Chris Cornell and Terrie Carr
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FunTranscript
00:00so we are inside the box of rock with one and only Chris Cornell talking about the new record
00:07higher truth I'm so happy to see you this is the box of rock this is the box of rock you're king
00:12of the box today um wow so talk to you a little bit like two seconds ago saving the story for on
00:19air nearly forgot my broken heart comes in we plop it on the air people go crazy this record
00:27I think really has redefined you as the songwriter that you've always been I think to a whole new
00:34audience so did you know that immediately these songs were going to connect uh no you didn't know
00:40no I never know that yeah you don't I have my mood about every song kind of vacillates it goes up and
00:47down and so there'll be moments when I feel like absolutely of course that's going to connect with
00:51everyone and then I listen to it in a different mood and think oh I was wrong and and that bounces
00:59back and forth and at some point I just have to put it out there you know yeah and let other people
01:03decide and um and I've said this a million times like a since the first releases that Soundgarden
01:12had I I never felt like I understood what made a single and what because and I still feel like I
01:17don't really um I was always like a track number seven or nine deep album cut guy even as a little
01:25kid I gravitated toward the songs that didn't get a lot of radio airplay I gravitated towards the sort
01:31of the more experimental songs that kind of got hidden deeper in the album or on side b when there
01:37used to be sides you know yeah right sure sure and and so having said that um Black Hole Sun for example
01:46was one of those songs to me that's a deep album cut song especially for a band like Soundgarden that
01:51wasn't a song that was going to be a single um and I don't think any of us thought that and so um
01:57I don't I don't write for that but if something works on that level um um I think it's great yeah and
02:05I think this record really does mad at it I'm yeah yeah I mean this record really does it's it's got to be
02:12a different construction to putting together um and writing the songs for a record that you maybe
02:17feel in your soul is going to be an acoustic record um yeah I think some of them came off sort of very
02:24simply as acoustic songs they were conceived that way they just kind of rolled out that way um and
02:30then other songs I had to wrestle with a little more because they didn't really come out that way
02:35because that's not um you know that's not where I started necessarily as a songwriter um I I did
02:42write a lot of sort of acoustic based songs um very early on but when you're doing that kind of one
02:49song here and one song there it's not the same thing as a body of like 12 or 15 songs you when I
02:54first heard the record I thought well maybe this is almost like a conceptual record because it seemed
02:58to be so um heartfelt I mean songs like Josephine and it was really had such a big big big chunk of you
03:05in it but I guess maybe not I mean I guess it's what I interpreted it as I think thematically or
03:12lyrically it wasn't a concept album but I think that that kind of can naturally happen when you're
03:18writing in a particular vein um and in in essence sort of after the fact I feel like there there is kind
03:26of a similar character that I see existing in most of the songs but um in terms of the form of trying
03:34to write uh an album that where each song works as an acoustic song first and that was the criteria
03:42I don't think I've ever really made an album before where I had um where I had criteria yeah at all so
03:48there's something you know um and having said that like the uh the the version of the song higher truth
03:55that's on there that's based on the demo that I did that um the original demo for that song that I did
04:00that I felt like was wrong for the album um and I tried to rewrite the song didn't work really didn't
04:07work in in in a more sort of acoustic singer songwriter context it just didn't work having said that when
04:15I just play the the song now the way that that that it's arranged on on the album and I just play
04:22it on acoustic guitar it seems fine um but I got I think I got a little lost in there sort of
04:27understanding um what is that and what isn't that you know and and what matters more you know is it a
04:36song that I like or is it that it seems to fit sort of the mold that I'm trying to make all the songs
04:42fit and um for me I think the songs always have to end up winning yeah sure well the tour too I mean
04:50when I was looking at the set list I was thinking my gosh I mean it's you and then it's you and Brian
04:56Gibson out together and that's pretty much it I mean you're really out there you kind of naked
05:02and it's it's not a short show no there's a lot of work in this show um so wow this is a big
05:11undertaking and I don't think people realize you know Chris isn't going sort of behind the drum kit
05:16like all right drum solo I'm out for five you know this this is a this is kind of a tough tour
05:21to be the guy front and center night after night two hours plus a lot of material 30 songs spanning
05:27the entire body of your work these are not easiest songs to sing um do you have any trepidation about
05:34saying I'm going to take this out on the road and it's not a lot of nights off either I've done it
05:38the four and and that's really where the album came from was that I really enjoy this type of
05:45performance because it's so different yeah and tell us about Brian because he's a really important
05:49part of the touring part of this um well the this is the first time I've had him out um this is I guess
05:56the I guess the fourth time I've done this type of tour in North America and and I'd always done it
06:03alone but Brian I had met um through a mutual friend of ours who had done some cello arrangements
06:09to a couple of songs um that I really liked so I had him come out as a guest um it was like three
06:17times or something over the last few years when I was in a city that he was in um and when I thought
06:23about bringing out um the album and doing this tour again I thought you know maybe it would be good to
06:29have another guy come out and do some things and he immediately was the first guy I thought of
