36
DECEMBER2015
AMERICANWAY
POV
SettingtheSound
Withnewcharacters, newvenues andanewfound identity,ChrisCornell’s recent
album
HigherTruth
has awholenew story to tell
—E.C.
SOUNDGARDENFRONTMAN
Chris
Cornell isplaying10dates inAustralia
thismonth insupportofhisnewsolo
album,
HigherTruth
.Shifting frommosh
pits to intimate theaters, thegrunge-
rock icon—votedby
RollingStone
asone
of the10greatestrockvoices inhistory
— talks to
AmericanWay
abouthisnew
acousticapproachand thestoriesbehind
thesound.
You’replaying someof thebest concert
halls in theworldduringyour tour.How
important areacoustics and setting for
you?
I figuredout that the room is kindof the
most important thing. Thereneeds tobe
the intimacy. Peopleneed tobe seated. It
needs tobe a theater…not aballroom, not
a club. People shouldn’t be standing. There
needs tobe an environment that’s special
and that’s complementary to this perfor-
mance. Tome, it shouldhave a somewhat
church-y feel to it, and if done right, it does.
You’ve said storytelling ismore important
withanacousticalbum.How so?
When youmake a rock album, aguitar-
based rock album, there are a lot of other
things that can kindof takeprecedence in
the constructionof the song andproduction
