Interview / Cornerstone

Interview MICHI SIXX POMOTIONS

Date: 02/27/2010

Cornerstone:
Patricia Hillinger
Michael Wachelhofer
Steve Wachelhofer

Please introduce your band Cornerstone to us first.

Steve: Cornerstone is singer Patricia Hillinger, Bass-/Keyboard player Michael Wachelhofer and myself on Guitars and Vocals. We’re playing a mixture out of AOR, Pop-Rock and Alternative. Basically the band begu to perform cover-Versions of REM, SOUL ASYLUM and THE CURE in livingroom of Mike’s former girlfriend in 1997 (*laughs*) …that was it. After a time a friend of Mike – Markus Bousska – joined the group, played drums, so the band was born, we have started, to write own songs.
At the beginning Mike was the leadsinger, but – let me say it thithere are some things in the band, he can do better than singing…(*laughing*).

Michael: yeah, so a singer joined the band, we have changed name to “Cornerstone” in 1999, and started to perform. After fouryears – member came and gone – I haven’t seen a sense anymore, to be in a band…but wehad good luck, and the “reborn” Cornersto has started their work in 2004 – and now we have an interview with a very nice lady, that’s really great! 2008 was a great year: we have signed a contract with an american label, we on tour trough UK and Austria, and got some really positive response from international press. In 2009 we’ve performed at the Z ROCK FESTIVAL in Dudley (U.K.) together with JOHN WAITE, and in the summertimes we did a tour trough the United States, which was a really great experience for us, musically.

Where is your favorite venue to play?

Michael: this is the BRIDGEHOUSE 2 in London (U.K.). We have performed there two times, one time together with Dennis Stratton, one of the founders of IRO MAIDEN…and it was probably the best concert, we have ever played. But also THE LOCAL, a nice litt venue in Vienna (AT) is one of our favourite places to be.

What other band do you enjoying hitting the stage with?

Steve: we have friends from Brighton (U.K.), they call themselves TWO CHOICES…and it is always a pleasure for us, to perform with them. Really great guys!

Michael: A secret dream of mine is, to perform with R.E.M. one time. Mike Mills is definitely one of my idols in Bassplaying, a great musician! Queen would be great as well, but I’m afraid, this will not work anymore…or Journey, but only wit Steve Perry!

Tell about your upcoming tour plans?

Michael: In April we’ll do a kind of “Warm-Up-concert” in our Hometown Vienna (AT), it’s called “Together for Haiti”, and it’s for a good purpose, like the name says (*laughs*). In May/June we will do a tour trough UK/Germany and Austria, and in 2011 we’ll plan something in the states again. Let’s see…

Tell us your favorite rock idol or bands.

Patricia: Queen, because their songs are very well composed a of course I
admire Freddy´s voice and stage appearance.

Michael: Oh, hello Patricia, nice to hear from you..(*laughing*). Like I said, personally Mike Mills (R.E.M.) is my idol musically…his bass- and keyboard
playing is one of my main influences. Lyrically and personally MORRISSEY (Ex-Smiths) is my idol!

Steve: Metallica, Guns’ Roses, Queen, … I guess, Steve Lukather and Slash are big influences for my guitarplaying. And Michael always want me to play like Johnny Marr (Ex-SMITHS)…and altough this isn’t exactely my favourite musical style, I like the guitar playing,Rickenbaecker, finger-picking…on our album HEAD OVER HEELS we have recorded two songs with a 12-string Rickenbaecker. We wanted to sound it like THE BYRDS, but at the end we did a kind of modern SMITHS (*laughing*)

Tell us about some of your musical influences.

Patricia: I always look up to the great musicians of the Pop business. Everybody performs different and is special in some kind of way. Therefore, I try to learn from every artist, bring out the best of him/her or rather introduce it into my slash our work.

Michael: REM, Toto, Asia, Survivor, Alan Parsons Project, Journey.I come from the AOR side of the street. Ah, and I really like The Beatles and Smiths, too.

Steve: Metal is my kind of music, but it must be melodic. Nightwish are great tunes, Guns ‘n Roses, and certainly Metallica and Toto.

Michael: I HATE NIGHTWISH!!!!! (*laughing*)

How long has your band been together?

Patricia: I joined the band in August 2009.

Steve: like Michael said in the beginning, the start of the band was more a kind of a joke, nothing serious…this was in 1998. Michael and me always were the core of the band, we have written songs for years…the other members came and gone, but Patricia is definitelyour lost soulsister, it is fantastic to work with her.

Michael: …but honestly I have to say, before we’ve found this great band, we also found out, that there are a lot of assholes in music-biz. To go on tour with the wrong people could turn the dream of your life into a nightmare – like it happened on our last tour throug United States. But certainly we have met sone really nice people in the biz as well…Hannah, our former drummer, for example, we’re stil friends, and she also play the drums, when the original drummer is ill or something like that. To be part of a professional band isn’t easy, as it may seems, and like you see it on TV (*laughs*)

What band or musician has influenced you the most in your musical career?

Patricia: Since childhood, I listen to the leading female artists like Celine Dion, Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston, who are, in my opinion, the best singers in the world. They influenced me a lot.

Steve: Brrrr…are we really in the same band? (*laughing*)
Brian May, Steve Lukather and Slash are my main-influences

Michael: Honestly I have to say, we always wanted to be The Smiths in the past…”normal” people, who’ll do exciting music. Or R.E.M.. A great band, but they are normal people. I guess, it’simportant, to have people around you, who’ll bring you back to earth.

What are your future plans with your band?

Steve: in March, April we’ll release a single, “Fade Away”, and in April we’ll do a pre-release of HEAD OVER HEELS in Germany.
We’ll tour around UK, Germany and Austria in May, June, and in fall of this year we’ll start to record our new album. 5 or 6 songs are ready for recording!

Michael: we have signed a distribution deal with SONY MUSIC for Europe, so this is a great chance for us! I hope, we can work something out with them for our next album!

How has the sales of your CD "Head over heels" going so far???

Michael: In the UK, it did quite well, which was a big surprise for us. In the states we have sold more digital albums, because the CD-format is more popular in Europe than in the states. In Austria we did a few sales as well, but Austria isn’t our primary target market, so we haven’t done much Promotion work there.

What are you doing at the moment. Are you writing new songs...have you new album plans?

Michael: yes, Steve and me are working on new songs, and even Patricia will contribute a few songs to the new album! We also have a new Management Agency since the beginning of 2010, so much work to do at the moment. But it’s getting better!

Does your band currently get fm radio airplay? If so what stations are rockin your tunes?

Michael: Many! In the UK ARFM-Radio, Radio Caroline and many other stations played our tunes…some stations in Germany and Benelux as well, and a lot of stations in the states.Tune in to my favourite radio station, it’s called HEADCASE RADIO and Cornerstone is in heavy rotation there!

Thanks for the interview, Michi

Thank you so much for the interview! I wish you all the best and much success with your music, I will have an eye on you to see whats going on!