Chris Cornell speaks ….

Well, okay, it’s probably not exactly unusual. I admit, I haven’t been paying attention. Michael Roberts writes for Cleveland Scene:

From Cornell’s perspective, things went smoothly during the creation of Audioslave’s self-titled debut in 2002. The quartet’s focus was “on the musical leap those three guys had to make,” he says. “They were taking a much bigger leap than I did musically, which I think was uncomfortable for them. I was extremely supportive and proud.”

Unfortunately, Cornell says, these simple pleasures began to dissipate when the guys got together to record 2005’s Out of Exile and the following year’s Revelations — CDs that were solid but failed to build on the promise of Audioslave’s first album. In addition to disputes over business matters, Cornell says one unnamed member was “trying to have a mixer remix a couple of the songs at the last minute before the record came out, without telling the others.”

Incidents like this sapped the joy from Audioslave. And while Cornell says he’s happy with the collective’s accomplishments, he didn’t struggle with the decision to split. “It might have been different if it had been something like Soundgarden, where it was, for the lack of a better term, my first love,” he says. “With Audioslave, I didn’t have that same connection. To fight through it just didn’t seem worth it.”