Cornerstone: The Latest Great Thing From Down Under – TheCelebrityCafe.com

Australia is a beautiful place that has land of sun and sand with some of the most breath taking backdrops. Only a supernatural being can create, preserve and enhance such an amazing attraction. Don’t laugh but one of my favorite features in this lovely country is the Kangaroo. This unusual animal have good eyesight but only respond to moving objects. The Kangaroo have excellent hearing and can swivel his large ears in all directions to pick up sounds.

Now that’s cool! Australia is also home to some of the most talented personalities who have made a mark in the entertainment industry. There are many famous Australian actors whose presence are felt in the show business arena.

Jennifer from Kansas City wrote-in she said that one of her most admired actors from Australia is Mel Gibson. He was born in the United States but his mother was Australian and later Mel and his family spent many years living in Austria. I guess that counts for Mel as being Australian.

Jamal from Brentwood, Long Island said that Hugh Jackman is at the top of his list of Australian actors. Jackman is known for his role as “Wolverine” (aka Logan) in the movie X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), as well as in earlier X-Men releases. He is also starring in the movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009).

Austin Jolley from Holly Pond, Alabama made it clear that we can’t forget Heath Ledger (deceased) who was known for his role in various movies. One of his most famous roles was as the “Joker” in a Batman movie, The Dark Knight (2008).

But when it comes to rock music Spiderbait is an Australian rock band who have created many top ten hit songs over the years. Tracey wrote-in to remind me that the rock group Midnight Oil has made an impact in the history of rock-n-roll. She also said that Midnight Oil performed a fantastic show in Sydney on Jan. 29, 2005 at a Tsunami Relief Concert in a location called The Sydney Cricket Ground in Australia. The stunning final set by Midnight Oil had all the fans singing along to every note.

Rock band Silverchair’s memorable performance on the roof of Radio City Music Hall has to be mentioned with the reminder of them touring with The Red Hot Chili Peppers. Once again Australia has given birth to another incredible rock band called Cornerstone. Members of this band are the lovely Patricia Hillinger (Vocals, Guitar), Michael Wachelhofer (Bass, Keyboards, Vocals), Steve Wachelhofer (Guitar, Vocals) and Wolfgang Baumeister (Drums, Percussion).

Today the light will shine on the hot rock-n-roll band out of Australia… Cornerstone.

Jackson: Hey guys how are you?

Michael: Good day mate! We been looking forward to doing this interview with you.

Patricia: That’s right! When we got word about this interview I was wondering if you was going to ask us a load of crazy questions like what tooth paste we use to brush our teeth?

Steve: Ha! Ha! We get asked all kinds of looney, personal questions like that! But we answer them best we can.

Michael: We’re working on our new single and changing management. But we wanted to make time for you mate!
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Jackson: I appreciate it! Ok! Lets get started. Mike who is your favorite all time rock band?

Michael: For me R.E.M. is my greatest band…or let me say…they were the greatest band. Since Bill Berry left, it hasn’t been the same. But they produced some great songs.

Patricia: Yeah R.E.M. is good but Queen…for me their songs are very melodic and well composed and of course I admire Freddy’s voice.

Steve: Excellent! I agree Queen and Toto are the greatest bands for me. Good choice Patricia.

Jackson: I’ve been tracking you guys for a long time. Now I have the opportunity to chat with you. How did you come up with the name Cornerstone?

Steve: In the beginning of our career we were known as “FAITH” then we thought that name was boring so we wanted to change it. We decided all band members think of 10 names then we would pick the best one. Mate…all the names were bloody ugly. Then Michael went through his CD collection to get an idea. He found a 1979 STYX album called “CORNERSTONE” and we been performing under this name for 10 years now!

Jackson: Were you friends before you all got together as a band?

Steve: I’ve known Michael longer than any of my other band mates. Ha! We’re brothers. Another member of our band, Wolfgang, was with us from the very beginning for five (5) years. He left us for a little bit for personal reason but he came back in the summer of 2009. He is a great drum player.

Patricia: Jackson, I was surfing the internet when I accidentally clicked on an announcement posted by Steve. They were looking for a lead singer. I replied to the post and days later I auditioned for the group and I’ve been with my mates ever since.

Steve: Finding Patricia was a big luck for us! Me, Michael and Patricia are a strong core musically and personally. We’ve come along way in this tough business.