06:33because the the the cello kind of lends itself to some of these songs particularly some of the older
06:38songs where it brings it into a world that no one has heard it in or would imagine necessarily hearing
06:45it in um but I I felt like higher truth was a way to make this type of touring um a living breathing
06:54thing you know with with new material with fresh ideas and not just a look back I didn't want it to
07:00be um I've never seen you as that you know you've never really been that when you think about
07:04your body of solo work I mean it's been a while it's been 17 years or something I mean you've been
07:10out there a long time doing what you do I would imagine it's a great time to to be Chris Cornell as
07:16an artist because you've got your body of solo work Soundgarden is still a great viable band
07:22people call you now I mean I don't know how you're going to respond to this but I have listeners that
07:27say oh Chris is like he's the new Robert Plant he's the voice the classic rock voice of a new
07:31generation pressure funny does it pisses me off I mean but is it odd you know it's an odd thing to
07:37hear from people because I know you're a humble guy and it doesn't seem like something that you
07:42would be really super comfortable hearing better for me to sort of not think about that yeah I would
07:48imagine so I would imagine so how I'm placed has never seemed to me to be a good idea to try to
07:55figure out yeah or understand or believe and I think that the you know that's always a moving
08:00target and it also always depends on who you're talking to right sure and and and it changes in
08:07a second and there's no way to predict how it's going to change and all that fun stuff so I just
08:12feel lucky and I also feel and I have to say this and genuinely I feel blessed with pretty patient and
08:22enduring fans who put up with me kind of doing a lot of stuff no doubt they love you and I've done
08:28a lot you know I have often kind of taken hard right or left turns and the screen record was was
08:34great um because it you were a really fearless artist that was the most I think that was the
08:39most dramatic example um I think you know for me it started with um temple of the dog that was right
08:46sure I knew that the four members of Soundgarden together in the context of what we were doing
08:52was a special thing and that was about all I knew and I didn't know that that that myself as an
08:59addition to any other combination was going to mean much and um that album kind of changed that thought
09:06process where I realized that you know as long as you throw yourself into something and it's with the
09:12right people um you you can do it in in lots of different contexts and and that's where obviously
09:20was born from that spirit of I didn't want to say no to to uh having a creative relationship with those
09:27three guys because I thought they were brilliant and we wrote three albums like in a really short
09:32period of time and they felt vital to me um and that's kind of informed what I've done the other
09:38thing has been that I came from kind of a post-punk indie musical background where there were no rules
09:45and basically you could kind of do anything you wanted and that that was the point of it um and I
09:51think Soundgarden was very eclectic from the start we were not ever cornered stylistically and that did
09:58something for me personally um and that I've never felt like I was cornered as a as a songwriter or as an
10:06artist to do kind of whatever I want um and and I still feel like that yeah you've always been I
10:12think a really kind of fearless guy willing to take a chance kind of throw it against the wall
10:16and and see creatively how you feel about it in the end and that's what I think the fans really
10:21they love that authenticity about you um I I think that the the more sense can be made of my body of
10:29work and the different things that I've done um if you see this show too because you because it
10:35they're all sort of mercilessly brought into the exact same arena every period every song um and I
10:42think it becomes a lot easier to draw a line through uh 30 years of songwriting and see oh okay that kind
10:50of actually makes sense to me um a brand new song and a song that's 25 years old that the that that was
10:57a sound garden song um but that I wrote for that it it starts to all sort of sound like it could come
11:05from one guy as opposed to uh you know a review of different periods um but I think I do agree with
11:14the the notion that you know it has to be at least two and a half hours otherwise I don't cover enough
11:19I don't feel like I cover enough yeah sure um of who you are yeah yeah and and and what people
11:26want to hear so I think you know at some point in the future I'll take that Wayne Newton approach
11:31which I noticed a long time ago he was already doing it where he has a choir and they basically
11:37sing the song and then he just throws a couple of haze and yas in and he gets away with it right
11:42totally I can't picture you doing that but I'm sure the fans would still come and we're going to
11:48get another sound garden record do you look back now when you back in the studio with the guys too
11:52and have like a greater appreciation for what it was then you know at the time that you're doing it
11:56and you're the biggest band in the world and you're younger it's very different than coming back full
12:01circle with the guys again I would imagine that it really feels so good for you now you know to be
12:06back making music with those guys also well I think it felt like a much shorter break than it really
12:11was once we got back in and started working it didn't sure didn't feel like we were aliens to each
12:17other and and our creative process was totally intact and up to now this minute working on new
12:26songs it's we're still doing things that don't sound like anything else we've ever done and everybody
12:32is motivated and bringing music to the table and it's this continuing evolving thing in the way that
12:38was when we were writing our our second or third LP yeah this is us making you know sort of treading
12:48into new material territory yeah same thing yeah Chris I thank you so much for the hospitality
12:54and thank you for the great body of work thank you