Chris Cornell has been a busy man of late. For roughly the past year, the veteran rocker has been dividing his time between performing solo acoustic shows--portions of which are featured on his new live disc, Songbook--and putting the final touches on the first new studio album from Soundgarden in 16 years. In addition, there's talk in Hollywood circles that Cornell might earn an Oscar for "The Keeper," a beautiful solo ballad he wrote and recorded for the acclaimed film, Machine Gun Preacher. Recently he spoke about his love of acoustic albums, his favorite guitars and his goals, going forward.
Is releasing an acoustic-based album something you've wanted to do for a long time?
An acoustic-based studio album, yes. That’s something I’ve thought a lot about, and it’s something fans seem to want me to do. I’m happy about that, because some of my all-time favorite albums are essentially stripped down to one or two instruments, with vocals. Early in my career I spent a bit of time doing that type of songwriting, but much more time writing music with Soundgarden--which is not that, obviously. My next solo record will probably involve new material that’s similar to what I did on Songbook.
Did you write the film song, “The Keeper,” in the midst of doing the acoustic tour this past spring?
I wrote it after doing those shows. The acoustic shows didn’t really feed into “The Keeper.” It had nothing to do with the tour, or with Songbook, in terms of my focus on what it is, or how I wrote it or what it sounds like. I was just trying to write what I felt would be most appropriate for the movie, given that I was writing just one song. There were so many different options, musically, that I could have taken for that film. There was a lot to draw from. At some point it just felt like the right direction would be something as stripped down as possible.
Is writing songs as a solo artist different from writing songs within a band?
There’s a certain amount of reacting that goes on in the context of a band, if you’re mainly co-writing. If I’m writing lyrics and vocal melodies to someone else’s arrangement, or someone else's guitar part, my ideas won’t be the same as they would be for my own song. In the context of Soundgarden, there’s a very stylized way that I approach that process. It may be a subconscious thing, but it's based on how I think the band should sound, and how I think I should respond to what they do creatively.
You've characterized the break from Soundgarden as more of an extended vacation than a breakup.
That’s right. I think if there’s a lesson to be learned, it’s that it wasn’t even necessary to announce a breakup. We could have just said we were going on indefinite hiatus, and that would have been fine. There didn’t have to be some sort of finality. It certainly didn’t change anything from the standpoint of the media or even Soundgarden fans. Every time I did an interview, I was asked, “Is Soundgarden ever going to get back together? Will the band ever do anything again?” Had we just said we were going on hiatus, the question would have been “When?” instead of “Will?” (laughs) And the answer would probably have been the same: “I don’t know.”
You’re in a good place in your life now, which wasn’t always the case. Is writing songs easier when you’re happy?
I definitely feel a difference now. I’m able to do more, to contemplate more, to hear more, to understand more and to be more focused. People sometimes go through periods where they’re very self-destructive, and some sort of artistic, or emotionally intense, attitude, musically, may come out of that. And that’s great and brilliant and wonderful. But that tends to be short-lived, and it can sometimes be the only vital thing someone does. I’ve never felt like that was me. The really tumultuous, self-destructive period for me wasn’t the part of my career that seemed to yield a lot. I think I wrote some great music in that period, but I also think it took me a lot longer than it needed to. It wasn't my most prolific time.
You play a wide variety of guitars. Of those, which are your favorite Gibsons?
I’m playing ES-335s on-stage a lot with Soundgarden. I’ve also used them in the studio a bit. I really love that guitar. And I play a Les Paul here and there as well. It would be difficult for me to choose just one electric guitar, if I had to do that. There are so many different personalities that come out of each electric. It's all about getting different textures.
How far into the future do you look?
I just want to be busy. Whatever that turns out to be, it will be fun. It’s a privilege to be able to follow your most passionate pursuit, to have that as your job. I don’t feel that it’s necessary for me to figure out what that might be, say, five years from now. I don’t want to be the sort of person who wants to know what that might be. That would mean I’m closed to the possibility of a change of heart, or changes in circumstances, or unpredictable events that might change how I feel. As long as I’m busy doing music, that’s all I care about.
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