The lead singer of the Seattle-based Soundgarden, Chris Cornell, died last week. In honor of the Seattle rocker, we are rerunning a story from Sept. 22, 2005, written by former Herald reporter Victor Balta in which Cornell, then with the Los Angeles-based band Audioslave, talked about spending time in Snohomish County to hike and hang out. Cornell, 52, a leader of the grunge movement in the mid-1980s, hanged himself May 17 in a Detroit hotel room.
By Victor Balta
Herald Writer
“This is like the big payoff.”
That’s how Audioslave singer Chris Cornell feels about his band’s looming arena tour that will bring it to the Everett Events Center.
Audioslave recently played several theaters, including the Paramount in Seattle four months ago, before the May 24 (2005)release of their new album, “Out of Exile.”
“To come back and be able to play all the new stuff in front of people who have heard it is great,” Cornell said. “I don’t care who you are, when you’re playing new songs you’ve got to sell it, prove and believe in it.
“But coming through to play to people who know the stuff, and they’re singing the songs back to you; that’s where the magic comes in.”
The tour kicks off Saturday in Bakersfield, California, and works its way north through San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, before reaching Everett, the town where Cornell’s dad, Edward F. Boyle, was born and raised.
“Just like anybody else who lives in Seattle, I think, I’ve been through Everett a lot,” said Cornell, whose first band, Soundgarden, was among the Seattle rock bands to take over the 1990s along with Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Alice in Chains.
“Most of the time I’ve spent in Everett has been going through Everett, going up to the North Cascades to go hiking, which is one of the most beautiful places I think I’ve seen on Earth,” Cornell said.
A lot has happened to him since those days in the mountains, including taking his first band to the top of the rock world before calling it quits, and starting a new band with the former members of Rage Against the Machine.
“I saw Rage in 1996, when Soundgarden did Lollapalooza and Rage did a couple of shows on that tour,” Cornell said. “I just remember seeing them and thinking this is one of the best live bands I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Cornell didn’t know then that he’d connect with former Rage guitarist Tom Morello, bassist Tim Commerford and drummer Brad Wilk in 2002.
“We didn’t know what it would mean, we didn’t know what would happen,” Cornell said. “I just showed up and we started writing songs immediately.”
They haven’t stopped since. Audioslave’s self-titled debut in 2002 went double platinum and its follow-up, “Out of Exile,” debuted at No. 1 and has already sold more than 1 million copies.
Cornell, talking on a cellphone outside a rehearsal space in North Hollywood said the band just finished pre-production on its third album.
While many still view Audioslave as a supergroup, Cornell said the band doesn’t worry about its new material sounding too much like the members’ previous bands. But there will be some nods to Soundgarden and Rage in the live show.
“Our attitude is to be able to play every Audioslave song we’ve ever written, and to keep working out some Rage and Soundgarden songs,” Cornell said. “We want to be able to mix it up and surprise our fans. We embrace our past.
“We’re not a tribute band for our previous acts, but we’re not going to forget where we come from,” Cornell said.
Playing Soundgarden and Rage material is a different experience for the band members.
“I’ve drawn Brad and Tim and Tom into my history,” Cornell said, “and they’ve drawn me into their history.”
With a couple of platinum albums already under their collective belt, Audioslave is now writing its own history.
Chris Cornell tributes
Since Cornell’s death after Soundgarden performed at Detroit’s Fox Theatre, fans in Seattle have paid tribute to the rock icon in many ways:
A memorial, with flowers, candles, photos and notes, was erected in A Sound Garden, Seattle’s musical sculpture park, from which the band derived its name.
The Space Needle went dark from 9-10 p.m. on May 18 in honor of one of Seattle’s best voices.
The Museum of Pop Culture (formerly the EMP) in Seattle held a gathering of Cornell’s fans, family and friends for a moment of silence.
Seattle’s KEXP radio station played songs all day May 18 from Soundgarden, Cornell’s other bands (Audioslave, Temple of the Dog) and solo work, as well as musicians who covered the rocker’s material or were influenced by him.
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