AUDIOSLAVE Frontman Says Trip To Cuba Was Eye-Opening Experience

AUDIOSLAVE frontman Chris Cornell (ex-SOUNDGARDEN) recentlly spoke to Inside Bay Area about the group's trip to the center of Havana, Cuba last May to premiere songs from their sophomore offering, "Out of Exile".

On Fidel Castro's attempt to rain on the parade, appearing on national television daily to decry American policies:

"He just complained and complained the whole time we were there. He talks on TV every day, and he can do it for as much time as he wants.

"But it didn't make any difference in terms of how our day went, because nobody there cared where we were from. They just liked the fact that we were coming there and doing what we do. It was a cultural thing, an artistic thing."

On being shuttled to some eye-opening sites upon touching down:

"Like this art college, the top music school in the country. We got there, and all the musicians were there, including these three dudes who also on the side had a little jazz combo they wanted to rock us with. And they had almost nothing — they don't even have drumsticks and guitar strings, so what they're playing is usually scotch-taped together with a lotta love. But they just blew us away — we were standing there in disbelief."

On being touched by the true-blue devotion of a Cuban DJ who had somehow procured a stack of obscure RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE and SOUNDGARDEN sides. During an interpreter-translated interview, the radio station domo stood up and made a tearful proclamation:

"He read this long statement about how important it was for AUDIOSLAVE to come and how much it meant to him and how important the music of RAGE and SOUNDGARDEN was to him. He went on and on, and when you see someone who's that moved by the fact that you're there, and you can see in that person's being that what you've done has really helped him get through the day, year after year, well ..."

On art being not only universal, but it also often having its strongest roots in the poorest of communities:

"And that's the thing that's so incredible about music. There is no class system that reaches music completely. Anybody can participate in it, and some of the most talented people come from places where they had nothing else going on."

Read the entire article at InsideBayAea.com.