by Alexandra Mrozowska
— Senior Columnist —
With the US being rightfully considered as a cradle of all things rock’n’roll – and probably also because of the irresistible appeal of the faded imagery of the “vintage America” – it’s pretty much a dream for every European band to make it big on the other side of the pond. It’s no wonder then that Cornerstone – an AOR/Melodic Rock four-piece hailing from Austria – mentions their record deal with the US-based label ATOM Records and their American concert tours among the biggest achievements of their career so far. The title of their sophomore album Somewhere In America released in 2011 is, in all probability, also far from being just an accidental choice.
As 2020 proved to be particularly challenging for the band not only because of the pandemic, but also a major line-up change – Cornerstone’s co-founder, bass and keyboard player and co-songwriter Michael Wachelhofer checks in with Hardrock Haven to give us an update on band’s current situation as well as share some of the highlights of Cornerstone’s past.
Hardrock Haven: When we think about 2020, we think the pandemic. And as music makes everything better, which albums soundtracked your lockdown?
Michael Wachelhofer: To be completely honest, I went through my CD collection – ‘cause I’m a guy who actually collects CDs – and the albums that I found in my collection was something by The Cure, for example. Probably their Disintegration album [1989] was pretty much a soundtrack. I also found an album called So Fired Up by LeRoux with Fergie Fredriksen – a fantastic one, so that’s another. And also, I guess, some stuff from Alan Parsons Project and so on. There was enough time to listen to all of this stuff again and I have to admit I really enjoyed it (laughs).
Hardrock Haven: So it was a return to classics, we could say.
Michael Wachelhofer: Definitely yes, because most of the new music that’s released is not that great in quality – at least in the Pop music area. I guess with Melodic Rock there are some greater releases though… For example, the latest album by the former Styx singer Dennis DeYoung [26 East, Vol. 1,2020]. But I have to say that more or less I listen to older music.
Hardrock Haven: How would have 2020 looked like for Cornerstone if it hadn’t been for the pandemic?
Michael Wachelhofer: The COVID-19 messed up our plans completely. Originally, we had planned a tour through Germany – it was in April, I guess – with probably eight or nine concerts, TV appearances and so on. Of course, we had to cancel this. We had planned a tour through Greece as well for the end of July and we had an offer to headline the Indie Rock Festival on Syros which is an island near Athens – and we’ve already set up a gig in Athens as well as one in Thessaloniki… But everything was cancelled because of the COVID-19 thing. So we did just a few concerts locally in Austria – some small open-airs… and the end of the year also brought some changes to the line-up of Cornerstone because our former singer, Alina [Peter], left after six years in the middle of the current tour. So there’s been some changes, but I have to say it was also a time to think about and re-think our own lives and the direction of our lives. And now we’re starting all over again with fresh energy and we’re really looking forward to the next year ahead. It was a bit of mess and chaos – also inside the band – but next year will be way better. There are a lot of future plans.
Hardrock Haven: That being said, at the moment it doesn’t look like the pandemic is over yet, so what do you think will be short- and long-term effects of this situation on the music industry?
Michael Wachelhofer: It’s quite difficult to say, because no one knows exactly how long the situation will stay [like that], when it’s possible to play concerts again, if there are any restrictions or if the people are supposed to wear masks or not… no one knows that. But I also have to say that I’ve got a feeling as if people checked out music a bit more these days. Music became more important to people because now they have the time to listen to it, and that’s a positive effect of the situation with COVID-19.
Hardrock Haven: Yeah, probably it’s also because it’s a difficult time for all of us, and music is a kind of escape or therapy itself.
Michael Wachelhofer: Yes. I’ve experienced it myself when I listened to The Cure and how nice it was with a drink or some coffee (laughs) and some candles, just listening… That’s great that you can escape the reality for a while, really a great thing.
Hardrock Haven: True. During the lockdown period – in spring, I believe – Cornerstone played a special QUARANTINE TV concert. What kind of experience was that?
