CORNERSTONE
Questions asked by Jon Wilde, added to Rock Realms 9th October 2011.
Austrian band Cornerstone have recently unleashed their new album "Somewhere In America". We caught up with founder member Michael Wachelhofer and new vocalist Patricia Hillinger to find out more about the new album, and to see just how this band has changed since the last time we talked to them.
Since our last chat you’ve gained a new lead singer in the shape of Patricia Hillinger. How well has she fitted into the band, and how do you think she compares to your previous vocalists?
Michael: Always great talking to you Jon! Patricia has been with us for 2 ½ years now, and she is great, maybe the best singer we have ever had. She did the audition, and it was clear after two minutes that she was the right person for this job. Very bread and butter (*laughs*). But let me tell you, that we did a single concert with our former singer Carina Sethaler this May….this was more a kind of a fun gig, but we really enjoyed it, it was great, to play the old tunes!
Do you think Cornerstone is still the same sort of band it was a few years back, or has your sound and style evolved into something new?
Michael: Since our drummer Mike joined, I have more a kind of a “band-feeling”. WE drive to the gigs, WE perform there, and WE drive home. That’s great. In the past it was more like “Steve and me” and “the rest of the band”. This band will go to the top, I’m sure of it!
How would you describe the sound of Cornerstone in 2011 to somebody who foolishly hadn’t heard you before?
Patricia: I’d describe our style of music as a mixture of classic and melodic rock. (Michael prefers the expression AOR.)
Michael: Yeah…fine AOR with a good dose of modern Alternative Rock. But I was very surprised, that on our latest UK-tour people described our tunes as a mixture out of Journey and Fleetwood Mac…there are worse things than to get compared with such fantastic bands, I guess…(*laughs*)
Your new album “Somewhere In America” is out now. How does it compare to your last album “Head Over Heels”?
Patricia: With “Somewhere in America ”, we departed with big steps from our debut album “Head Over Heels”. Michael and Steve, who wrote the songs together, were inspired by the adventures of their U.S.A. Tour of 2009, that´ s the reason for the title. After they finished the melodies and lyrics, we often rehearsed till midnight to make the songs unique. And they are!
Michael: Beside the fact, that “Somewhere” is more mature, I think, it is - let me say it this way – a kind of midway of musical styles. At the time we did “Head”, we were deeply influenced by acts like REM, The Smiths and Faith No More, which you can hear on the album quite obviously. On one side we had more Punk/Grunge-orientated songs like “Changed”, “Something in the Way” or “Leave”, on the other side there were tunes like “Regret” or “Crises”, which could quite happily been on on “Greatest Love Ballads Vol.5” or something like that. But except “Ready To Go” and “Fade Away”, there was nothing in between, ironically exactly this “In between Songs” were the Hits and the most memorable tunes on the album. So we’ve tried to create more songs like this and tried to find a kind of “midway”. In general I think, “Head” is Alternative with a bit AOR, while “Somewhere” is AOR with a bit Alternative, style wise (*laughs*)
What’s the story behind the album’s title? Does it have a special meaning?
Michael: For “Somewhere in America” we’ve got our inspirations in particular from our 2009-USA Tour. Musically it went very, very well, no question, and we are looking forward to do another tour either in 2012 or in 2013, because people simply loved what we did. But behind the scenes…well, this was more a bit of a backstage-drama, but I’ll not go any further into this at that point. But it definitely gives me material and stories for new songs - songs, which you may find on “Somewhere” now. We were in search of something catchy, a title, which you can remember easily. So after some discussions, and with the knowledge, that around half of the songs were written as a direct reaction of our ’09 – US-Tour, this was the logical name for me.
Did you approach the writing and recording process in a similar way to last time, or did you create this album in a totally new way?
Michael: Most of the time I came up with the lyrics and the chords, and then Steve and me worked on the song-details…Arrangements, Solos, etc. At the next step the rest of the gang joined, and we’ve worked out the tunes and finalized them. But let me tell you, that we have wrote some tunes as a group in the past…”Regret”, “Stefania” or “Better Than You”, which you can find on the “Head Over Heels” album. But to be honest, this was very hard work to do, and I really didn’t enjoy it much. Beside the fact, that these efforts are very different from the rest of the album or from the Cornerstone-style in general.
What are your favourite moments on the new album?
Patricia: “Strut”, because we finished it spontaneously in the studio, as we were recording. It´ s a slow number and arranged very musically. I also like Steve’s guitar solo in the middle of the song and the harmony of the voices. In short words, simple and unique to listen to.
