h*d
发帖数: 19309 | 1 http://www.spin.com/articles/qa-chris-cornell-solo-tour-new-alb
Reunited alt-rockers Soundgarden are heading into a Seattle studio to record
their first album in 15 years. But in April, sessions will break as singer
Chris Cornell heads out on his debut solo acoustic tour, a 26-date North
American trek where he'll play songs from his 25-year career.
From his Los Angeles home, Cornell spoke with SPIN about why playing solo
terrifies him, Elton John's terrific MTV Unplugged performance, and one of
his all-time favorite bands, the influential late-'70s experimental rockers
Chrome.
Why do the solo tour now instead of, say, last year or five years ago?
[Laughs] Good question. It's something that I've talked about doing for a
while. My first acoustic show was over 20 years ago, and then, just a few
years ago, I played one in Stockholm, for some contest winners for this
radio promotion thing. I had a really great time. But it's the most
terrifying thing I have ever done musically."
Why is it so terrifying?
I remember when Soundgarden played the Oakland Coliseum [in 1991]. It was
nerve-wracking, but once the first song started, I was protected by this
enormous sonic wall -- it's very loud and there's a sea of people. You can't
hear one person's voice. You don't pay attention to any one person's
reaction. I learned then that playing arenas isn't as nerve-racking as
playing smaller shows. An acoustic show is all about you, and any little
nuance or mistake is amplified. I think Johnny Cash was quoted as saying, "
It's the scariest thing you could do as a musician." I'm very nervous about
it, but I love the intimacy. Once you sit in front of people and start
playing songs, it's all on you. No matter what happens, it's entirely your
responsibility the entire time. I like that intensity.
And for that reason there must be some extra satisfaction from nailing a
show.
There's definitely a feeling of, "Yeah, I can walk into a room and entertain
people by myself, without even electricity." That came from a realization I
had years ago when I was watching an artist, Spoonman, who will walk into
any room and take out his little leather bag, open it up, pull out spoons
and a nose-whistle, and entertain a room of any size with some kitchen
utensils. I remember thinking that even though I've played huge arenas and
have sold millions of records, I still can't do that.
Which is very different from the popular concept of a full-band acoustic
session, like MTV's Unplugged.
Yeah. There was a period where everybody did that, but most were more or
less the same approach to what they'd do as a full rock band. They just used
Ovations [acoustic guitars] and the drummer used an old kit.
Is that why Soundgarden never recorded an MTV Unplugged?
Yeah. There are a handful of Soundgarden songs that work acoustically, but
only a couple. It's not who we were. It would have been kind of silly, and,
truthfully, a lot of them were silly.
Were there any Unplugged sessions that you did appreciate?
One of them was Elton John, because he has the ability to just sit down at
the piano and play for three hours and blow you away. It's just him and a
piano. I prefer watching his MTV Unplugged than any of his other concert
footage. The Nirvana Unplugged was more band oriented, but it didn't matter
because it's an incredible performance. They were so aggressive and dirty
and stripped down as an electric band, so it was a big difference in sound.
Will you be playing any new, unreleased songs on the tour?
I've thought about it, but I probably won't. I have played songs that I've
never recorded at other acoustic shows, and that might happen. It's a, "I'll
do whatever comes to mind" format. But I do have a bunch of songs written
for an acoustic album. I don't know if I have enough for a full album, but I
have a lot. But with being in Soundgarden again and working on the new
album, I haven't really thought about when I would record it.
The sets will span your 25-year-long career. Did you have to relearn some of
the older tunes?
Yeah. If you look at Euphoria Morning, for example, I did one tour in the U.
S. and one in Europe and I didn't play the guitar live. So I had to go back
and learn some of those songs. But it's been an ongoing process over the
past few years. Many I don't have to necessarily relearn, but readapt so
that it works acoustically. Not all these songs work acoustically, but then
some that I didn't think would work acoustically, do.
For example… ?
I did an acoustic version of "Like Suicide" years ago for a movie, and that
was the first time that I noticed that a song that benefits from the
resonance of an electric guitar also works really well acoustically. Way
back in '92, I did one other acoustic song, "Seasons," for the Singles
soundtrack. That track started out like "Like Suicide" -- it was very much
an electric song, and the body of the song was this angry bass line. There
are other songs, like "Fourth of July," that I tried to do an acoustic
version of one time. But it just doesn't translate even though, melodically,
it seems like it would work great.
Will you be playing anything from Scream, your collaboration with Timbaland
that took a lot of criticism at the time?
That album really changed my approach to recording. It was unlike any other
record I've ever done, and it's still among my favorites. I can listen to it
for what it is, as opposed to listening to it while trying to wedge it in
to a discography and trying to understand, you know, "Then he went from this
band to this band, to this solo album… but does it make any sense?" A
couple of the songs work acoustically that I wouldn't have imagined would,
like "Part of Me." Now, with some time having gone by, I wonder what all the
fuss with the album was about.
What are you listening to these days?
The Chrome Box [a massive collection that chronicles the late '70s
experimental band Chrome's glory days], which I had no idea would still be
available. So I got the Chrome Box on iTunes. It was so hard to find when I
was a kid. And they're still a largely unknown band. But it holds up
amazingly well -- it's all lo-fi recordings and tons of experimentation. All
the energy I heard the first time is still there! |
|
