Rod Jackson, Slash’s Snakepit vocalist revealed that Chris Cornell was one of the many singers that auditioned for the guitarist band at the time.
Read what he said:
“So Johnny [Griparic, who played bass on the Snakepit’s second and final album, 2000’s ‘Ain’t Life Grand’] and I had played together, and in passing he said: ‘Hey Rod, how would you like to come down and demo some songs for Snakepit?’
“I’m thinking Slash, Snakepit, putting two and two together, I said, ‘Sure.’ I went down there and they’d tried out like 300 singers. Chris Cornell was one, God bless.”
About the audition process he said:
“You’re in Slash’s world, it’s a big thing, brother. I realized that when I got there, they gave me this cassette, back then you gave each other cassettes.
“I went home, listened to the songs, got in the corner. I remember saying to myself, ‘Hey man, ain’t no one-two swing, you better knock this son of a bitch right the fuck out on the first swing. You better bust ass on it!’
“I think they went through a lot of singers, so I knew if I didn’t bust this out, man they were going to pass me up. I knew this was real.
“That was a lot of work. It was a lot of work, I disappeared when I got in that band. I learned a lot from those guys, I became a student.
“They had already done it and been there. I went to one of the best colleges in the world, it was the University of Slash. You learn good things, and you learn bad things.”