10-page cover feature dedicated to Slash's solo album, on which Chris appears. Slash had plenty to say, too - some of it hilarious. Some great pictures by Ross Halfin.
This page contains interviews from 2010. For 2011 interviews, go here.
For older interviews:
2009 go here
2008 go here
2007 and 2006 go here
