Cornell "Carries On" with life after Audioslave

NEW YORK (Billboard) - After devoting the bulk of the past 20 years to bands, former Soundgarden/Audioslave vocalist

Chris Cornell is comfortably back on his own with his latest solo album, "Carry On."

"I really prefer, if I'm in a band, to focus on the music of that band, but invariably what happens is, I'll start writing songs that just don't work or fit," said Cornell, whose new release is due June 5 via Suretone/Interscope.

"I'm sure I've been part of the process of voting someone else's favorite song off of a record, but that was sort of the first indication (that a solo album was looming) -- songs that I probably will put out on my own."

Indeed, Cornell said he's reveling in the artistic freedom being a solo artist provides and, having released four records in the last five and a half years, he's intent on continuing at that breakneck pace. "Carry On" was finished quickly after Audioslave dissolved earlier this year.

On cuts like "No Such Thing," "Poison Eye" and "Never Be Your Man," the album hints at Cornell's riff-rock-oriented past, unlike his first solo record, 1999's "Euphoria Morning," which was released right after Soundgarden broke up and intentionally avoided that band's more bombastic side. The single "Can't Change Me" earned a Grammy Award nomination for best male rock vocal performance. The album has sold 362,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The new album includes vulnerable, melancholic ballads like "Arms Around Your Love," which will be released as a single in the United Kingdom on the heels of Cornell's first top 10 European Hit, "You Know My Name," which also served as the theme song to the 2006 James Bond film "Casino Royale." A slow-churning cover of

Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean," which has often been part of the artist's live show, also appears on the album.

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Soundgarden and Audioslave are titans of rock radio, but Cornell faces a challenging road establishing himself there as a solo artist.

Suretone president Jordan Schur said the label is trying to "cultivate a new profile" for Cornell, "introducing him to new generations of kids, as well as reaching other audiences, not depending on his past or his old fans to sell his records or introduce him."

To that end, Cornell has been posting blog entries on the Suretone Web site, and has been meeting with fans at shows as part of contests set up by the label. The current tour, which began in early April, is expected to run for 18 months. Cornell is peppering his set lists with tracks from throughout his career, including the one-off Temple of the Dog project from the early '90s, which also featured members of the nascent Pearl Jam.

"It's a little more intimate when you're in touch with the people that are in front of you," Cornell said. "It's not like you laminate a set list card, tattoo it on somebody and then that's it. There are bands that do that.

"I don't really care so much about the PA being good or if the power turns off in the middle of the show, because you're playing on the southern tip of Italy or somewhere in Southeast Asia," he said. "I just want to be in that environment."

Reuters/Billboard