Michael Wachelhofer: Yeah, it was kind of funny because we haven’t done anything like that before. It was really strange to do a concert without being onstage or even being in the same room with each other. But we did our best with that and it came out great – it was a very good concert with lots of positive feedback. I also have to say that during that concert, I played the acoustic guitar, which I normally never play because I’m really not a good guitar player. Normally I play the bass and the keyboards. It was a real fun though and I guess it came out well. A new experience for us (laughs).
Hardrock Haven: Definitely. As you’ve mentioned, actually you’ve managed to play some gigs during the period when the restrictions weren’t as severe in Europe. What kind of feeling was it to be finally back onstage, even though the circumstances were obviously slightly different than normally?
Michael Wachelhofer: It was really strange, especially the first concert that we played in Vienna – I guess it was in June. There were still many restrictions, so there was a maximum of one hundred people in the venue and they had to reserve their seats, with no dancing allowed… When you’re in your flat or house for so long and get out to play a concert after such a long time, it’s always a strange feeling. But we’ve enjoyed it and after a second concert, it was more or less back to normal. The first one after the lockdown was really weird though (laughs).
Hardrock Haven: I can imagine! Speaking of gigs in general, can you recall any particularly proud or special moment from the band’s history?
Michael Wachelhofer: Yeah, there were a few! Cornerstone is around for quite a few years now – twenty years, to be exact – and I have to say about one of the highlights that was definitely the gig in New York when we did the US tour back in 2009. We’ve played at the venue where a very certain Bruce Springsteen did his very first New York gig back in the ‘70s, so this was really kind of holy ground to me and I’ve been thinking, “Oh my God, the Boss stood here in this place…” Unfortunately, the venue’s gone – they closed it down a few years later. It was in the middle of Manhattan and luckily for us, we’ve found a parking lot directly in front of the venue which spared us cruising for an hour to find one… (laughs) Another highlight was definitely the Cambridge Rock Festival back in the summer of 2013, where we shared the stage with Hazel O’Connor, Magnum, The Animals and so on… It was a fantastic concert and one of our best, looking back. The band at this time was at its peak musically and personally. We played the same festival in 2019 too and we had Don Airey of Deep Purple sharing the stage with us – we also had a chance to talk to him. He’s a fantastic guy.
Hardrock Haven: A well-deserved reputation I guess. You’ve just mentioned sharing the stage with the likes of Magnum or The Animals and I believe the band’s resume includes also acts such as John Waite (Bad English, The Babys) or New Model Army in this respect. So is there anyone you’d gladly go on tour with in the future?
Michael Wachelhofer: We really would love to go on tour with Journey. Of course it’s a dream for us, but let’s see what will happen with them in the future as I guess they fired Ross Valory and Steve Smith once again (laughs) which makes it a three-piece band at the moment [in May 2020, it was announced that the current rhythm section of the band consists of their former bassist Randy Jackson and a drummer Narada Michael Walden]. So let’s see. But it’s not the first time there’s a line-up change in Journey… Another hidden dream of mine would be to perform with Fleetwood Mac I guess, although they don’t have Lindsey Buckingham in the band at the moment. Still, they’ve also had some line-up changes with people leaving and coming back, so I’m quite sure Lindsey will come back to Fleetwood Mac eventually – maybe in a few years. Let’s see (laughs). But it’s always been a dream to tour with either of them.
Hardrock Haven: Fingers crossed! And in general, do you prefer working in the studio or playing live – and why?
Michael Wachelhofer: I’d say that in the studio there’s more time. You can record something, listen to it and say, “Ahh, I’m not fine with it. Let’s do it again.” And you really get the best result you can deliver. On stage, you have only one chance. So if it’s bad – bad for you. But of course the positive thing about being onstage is that you get direct feedback from the people and you can talk to your fans after the concert – that’s a fantastic thing. Over the last few years, we’ve been on stage mainly as our last recordings took place back in 2017. I guess this year or so we’ll release some new stuff.
Hardrock Haven: Anyway, you’ve just brought up the topic of the line-up changes within some of your favorite bands and also with Cornerstone, I believe your former singer Alina wasn’t your original one. So how do you think these line-up changes influence Cornerstone?