Michael: You got that right! I remember when we first started out in this business. Artist would smile in your face then stab you in the back if you’re not careful. To go on tour with the wrong people can turn your life dream as a musician into a bloody nightmare.
I was pleased with the gigs we had in Atlanta and Decatur so the over-all tour in the States was a great experience. We have met some really nice people in this biz as well. I’m happy with the members we have in our band right now! Hannah, our former drummer, for example, we are still friends, and she will play with us when Wolfgang is ill. At times it can be difficult being a professional band. It takes loads of work to keep everything in order and to have the right people with you at all times. One more thing mate…there are two (2) gigs I am very unhappy with while in the United States. In Athens/Ga. (Hometown of R.E.M.) and Lexington/KY – the crowd was quite poor and everything went wrong. Oh and the concert in Centralia/IL was definitely the low light of the tour because of several reasons I don’t want to mention.

Jackson: WOW! Ok…anything else you want to add before…

Michael: Yeah…Dayton was definitely one of the highlights of the tour in the States. The crowd went nuts and wanted more and more encores… another highlight was New York – a very impressive city in general! ?
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Jackson: I am thrilled that you like my home-town. Now that’s real talk! Thanxs Mike! Steve where do you get the idea or inspiration to write the type of music you play?

Steve: Basically Michael come up with the lyrics and the guitar chords, then we will write the music around that. You know doing riffs, arrangements, keys and stuff like that! The songwriters are me and Michael. The other band members have written songs too!

Michael: I’m inspired by the big and small topics of the world, and of course from the joy and hurt that I experience in my personal world. But some times I can write a song and it will turn out having more bloody drama in the lyrics than real life. Some times that can be your best song.

Jackson: Do you consider your music to be soft or hard rock?

Michael: I’d say both. We did a song called, “Crises” from our latest album “Head Over Hells”. Now that song came out soft rock. Then we did a harder song called, “Something In The Way” a more AOR-orientated song.

Jackson: Mike, do you model your style behind any other rock group?

Michael: Maybe you can compare our style with JOURNEY, a bit, but not always. Some songs are like PARAMORE.

Jackson: I’ve downloaded many of your songs into my iPod but so far your two singles, “I Can’t Even So No” and “Fade Away” are my favorites.

Michael: You have downloaded our stuff! Great to hear that! You know what…”I Can’t Even So No” is one of the first songs I have ever written. The lyrics in this song is about a friend who always seen herself as a kind of a Donald Duck…who always have all the bad luck of this world, thinking “No one likes me”. She always quoted lines like this. What I wanted to say with this song was: it’s always because of “the others”? Maybe you also made some failures? The world is against you? I Can’t Even Say No! But why, that’s the question.

Jackson: Steve, do you find it difficult to sing and play the guitar at the same time and deliver a great show? What about you Mike, do you some times have difficulty singing and playing your instrument?

Steve: I’ll tell you a secret, Jackson…in the very beginning, I sung “Fade Away” and “Ready To Go”, but after a while we have decided, that it sounds better, when the lead singer do it. Singing in the background is much harder, in my opinion.

Jackson: What about you Mike, do you some times have difficulty singing and playing your instrument?

Michael: I agree with Steve! Meanwhile we know how to do it, but in the beginning it was more like…let me say, “it didn’t sound so perfectly”…Ha! Ha!

Jackson: When you performed your first gig were you nervous?

Steve: This was in 2001 in Vienna, in front of a huge crowd of people. Yeah I was nervous!?
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Michael: You bet I was. I was soooo nervous…I had a big bottle of Coke soda next to me on stage. Four (4) minutes into the show I had soda all over the stage from moving around so much. I smacked right into that bottle sending it sliding across the stage floor. I was slipping and sliding all over the place. But it was pure fun. We really enjoyed ourselves that night.

Jackson: Have you ever performed somewhere and the crowd was just out of control?

Michael: In 2006 we did a gig in Vienna, and within the last song, suddenly more that 10 people were on stage singing along with us. We did a song called, “I’ll Be There For You” from the Rembrandts, a cover-version, as far as I remember. People really enjoyed it! Oh…on our UK-Tour in 2008, we did a very great gig as well in Nottingham, the crowd went nuts there too! One day later we did another gig and the people wouldn’t let us leave the stage! It was incredible!
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Jackson: sounds like fun! Mike, are there any?creative battles between members in your group?

