Rocker Chris Cornell dead at 52—representative

Rocker Chris Cornell, who gained fame as the lead singer of the bands Soundgarden and later Audioslave, has died at age 52, according to his representative.

Cornell, who had been on tour, died Wednesday night in Detroit, Brian Bumbery said in a statement to The Associated Press.

Bumbery called the death “sudden and unexpected” and said his wife and family were shocked by it. The statement said the family would be working closely with the medical examiner to determine the cause and asked for privacy.




As the lead singer for Seattle-based Soundgarden, Cornell helped architect the 90’s grunge rock movement. He was also a Grammy award-winning, Golden Globe nominated singer, songwriter, guitarist, composer and lyricist.

In addition, Cornell became involved in philanthropy and started the Chris and Vicky Cornell Foundation to support children facing challenges, including homelessness, poverty, abuse and neglect.

Associated Press

Soundgarden take Crooked Steps

Soundgarden appeared on US TV show Jimmy Kimmel Live earlier this week. View the video of Chris Cornell and co performing By Crooked Steps below.




The band recently released comeback album King Animal to a positive reception – but guitarist Kim Thayil believes there was never any chance they were going to disappoint fans with unimaginative new material.

He tells BraveWords: “I don’t think we’d be capable, because there’s so much variety on any of our records.

“Even though it sounds like us, if you deconstruct it you’ll see there’s a real eclecticism. So I don’t think we could have fallen into that trap – trying to patronise an audience or market.”

King Animal is on sale now.

source: classicrockmagazine.com

The National and Chris Cornell Open for Obama at Iowa Rally

The National and Chris Cornell kicked off a campaign rally for President Barack Obama on Saturday afternoon outside Des Moines, the Times-Delphic reports. A crowd of 10,000 people had gathered for the free outdoor event at Urbandale's Living History Farms, where the president was due to speak.

In a tweet announcing their appearance earlier in the week, the National declared themselves "Proud to support @BarackObama again in 2012." Now veterans on the Obama campaign trail, the band had played at a Cincinnati rally for the candidate in 2008 as well as at a speech the President gave in Madison, Wisconsin, before the 2010 mid-term election. Their five-song set at the Iowa event ended with "Mr. November," a hit whose title had appeared on a t-shirt that the band sold to benefit the Obama campaign in 2008.

After a few speeches, Chris Cornell took the stage with a set that mixed Audioslave and Temple of the Dog songs with a number of apt covers, including "What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love and Understanding" and "Imagine."

The Des Moines rally was Obama's second appearance in the swing state in one week, followed shortly by a third event in Sioux City later the same evening.

"I think that we have a lot of support from a lot of industries and that includes music," a spokesperson for the campaign told the Times-Delphic. "This event in itself shows how much the President cares about Iowa and the bands are just a part of it."

source: rollingstone.com

Soundgarden sorry for Sabbath slur

Revitalised grunge-powered outfit Soundgarden are no longer the band who said they wanted to be “Black Sabbath without the parts that suck.”

That’s a statement guitarist Kim Thayall made long before their public meltdown in 1997, when bassist Ben Shephard threw down his instrument and marched off ahead of official confirmation they’d split.



But now singer Chris Cornell tells Classic Rock: “We’re trying to add all the parts that suck back in.”

His comments appear in the current edition of the magazine, dated July 2012, as Cornell talks about the organic nature of their reunion – which came about as they discussed tidying up business arrangements such as merchandise deals and online presence.

Since those first meetings they’ve released new track Live to Rise, and a new album is on the way.

But Cornell insists Soundgarden are remaining flexible about their musical approach, after having suffered for the previously rigid beliefs. “Rock should be about an attitude – about where a person is coming from,” he says. “It could be almost anything.”

And when his band appear before Black Sabbath on the Download main stage tonight, they’ll be showing a little more respect to the metal pioneers than they might have done 15 years ago.

source: classicrockmagazine.com

Soundgarden releases new song for 'Marvel's The Avengers'

BURBANK-CA — Marvel Music/Hollywood Records announce the return of Soundgarden with the release of the band’s first all new song in 15 years, “Live to Rise.” The song will be featured in the end credits to this year’s highly anticipated movie, “Marvel’s The Avengers.”

“Live to Rise” is included on "Avengers Assemble," a 14-track compilation of music from and inspired by the film. Avengers Assemble will be released on May 1, 2012.

Soundgarden stated, "We've been hard at work on our new album, which will come out this Fall. When the opportunity arose to write an original song for ‘Marvel's The Avengers’ film, we thought it could be a cool match. We are excited to release our new song 'Live To Rise,' which is also the only new song in the film. Here's a taste. Loudest of Love."

Also, "The Avengers" original motion picture soundtrack, with score by Oscar-nominated and Grammy-winning composer Alan Silvestri (“Captain America: The First Avenger,” “Forrest Gump,” the “Back to the Future” trilogy) will be available at online retailers on May 1, 2012.