Michael Wachelhofer: My brother Steve and I, we’re more or less the core of the band as we founded it back in 1998. I’d say as long as Steve and I are in the band, it’s Cornerstone. We had a tour back in 2019 or so when Steve wasn’t available for personal reasons. We’ve played with another guitar player and it was very, very strange for me ‘cause I had the feeling that this wasn’t my band – it was a band I was in, but it wasn’t Cornerstone. I have to say it’s big fun working with Steve. Of course, there’s some arguments and stuff because we’re brothers and it’s not always peaceful… (laughs) But we make sure that we always get the best out of each song. And with singers and the line-up changes, the singer of course is the face of the band. But we can’t forget than Cornerstone is around for twenty-two years and it’s a relatively long time but there were probably ten or so members in and out of Cornerstone during this time… so relatively, a low number. But of course, I would have preferred to work with just one singer all the time. Still, that’s life – you can’t change it. People change, people change their attitudes, people change their environment… I have to say it wasn’t a big surprise that Alina left, and it was fine with us. But to cut a long story short, as long as Steve and I are in the band, it’s Cornerstone.
Hardrock Haven: Cornerstone is always spoken of as a female-fronted band. Was it always like that and is this formula deliberate, or coincidental?
Michael Wachelhofer: To be completely honest, at the very, very beginning – back in 1999 or something like that – we were just a three-piece band with me singing and also Steve singing from time to time. But the band wasn’t that serious at that time, so that was a kind of hobby and we did it just for fun. And the drummer we have founded the band with said he wanted a female-fronted band, with a girl as a singer. So we’ve started searching for a female vocalist and we kept that ever since, so I couldn’t imagine working with a male singer… this would be strange for me now (laughs). And the positive thing about is that in AOR/Melodic Rock scene there are not that many female singers around. I guess eighty-five percent [of bands] are male-fronted, so it’s a cool thing to work with a woman.
Hardrock Haven: As you’ve already mentioned, it’s been more than two decades since the band is around. If you could go back in time to change anything in the band’s history, what would you do differently?
Michael Wachelhofer: It’s a difficult question because you learn from experience. So for example, back in 2006 we recorded our very first serious demo. And for that, we went to a studio and worked with a guy who had absolutely no idea of what he was doing. We’ve spent, spent and spent [money] and produced probably the most expensive demo in history of the music industry, because we’ve spent around eleven or twelve thousand Euros. And in the end we got a demo CD which was for the trash can only ‘cause it sounded absolutely horrible, like someone would make a joke about the band. So that’s one thing I honestly wouldn’t do again. If I could go back in time, I would choose another studio. But at the same time, sometimes you have to pay your dues in life and you have to get experience. So now, if someone comes and goes, “Yeah, I’ve got this great studio and I’m an expert and worked with this, this and this guy,” I’m like, “Okay, let’s have a look and a listen” and we’d find out very quickly if this person lies or not. And no one can take away this experience from me. The other instance is when we recorded a charity single in 2013 for the Nottingham City Hospital [it was for “Room to Breathe” campaign – a charity organization for the research and treatment of the immunodeficiency disease cystic fibrosis]. We’ve tried to go more into a Pop direction, so we’ve recorded a cover version of Bronski Beat’s “Smalltown Boy”. It came out great, but looking back I’m not sure if I would do that again. It was a cover song, not an original song of ours, and well… Steve was completely out of this record, he played on it, but didn’t do much. So it didn’t really sound like a Cornerstone tune, although I should say it entered the charts and that was a positive thing of course. In retrospect, though, I know you should always do what’s in your heart and what you want to do and not what someone tells you to do. It might have been not a very good move [for us], I’d say, and I can remember quite clearly that many people dropped us e-mails saying, “Hey, what are you doing? I really enjoyed your Rock tunes and now you’re doing a cover version of Bronski Beat – what’s happened to you, man…?” So only after the Reflections album [2016] many people were happy that we returned to Rock music – and so were we (laughs).