Michael: No, nothing serious. Steve and me scream at each other sometimes during the songwriting process, but in the end it’s all about the music.

Steve: Ha! Ha! Yeah! It’s always about the music!?

Jackson: Steve…Do you pattern your guitar style after any particular guitarist?

Steve: Brian May of Queen is a big influence, as well as Slash of G’N’R. But don’t tell Michael, he hates Guns N Roses.

Michael: Yes! I do! ?

Jackson: You got to be joking! Guns N Roses played a big role in the history of rock music and they did sell more than100 million albums world wide during their career. That tells me at least some of their music was good. Now Patricia, you can jump right in at any time. If you could tour with any band from Australi or The United States who would it be?

Patricia: Maybe with Nickelback. They are very good musicians and seem to be sympathic guys.

Michael: I don’t like Nickelback, because their music and the guys are to polished, but I’d love to perform with REM or Journey. This would be fantastic for me.

Jackson: Mike, you’re a tough cookie. Steve what about you?

Steve: Queen, but I talk about the REAL Queen with Freddie, and unfortunately this isn’t possible anymore. But it would have been a dream for me! Or Bodycount. But I don’t know, if Ice-T goes on stage anymore. I have to find out!

Jackson: Ice-T haven’t been on stage in years. His acting career has taken off on a television cop program called Law and Order. I think his singing days are over. Hey Mike, what is the state of rock music right now and do you think it can keep up with the popular music coming from artists like Carrie Underwood, Jay-Z, Taylor Swift, Kanye West, Beyonce and 50 Cent??
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Michael: hmmm…I guess, R&B is the future of Pop-Music, altough I have to say, in the last two years, Rock celebrates a small comeback. We’ll see. Beyonce is a great singer with a great voice. 50 Cent…I don’t know. Maybe he became to big, his music lost it’s soul a bit, in my opinion. But honestly I have to say, I’m not very into the R&B-area, so I’d not call myself a specialist.
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Jackson: Well, as you know Beyoncé took home six Grammys, including Song of the Year for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)” and pop vocal performance of the year for “Halo,”. And Taylor Swift won four Grammys, including the prestigious Album of the Year award for “Fearless.” But AC/DC did win a grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance beating the likes of Alice in Chains, Linkin Park, Metallica and Nickelback. Former Guns N Roses Guitarist Slash played a little heavy metal into T-Pain’s song performance, “Blame It”which also featured actor/singer Jamie Foxx. Back to you Steve. I understand music sung by Cornerstone was used in a movie.

Steve: Yeah! We were very happy with that project. The name of the movie is “LITTLE ALIEN”, and it’s about immigrants, which is a big topic in Europe. This project came to us through our lawyer who happened to be the musical director for the movie at that time. Two of our songs were used,”Regret” and “I Can’t Even Say No”. ?
Jackson: Very Nice! How are your families and friends handling your success?

Patricia: They are very satisfied and proud.
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Jackson: Do you use Face Book or Twitter?

Michael: Yes, we are on Facebook, just type in “Cornerstone”, and welcome to the show.

Patricia: I personally prefer facebook and skype to stay in touch.
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Jackson: This next question is very serious.?Stephanie from the Bronx, N.Y. wants to know?what do you think about Simon Cowell leaving American Idol?

Michael: Hmmm…I guess, this is a big loose for American Idol. Some people are not interested in the music so much – like me – but they just watched American Idol because of Simon’s comments. A big show factor has gone. But, what I have to say, and I have seen this sometimes here in Austria: Some singers or bands are SO HORRIBLE, that you just want to run away, when you here them. Someone should tell them, how bad they are.
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Jackson: What can you always guarantee to Cornerstone’s fans – no matter what?

Patricia: That we`ll always make good music.

Michael: That we’ll always give 100% or more on stage. Being on a CST-concert is a great adventure…but at the end you have 4 people, who’ll do music. Like R.E.M. I know our time is up! Mate, it was a pleasure! We look forward to seeing you on our next tour through the United States.

Steve: We’ll always do music, that we want to do. Some artists do the music, that their label or producers want them to do. This was interesting. Thanks for the interview, Jackson!

Patricia: Take care Jackson!

Jackson: Cornerstone! I really had a good time with you and I wish you great success!