With over 21 million records sold worldwide, Soundgarden redefined rock music for a whole generation and had a revolutionary impact on the course of musical history. At the dawn of 2010, the band, Chris Cornell, Matt Cameron, Kim Thayil and Ben Shepherd, announced a new beginning. In the last two years since Soundgarden has reunited, they have headlined festivals, toured the world and released their first retrospective titled "Telephantasm" which included the previously unreleased song, “Black Rain” and their first live album, "Live on I-5."

The press has exalted their return to the stage and the music scene. Rolling Stone called their headline performance at Lollapalooza “an epic set...a blueprint of the Seattle sound,” where the Chicago Tribune hailed them as “one of the last great hard-rock bands to emerge in the last 25 years.” The band are currently in the studio in Seattle writing and recording their first LP in over 15 years, which is set for release in 2012.

In addition to Soundgarden’s “Live to Rise,” the Avengers Assemble collection features original songs inspired by the exciting and action-packed film event. The diverse range of artists includes Rise Against, Shinedown, Bush and Redlight King.

Marvel Studios presents “Marvel’s The Avengers”—the Super Hero team up of a lifetime, featuring iconic Marvel Super Heroes Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow. When an unexpected enemy emerges that threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, Director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. Spanning the globe, a daring recruitment effort begins.

Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner and Tom Hiddleston, with Stellan Skarsgård and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, and directed by Joss Whedon, “Marvel’s The Avengers” is based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series “The Avengers,” first published in 1963 and a comics institution ever since. “Marvel’s The Avengers” is from Marvel Studios in association with Paramount Pictures, produced by Kevin Feige and directed by Joss Whedon from a story by Zak Penn and Joss Whedon with screenplay by Joss Whedon.

(“Marvel’s The Avengers” will assemble in the Philippines on April 25 2012. The film is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International through Columbia Pictures.)

source: mb.com.ph

Dave Matthews Unplugs for Charity

Los Angeles sees a lot of parties and intimate performances, but John Varvatos' annual Stuart House benefit, held at his West Hollywood store and the surrounding street, is a special one. Held in the daytime with a kids' tent, it creates an incredibly relaxed atmosphere, one that makes for some very intimate celebrations.

The 2012 edition featuring Dave Matthews was so low-key that Avatar star Zoe Saldana was near the front of the stage, dancing throughout the set. So mellow that Alice Cooper and Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston held an uninterrupted summit of cool in the Varvatos store with neither fans nor security in sight.

That mood absolutely carries over to the performances. A few years ago Chris Cornell, who, like Matthews, had appeared in a Varvatos ad campaign, performed unplugged, busting out covers like "Hotel California." Unplugged in daylight, you never know what you might get.

Varvatos was hoping for the unexpected from Matthews. "I’m looking for Dave to pull something out of the bag of tricks there and surprise us all, something I haven’t heard him do in a while, something I haven’t heard him do in an intimate setting," the designer told Rolling Stone.

Cooper, out to support fellow Detroiter Varvatos, had some of his own songs he thought Matthews could do if he went the cover route. "There are a bunch," Cooper told us. "More the mid-tempo stuff, something like 'Poison' or 'Is It My Body.' That would be something good for him, a little sexier. I don’t think he would do the hard rock stuff, but even the ballads, 'I Never Cry,' 'You and Me' or 'Only Women Bleed,' he could probably do pretty well."

Much as we would have loved to see Matthews rock some Cooper numbers, there were no covers. But Varvatos definitely got his wish: Matthews said early on during his set that he was going to play some stuff he hadn't played in a while, joking, "If I make mistakes, I did it on purpose, because I'm an artist."

Among the songs he broke out in a 40-minute set were a sterling, mistake-free "#41," "Stay or Leave," "You And Me" (his own, not Cooper's) and "Crush." Matthews had a lot of fun with the setting, telling the crowd that he's been working on a new album and weaving jokes and stories in between performances. At one point he gave a shout-out to a little girl seated on her father's shoulders.

He closed with a new song written in Chicago, he said, while with his family. He told of picking up the "guy-tar" while his family was about to go swimming. His little boy asked him if he was coming. "But I was selfish," Matthews said. "I've been swimming with him since." The result was a new song he said "I think is about swimming. It's got some drinking references in it, too."

Stuart House is part of the Santa Monica Rape Treatment Center, explained Varvatos. "It treats kids who have been sexually abused," he said. "They’re at the forefront in terms of working with children and trying to help them through. We’ve just been here as a conduit to help raise money and get the awareness up."

The event raised over $700,000. After Matthews finished his set, he headed over to the packed kids' tent to entertain them.

source: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/dave-matthews-unplugs-for-charity-20120312