WHis
famous last name may still resonate with the classic sound of
rockin’ Seattle, but Peter Cornell found his true, edgier
musical heart in New York, where he moved after a solo U.S.
tour in 2000-2001.
After
years of creative soul searching and exciting transitions, the
singer, songwriter and guitarist hooked up with likeminded bassist
and songwriter Keith Mannino and got to work on the vibrant
and blistering, emotionally resonant tracks that became the
foundation of their groundbreaking new band Black Market Radio.
Cornell
and Mannino’s dynamic partnership over the past five years
culminates in BMR’s Better Than A Killer, their exhilarating
and provocatively titled debut on Slugfest Records. A work of
extraordinary insight and intensity whose Cornell-penned lyrics
crisply reflect his vast life and musical experiences, Better
Than A Killer is the project the singer has literally been chomping
at the bit to record for years while going through the motions
leading other groups; he experienced some degree of success
with each of these, but at the expense of his real passion.
“A lot of the songs Keith and I wrote here are what I
call ‘rock relationship songs,’ about the difficulties
of sustaining strong relationships while focusing so much of
our time, drive and attention of the music,” Cornell says.
“The underlying theme here is the history of what I’ve
done in music, everything I’ve gone through, both positive
and negative. I’ve been wanting to break out of the shadow
I’ve been in, and collaborating with Keith, I was finally
able to get to a place where I could purge the past and connect
with who I really am and what I really wanted to do as a musician
and artist. It’s kind of a dark record, but there are
shades of optimism.”
With its fiery, chugging groove and soaring harmonic vocals,
the opening track “Wave” is a high impact testament
to that teetering balance of bright sunshine and brooding clouds.
“Totally autobiographical,” Cornell says, “about
a rough time when I was doubting myself. Someone’s always
trying to knock me off the big wave, but I’m still riding!”
The
booming crunch-rock of “Warned You,” tapping into
the singer’s never say die intestinal fortitude, captures
the classic 70s Led Zeppelin influence that he shares as a common
inspiration with Mannino.
Better
Than A Killer, whose lyrics honestly reflect “being a
complete failure in love but trying to survive it,” was
the first song the two ever wrote; Cornell laughs that he still
doesn’t know why he titled it that, but he thinks it’s
cool.
“Good Riddance” is another track of scorching, unbridled
energy dedicated to the notion that failure is not an option.
Amidst the many classic breakup songs throughout the rest of
Better Than A Killer (“Big Stones,” “Fight
Of Your Life,” “Gone Ten”) are “Link”
(a thoughtful lament about the sad early demise of many Seattle
grunge heroes) and the trippy, electronica-tinged “Suicide
Parlour,” one of Black Market Radio’s rare forays
into incisive socio-political commentary.
The
checkered past Cornell speaks of has been full of fascinating
professional twists and turns that, looking back, probably had
to happen for his current vision to emerge so clearly and powerfully
from the ashes.
Back in the early 90s, when his brother Chris—the frontman
for superstar rockers Soundgarden--was exploding as the face
of grunge, Peter hit the ground running with Inflatable Soule,
a hippie rock band he describes as “the Allman Brothers
meets the Grateful Dead meets Alice in Chains.” The spotlight
of expectation fell on the entire Cornell family, and his two
sisters joined as backup singers for the group’s successful
regional run over five years. When Inflatable Soule failed to
score a deal, they disbanded in 1997 and Cornell joined the
pop-rock outfit Grace, whose songs—which he wistfully
recalls as “bad Matchbox 20, written just to try to score
a record deal”—received airplay everywhere from
Atlanta to New Jersey to San Diego. He did some touring with
that band and there was talk of a record deal, but the singer
chose to leave and book a solo acoustic U.S. tour for himself,
on which he played a mix of new songs and all the material his
former bandmates wouldn’t allow him to play in their shows.
During
those same years, Cornell’s future partner Mannino was
playing with the band Shadowbox and later switched to engineering,
most prominently for five years with Lenny Kravitz. “After
the tour, I ended up in New York with no more dates booked,
no record deal and a publishing deal I had just walked out on,”
Cornell says. “I knew it was time to reinvent myself,
find a new project and work at becoming a better writer, singer
and guitar player. I collaborated with a lot of new groups,
and was doing a record with a band called Somnambulist from
Chattanooga at Keith’s studio called Shout in NYC. Just
as I was ready to throw in the towel, he told me he liked what
he heard from me and that I would probably get the music he
was making at the time. We clicked immediately and wrote ‘Better
Than A Killer’ in 20 minutes. He was hacking on the acoustic
guitar with a verse progression and I heard two riffs in my
head, laid one guitar and then another, and we finished it together.
Then I wrote the lyrics later.”
At
the time, Cornell had a development deal happening in L.A. with
Virgin, working on songs with guitarist Stevie Solis, but he
chose the less certain route and stayed in New York to develop
the natural chemistry he shared with Mannino. They worked on
new material until they had a body of work they were proud of,
and played their debut show as Black Market Radio at the end
of 2005 at Don Hill’s in Manhattan. They later hooked
up with Joe Mattis, President of Slugfest Records after Mattis
caught their radio promotion night performance for WMMR in Philly
at the Grape Street Club.
As Black Market Radio once and for all establishes Pete Cornell
as an innovative rocker and singer/songwriter in his own right,
he is prepared for the inevitable onslaught of questions regarding
his ties, musically and otherwise, to Chris, who was most recently
the lead singer for another superstar band, Audioslave. The
two are very close, Peter says, but in recent years Peter made
the decision to separate his professional and personal life
and not rely on Chris to advise him or help open industry doors.
“Growing
up, Chris and I shared a mutual love for Led Zeppelin and he
introduced me to Black Sabbath, which became a great influence
for me as well,” says Peter. “He liked Rush more
than I did, though. When Chris was getting big in the 80s, I
was more into racing sailboats than playing music, but as I
got started, he was always there to help me. He inspired me
to write my first songs and he helped produce demos, finance
projects and make important hook ups. When I was with Inflatable
Soule, I became a part of his then-wife Susan Silver’s
management company. But later I realized that while we were
closer than ever as brothers, I needed to be accepted and successful
on my own without him in the corner. If I was going to genuinely
make it, it would have to be from people ‘getting’
what I did. Those golden connections were great, but I always
knew that until I was able to come up with the goods, forget
it.”
Summing
up his current excitement with Black Market Radio and the vast
potential he feels working with Mannino and their new drummer
John Hummel, Cornell uses some sporty baseball analogies to
convey the spring-like feeling: “It’s like being
on a team that’s gonna go to the playoffs, and when I
take the field I know I’m going to light up the scoreboard.
Everything up till this point, hooking up with Slugfest, getting
a booking agent, has all been like spring training. This is
the most fun I’ve ever had making music and I’m
excited about getting out there, touring and recreating it onstage.
Over the years, there were a lot of ‘poor me’ kinds
of moments, but now I realize it was all worth it. I learned
how to be a better singer by singing more, a better guitar player
by rehearsing and a better songwriter by collaborating. It’s
time to take the field.”
