Rock bands generally reunite for one reason: money.
Not Soundgarden, says Chris Cornell. In fact, Cornell won’t even call Soundgarden’s re-formation a reunion.
“The word reunion doesn’t really apply, or it doesn’t to me,” he said ahead of the band’s show at Comcast Center tomorrow. “Those 12 years (apart) don’t really mean anything. As soon as I begin playing these (classic) songs I’m really connected to the past.”
Those dozen years may seem like a flash to Cornell. But his fans have had a ton of music to digest (three solo albums, three Audioslave discs). They’ve also had to deal with some bizarre stylistic shifts — Cornell’s r & b/soundscape album “Scream” with pop producer Timbaland comes to mind.
With Audioslave seemingly done forever and Cornell’s solo career in neutral, the timing seems right to cash in on ’90s nostalgia. Again, Cornell will have none of it.
“Oftentimes these things don’t start with a band member calling another band member, but with promoters or agencies that have a bunch of festivals without headliners,” he said. “Somebody says, ‘Hey, let’s get so-and-so to headline.’ But they broke up five years ago. ‘We’ll call them and offer them some money.’ ”
No one offered Soundgarden money. At least, not at first.
Instead the band just wanted to create a Web site, release a few rarities and sell some merch. Once the guys in the Seattle quartet were back in touch, they suddenly found they were a band again and it felt right to play some music.
Now that the reunion (let’s face it, this is a reunion) is in full swing, fans can expect more live dates and a new record later this year or in early 2012. But Cornell is trying to keep the pressure off, trying to stay true to the band’s humble — if artistically lofty — beginnings.
“I remember seeing a Rolling Stone at (producer) Rick Rubin’s place that was from about 1985. It was about the best songwriters and biggest bands, and nothing about them came close to one-tenth of one percent of what we wanted to be about,” he said. “We clearly knew from the beginning that we were creating Soundgarden to hear music we would want to hear, music we couldn’t hear on the radio or read about in Rolling Stone.”
Nirvana and Pearl Jam get the lion’s share of credit for destroying the era of the hair metal, but Soundgarden came first.
Way back in ’84, a version of the band — which now includes the core lineup of Cornell, guitarist Kim Thayil, drummer Matt Cameron and bassist Ben Shepherd — began rumbling with a noise that was equal parts Black Sabbath and Black Flag.
It took a decade, but Rolling Stone, rock radio and the whole world eventually embraced the angry rumbles — Soundgarden scored three platinum albums in the ’90s.
“I remember hearing (early Soundgarden track) ‘Get on the Snake’ on the radio, and I don’t even remember what songs it was between, but it sounded right,” Cornell said. “It’s in an odd time signature, it’s got no chorus — but hey, Led Zeppelin does odd time signatures, sometimes they don’t have choruses, and they’re on the radio. When I heard that, I knew things were changing.”
Soundgarden, with Coheed and Cambria, at Comcast Center, Mansfield, Sunday. Tickets: $29-$59; livenation.com.