Hardrock Haven: Speaking of playing cover versions of well-known tunes, did you go through this phase very early on in Cornerstone’s history when you indeed relied on playing covers – as almost every band did?
Michael Wachelhofer: Yes, at the very beginning we did covers of the music we listened to – so at this time it was The Cure and R.E.M… Soul Asylum was around as well. It was the end of the ‘90s and it was the era of these big MTV bands. We played their tunes then, but also quite quickly we’ve started to write original material. Back in 1999 we wrote our very first song and recorded it – the name of the song is “Changed” and you can find it on our very first album Head Over Heels [released in 2008]. This was, more or less, the very first tune we’ve ever written, and also an influence of our former drummer who founded the band with us. In the beginning, Steve and I wanted to focus more on covers, but the drummer said, “I want you to do the original material. Let’s write some tunes.” Of course, we still love to play some covers from time to time in our concerts, especially in Austria where we have to play longer concerts, [lasting] up to three hours. You just can’t do three hours of original material – people also want to hear songs they already know…
Hardrock Haven: Absolutely, something they’re familiar with.
Michael Wachelhofer: Exactly. So we play some AC/DC and so on, which is always fun to play.
Hardrock Haven: Artists’ opinions usually vary when it comes to covers. Some embrace recording and performing them as a part of their legacy and some avoid it as much as possible. So, having experience in both recording and performing covers, what’s your general opinion about it?
Michael Wachelhofer: I’d say there are a few covers around that are much, much better than the original tune. Blondie’s “The Tide Is High” is a great tune and I love it – yet, the original version [by The Paragons] isn’t that great. But especially here in Austria, covers are more or less a thing of the function bands – who play them at weddings or for example, while opening up a hotel or something like that… But it’s fun to play covers from time to time and you can do your own thing out of it and play it your own way. You can also takes some influences out of these covers, especially for things like background harmonies and stuff – you go, “Okay, which way did they do that…?” and you’ll do it in a similar way for your own tune and that’s a positive effect of playing covers in my opinion.
Hardrock Haven: So, if you were offered to again record a cover version of a song that represents an entirely different genre than Cornerstone – as it was with Bronski Beat’s song – what would it be and why?
Michael Wachelhofer: Oh, that’s a difficult question! Our band’s hymn – more or less – is Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’”, but it’s quite a similar genre, so it probably doesn’t count… (laughs) Maybe I’d choose my favorite tune “Affirmation” by Savage Garden as its lyrics are fantastic, and if someone offered us to cover that, record it and release it, we’d probably be quite positive to do it. In general, Savage Garden is great.
Hardrock Haven: Speaking of genres, the band is labeled as AOR/Melodic Rock but Cornerstone’s music seems to actually incorporate a variety of influences and is not only this big massive ‘80s sound associated with the likes of Journey you’ve mentioned. Do you think it’s due to you starting out as more of an Alternative/Indie kind of band, or the matter of influences that you share within a band?
Michael Wachelhofer: For Steve and me, it was always important to record songs in different styles. So, in the very beginning we were more of an Alternative/Indie band which played a bit of AOR just for fun. Looking back on our first album Head Over Heels, we had three tunes on it – “Ready To Go”, “Fade Away” and “Crisis” – recorded in AOR style. We wanted to do that because we simply love it. And interestingly enough, these are the songs that survived over the years. We still play tunes like “Ready To Go” or “Fade Away” on our concerts, people love it and we love it too. On our second album Somewhere In America, though, we turned this combination around. We recorded more like an AOR album with a bit of Indie tunes in between, just a bit of Alternative. And our most recent album Reflections is more or less pure AOR – yeah, of course we’ve had this big ballad “Whatever” with orchestra which probably doesn’t have much to do with AOR, but I’d say the most of the tunes are pretty much in this direction and also, the effect is in the production of Harry Hess [Harem Scarem, First Signal]. He tightened the musical direction of the band and it was a very positive thing in my opinion.
Hardrock Haven: And speaking of Harry Hess and his work on Reflections, are there any other producers you’d like to collaborate with in the future?