Michael: “Strut” has probably the most obscure story: when we started to record the album, some songs weren’t ready 100% lyrically or musically, but this song didn’t exist when we’ve started the recording sessions!! Our producer asked me about the name of the song, and after thinking about it – there were just a few chords and a vocal-harmony existing in my head! – I told him: “What about ‘Strut’”? Then he made a short break, and we worked out the song in two hours! I sang a Demo-track by myself, because there were no lyrics at that point, and then we’ve finished the song with some Keyboard-Work, etc. Funny story behind this is, that this tune is the very best effort from Cornerstone for many people, and actually people told us, to use this as a single…life is strange sometimes (*laughs*). Beside this, “Like A Stranger” and “Right Or Wrong” are the best songs on the album for me. Perfectly arranged, very memorable, and musically we gave our very best on this.
Tell us about your current touring plans...and what one of your shows is like.
Patricia: I’m looking forward to another England tour next year, but we´ ll also plan some gigs in Austria and Germany as well.
Concerning our live gigs, we always have a lot of fun on stage together and somehow we pass it on to the audience. It´ s nice to see the people clapping, screaming and dancing to our songs. You can feel the music and it´ s always an overwhelming experience to carry an audience.
Michael: We’ll definitely come back to UK next year, principally we could repeat the whole tour 1:1, because every venue wanted us again. We’ll do a lot of concerts in Austria, too, in the next weeks, and after that we’ll take two months off, to care a bit about our personal lives, before we’ll recommence touring in February. Then: let’s see. Offers for concerts and Festivals are always welcome, as long it fits into our time-schedule.
What have been the highlights of your musical life so far?
Patricia: My personnel favourite gig was in Kastoria (Greece). It was a very big open-air stage and behind us there was sunset. It was a great atmosphere and we brought home a lot of fans.
Just a few days ago, we played a concert with a few other bands. At the end of the show everybody was on the stage playing well known songs, from ACDC etc., together. It was a lot of energy, because of the many different instruments and voices that were playing. That was a great feeling and a lot of fun.
Michael: The Rock and Bike Festival in Loughborough this year was also a highlight! And certainly our gig in New York 2009: we have played in a club, where a quite unknown artist called “Bruce Springsteen” did his very first New York-Gig in the Seventies. This was a kind of holy place, I wanted to kiss the earth (*laughs*). Besides this, I have to say, I read an interview of ours at the Powerplay Mag….it’s something special, when you have such a great printed mag in your hand, and you’re part of it.
Is there a master plan behind Cornerstone’s future, or do you take it one day at a time?
Patricia: I personally would describe “Cornerstone” as kind of a family/ team. Of course there has to be someone, who coordinates everything. Otherwise everything would fall apart. Michael is doing a lot of hard business work. He is a very talented organizer. Because of him and his great engagement, we did a great tour around England. We all work very hard to bring our music and the name Cornerstone out to the people and try to play as many concerts as possible
Michael: Thanks, Patricia, I appreciate that (*laughs*)
If you could go back and change anything, or do anything again, what would you do?
Patricia: I would not change a thing. I joined the band in September 2009. If I had not read an announcement on the internet, which said that “Cornerstone” is looking for a female singer, or went to the audition, it would have not became possible to live my dream. To get the part as a lead singer was the best thing that could ever happen to me.
Michael: We have struggled around for a while with our Managers…there are many weirdoes out there… (*laughs*). Ah, and not to forget, we have probably produced the most expensive Demos of all times: the tonmeister was an idiot, so we’ve recorded and mixed, mixed, mixed for five months (!)…and at the end we have changed the studio, and they have remixed the stuff, but as Eddie Van Halen always said: “You can’t polish a heap of dog-shit”. At the end we have paid 12.000 Euros (approx.. 11.000 Pounds) for a demo, which has sounded terrible and weak. So we’ve decided: once again, please. The result was “Head Over Heels”, which is a great album now, but an expensive experience. Ah, and to let our short-time drummer Martin Key join the band, he did the US-Tour with us, was a big mistake from my side. Some people are not very team-orientated, and their only priority in life is “money”. But probably you have to make all this experiences in life in general, because now everything is fine. I’m satisfied. But it was a hard way (*laughs*)
What are you up to once you’ve finished answering these questions?
Michael: Take another cup of coffee. And than check out our new video-stuff, which you can check out soon on YouTube!
Anything else you would like to mention?
Patricia: Thanks Jon for having us and greetings from all members of Cornerstone !!!
Michael: …and don’t forget to check out our new album “Somewhere in America”…it is available at amazon.co.uk, iTunes, HMV, etc.
Thanks again to Michael and Patricia for their time. You can check out the Rock Realms review of Cornerstone's latest album “Somewhere in America” by clicking here.
Label: Atom Records
Artist's website(s): Cornerstone | MySpace | Facebook
