BS: Chris? It's Ben. Hey. Where are you?

CC: I'm in a new house that my wife and I just bought, and this is our first night here. It's in Southern California. It's going to be more of a winter place, 'cause Seattle's been just dumping rain constantly -- worse than ever. There's nothing here except for an inflatable bed that self-pumps somehow and, um, a cell phone. Nothing, really. It's always the best moment when you sleep on the floor.

BS: You're living in that town . . . that's, like, where - well, um...I grew up watching The Six Million Dollar Man a lot.

CC: Yeah, Jaime Sommers was from here. No one else seems to remember that.

BS: Really? That's all I think of when I hear of that place. That. But how did you wind up there?

CC: Well, there are bionic people everywhere (laughter). But, Really, I have no idea what television is like because I never watch TV - except for occasionally, if there's something good on. A lot of it has to do with commercials. I can't watch a commercial.

BS: I know exactly what you mean. I can't watch prime-time sitcoms. You know exactly what's going to happen.

CC: Exactly. There's this guy who was in some show called Party of Five or something and he was just in this movie, and everyone thinks he's really great now. And he's talking about the magic of the series and how they knew it was special from Day One, and now it's kind of the mainstay of prime-time television, and I've never even heard of it (laughs).

BS: So congratulations on the album. It must be really strange to do a solo project. Was it natural? By the way, I knew I was going to interview you, and I went on the Web and looked at all the interviews and stuff that you'd been doing. It's just bizarre. Have you ever logged on to, ah, rustycage.com?

CC: No, I haven't. I only did once. I just put in my name, and then a bunch of stuff came up. Some of it was really interesting because they seem to know everything up-to-the-minute - like song lyrics from this record that I haven't even printed on the album jacket yet. I don't know how they found that stuff out.

BS: I find it really dangerous to look yourself up on the Internet. You know what I mean? Cause...people are stupid...and everything.

CC: You never know if somebody's watching, but it's still just people talking about what they're interested in, which is cool.

BS: I was interested in knowing how you went about writing the songs.

CC: The band used to always write in kind of a jam situation and just come up with stuff. Since then I, um, spend most of my time writing by myself. The main difference is that there's nobody to really play anything for - it helps to have someone to play music for that you trust.

BS: Had you written most of Euphoria Morning before you started working with any other musicians?

CC: Yeah. I had more than a whole record. I also had a lot of really old material that was never meant for Soundgarden but I just kept to myself, which you can read about on the Internet (laughs).

BS: I did Reality Bites, which is from the early '90s Generation X, and the whole grunge era -- whatever. I was wondering, what was your initial reaction to the word grunge? Does it have any relevance to your life?

CC: I didn't really understand what it was until after two or three years of the other (grunge) bands kind of selling records and touring and being on television. And then I kind of got the feeling "Okay, this is what it is." But it's not us. It's like everyone's perceptions sort of put together in a stew. None of the other bands had much in common, except for what we left out, which was a lot of what was going on in the late '80s - where the songs weren't as important as a video where you're flying in on a helicopter surrounded by supermodels.

BS: How early on did you start playing in a band?

CC: Um, I think I was 16.

BS: Was it a cover band, or was it... ?

CC: Yeah. We had, like, two originals, but for the most part, it was. And it was all really simple, just a matter of sitting around playing drums, and then some kid walked by my garage and said, "Yeah, I hear you playing drums every day, and I want to start a band." Within three weeks, I was in a band, and from that point on up until now, really.

BS: And did you ever have to work other jobs?

CC: Yeah. I did for years. Even in Soundgarden, I worked other jobs. I always had this feeling that I would rather wash dishes in a restaurant than play music in the back of a Chinese lounge, you know?

BS: This is so weird, the reason I got so excited about this interview was 'cause my dream movie to make someday is a remake of Jesus Christ Superstar, starring you as Jesus.

CC: Really?

BS: I'm not kidding you. Are you familiar with it at all?

CC: Actually, when I finished making this record (in L.A.), I drove my truck home to Seattle, and I listened to that most of the way.

BS: Really? That's so (laughter). Don't you think you would be a good Jesus- like, just vocally?

CC: I think vocally, maybe, yeah...I don't - I'm mostly Irish.

BS: I once went on the Conan O'Brien show, and kinda said seriously that I was going on tour as Jesus Christ Superstar, and I did a number. I did "What's the Buzz," with Janeane Garofalo as Mary Magdalene. It was one of the most embarrassing things I've ever done on TV.

CC: I wanna see that!

BS: I'll get you a tape.

CC: That'd be great.

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