Michael Wachelhofer: I have to say we were really happy with Harry. Before [recording] the album, there’s been talks with Dennis Ward of Pink Cream 69 and Beau Hill, but Harry Hess was the person we’ve all agreed to work with because we could work with him and talk to him on a personal level – it’s like, you can also ask him “Hey man, are you fine…? How was your day…?” and stuff like that… We’ve done some demo mixes with Dennis Ward, but it wasn’t like with Harry. It was just on a pure professional base, which is okay for some artists, but we love to talk and simply get along with the producer. And of course, a big dream would be to work with Mutt Lange…
Hardrock Haven: Probably not just for you, but almost every other band as well!
Michael Wachelhofer: Probably yeah! (laughs) But also probably this guy is a bit over our budget…
Hardrock Haven: …again, as for almost every other band (laughs)
Michael Wachelhofer: Exactly (laughs). But this would be great of course. Working with Mutt Lange would be fantastic.
Hardrock Haven: No doubt about it. You’ve also mentioned some future recording plans for the band and I believe the title of the single “Private Eyes” was also already announced, so can you tell anything more about both?
Michael Wachelhofer: We’re currently working on the demo recording of “Private Eyes” and we’re also planning to release a more radio-friendly single which doesn’t have a title at the moment ‘cause “Private Eyes” is more or less to satisfy the AOR fans around (laughs). It’s pretty much in the style of “Northern Light”, our single from the previous album. Of course, we’re planning to release a new album as well, but I’d say let’s see when this happens. We have plans to start working on it at the end of the year, but you never know – and we just want to go into the studio and spend this much money if we’re absolutely satisfied with the songs, the arrangements and so on… There are a lot of ideas floating around and a few tunes ready to be recorded, but not a full album of material at the moment. So let’s see… But we’ll probably start at the end of the year as it’s time to release some new stuff. And the funny thing about this is that we’ve already decided to release the album on vinyl because our previous one was just on CD and of course streaming and downloading… Vinyl makes a huge comeback at the moment, I guess, and for us it’s important that at least one of our albums should be available on vinyl (laughs).
Hardrock Haven: And why do you think the format’s so popular again that indeed more and more contemporary bands want to have their album released on vinyl?
Michael Wachelhofer: It’s a good question! I guess it’s when you have a vinyl in your hand, it represents something – so there’s big picture as the artwork and when you put an album on a turntable, you’re more concentrated on the music. With the CD, it’s always been more of a throwaway product… With the vinyl, you’re probably reading the lyrics while listening, whereas to be honest, I can’t remember when I did this with a CD because the font in the booklet is usually very, very small… I’m not sure why the vinyl’s coming back, but maybe these are the reasons.
Hardrock Haven: Probably these days it’s better not to ask about the band’s plans for the new year yet, but if everything goes well – what does 2021 hold in store for Cornerstone?
Michael Wachelhofer: First of all, we have to finish the tour of 2020 ‘cause we’ve had a few concerts obviously cancelled because of the COVID-19 thing, and I guess the regular concerts will start in June or so. We’ll probably play some concerts locally in Austria and maybe Germany as well. There’s been talking about touring Greece towards the end of July, but let’s see if it’s possible. For sure we’ll come back to the UK in 2022 because we always love to play there. But we’ve decided to wait until the [end] of the COVID-19 crisis and the outcome of Brexit and so on… And once it’s all clear, we’re planning to schedule something in the UK as well, but anyway I guess the next few concerts will be in a closer area – so, Austria, Germany and maybe France.
Hardrock Haven: Let’s hope so! Any last words?
Michael Wachelhofer: It was a pleasure talking to you of course! And all of you, if you want, let’s find out more about the band and check our website and Facebook and Instagram pages. It’d be great if you could give us a like or a comment – we’re always happy to hear from you… Stay positive and healthy and let’s hope to see each other on our concerts!
Photo credits:
Group photos – Kezia White
Michael Wachelhofer – Reinhard Mueller (the piano photo), Daniel Sweetspot Dc (the bass photo)
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