Former Audioslave/Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello was recently interviewed on the Wall Of Sound: Up Against The Wall podcast and he was asked if Chris Cornell’s death has made him more aware of the “warning signs” to look for in fellow musicians, Morello said:
“Well, there were no warning signs with Chris; it was such a surprise. The one thing that we just have to all be conscious of, whether it’s musicians or not, is just to look out for each other and check in to see how people are doing. But that was such a tragedy. We love that guy and I miss him so much, and I’m just glad that I was able to be in a band with him.”
He continued: “I’m actually in my den right now and I’m looking at the Audioslave records, and it’s so amazing to have been in a band with one of the greatest rock voices of all time. He was a really good dude, and I’m just so happy that we got to play together one last time in January of 2017, where we played at the ‘Anti-Inaugural Ball’. Audioslave hadn’t played in 12 years and we did three songs and it was pretty awesome. So I’m glad that we had that.”
While admitting that he also has moments when he is down and out, Tom said that he has “been fortunate to never suffer from clinical depression or addiction issues, which are two things that plague the world and the musician community especially. For me, I’ve always had a pretty good grounding in close family and friends and the people that I hang out with couldn’t care less that I’m in a band at all and I can’t even get ’em to come to shows [laughs], and I’ve got little kids too, who also couldn’t care less and never wanna come to shows,” he explained. “So, for me, there’s a real healthy grounding in family and staying away from some of the trappings that go along with the music business.”
