Cornerstone

NR: How would you describe the sound of Corner Stone?

Randall: Does anyone want to try for that one?
Jason: Country rap.
Scott: Hardcore gangsta rap.
Randall: Oh I knew this was going to go horribly wrong from the jump(laughter). But um.. no seriously, it's really hard to pin down because you know everybody already knows that the band is totally different from when the last CD was recorded. We still have some material that came about while the old members were here, but the new members bring a lot more different things. Like Scott in particular is more in tune with old school hip-hop then a lot of people that have been in the band. Jason is into a lot heavier stuff. Rocky likes you know like cheesy old 80's music.
Rocky: Chicago, like a muthafucka, yo.
Randall: It's crazy because the stuff we have recorded for the next CD is more melodic than the last CD, but it's a lot heavier than the last CD also. We kind of bounce all over the place, whatever comes to mind. We make it work, all five of us.
Jason: It's good ole' fashion rock-n-roll. And constant devil music(more laughter).

NR: So what's the best part about being in this band?

Jason: Sponsorship!!
Randall: Not having to scrounge for money for the last couple of years.
Rocky: When I join a band I like to know that they have a following. And people in the scene really respect this band because we are always out at other bands shows and we are out trying to promote ourselves because we are a really hard working band.
Scott: Actually I think it's because Randall. Everyone loves Randall. You never hear a bad thing said about Randall...
Randall: Except that we got our ass kicked that one time.
Scott: Well yeah exactly, but still you look on message boards and things like that and anytime Randall pipes in about something everybody's like "You know I respect Randall, I love Randall." Because of that right there everybody even though they don't necessarily know, well everyone knows Jason, but the other three newer ones nobody really knows us but everybody respect us because they respect Randall and what he brings.
Randall: That's not necessarily true because everybody in the band is really personable people.
NR: Because you go out of your way to get in contact with the fans?
Randall: Well it's not even just contact with the fans but just in general we are decent enough people. But not to sound self-conscience, I've seen bands where the music might have really sucked but they were really nice guys and a lot of people show up. Who knows that might be it with us. But I think, not trying to sound arrogant, but I think we are all really nice people in general.
Scott: We don't try to bash other bands. We don't really feel that is part of the game so because of that right there.
Rocky: But just for the record they all suck except for us(laughter).
Randall: Rocky was not actually present for this interview!
Randall: Actually we all have chicks. Well not we all but..
Scott: Three of us have babies on the way in the next couple of months so that makes us all tighter as a family. We're a big family.

NR: With a lot of bands being sponsored by different companies do you think it takes away from what the music should be about?

Randall: It depends on how involved the sponsor wants to be. You know really with our situation and from what it looks like from a few other bands situations the people just want their name attached to something where they know it's going to be visible. You know yea we're sponsored by Buddies and they are in every bar but they want it to be a little more prominent. It's just the whole subliminal marketing thing. We are tied into playing 30 shows a year sponsored by them but you know we enjoy playing anyways. So it's kind of getting a little extra money to do what you are already doing. You know wear a T-shirt, play a guitar, say "Hey they gave us money." It may affect other things but for it to be affecting the industry is really wrong.
Rocky: I've seen it but it all depends on who's responsible. At least two of us are heavy drinkers of Budweiser so they are just paying us back for all the years.
Randall: Exactly!

NR: Do you think this scene is getting better or worse?

Randall: Umm... that's tough because I know when we first started this band, like when I started really learning about the scene, there were a ton of great bands but a lot of them broke up or shifted into other bands. And then of course there is a low point. Right now it's kind of at a flux.. because there is just times where...
NR: It's just like a roller coaster right now?
Randall: Ya there will be a moment where one of my favorite bands, Cell, just broke up. That totally sucks for me just being a fan. That kind of hurts the scene also because it draws people out. It's kind of what got us to where we were tight with a lot of really good bands with a following and so you bring those people in and then the bigger bands bring in the smaller bands that have something going on. Then expose them to people and it starts a whole little movement. Right now it's so iffy that you never really know from week to week if you want to go to a the show or who's playing. Before it was just like hear one name and be like ok that's cool but who else is playing? But it's not always like that. Sometimes it's a real solid week. I mean we've had our great shows and we've had our bad shows.
Scott: It's just part of the game. I mean it's a great scene.
Jason: I think it's a great scene

NR: If you guys were to never get signed would you stop playing music?

Jason: No.
Scott: No. Once it gets under your skin, it's like anything else it's like an addiction. It never stops.
NR: Love that answer!
Randall: I'll be playing in some cheesy cover band.
Scott: Your like 45 years old sitting in your house playing guitar.
Randall: It will be the new era of Love Shack. Where it shifts into the next decade and I'll be doing Busta Rhymes and Kris Cross.
Rocky: Bust out with Da Brat's "Funkdafied."
Randall: One way or another, even if we are just doing home recordings and putting it out and not really playing shows. We'll do something.
Your kids will be 15 and mine will still be 5 years away from being born.
Rocky: I'm personally waiting for the Menudo cover band to come out!
Randall: Ah...
Rocky: I'd make a good Ricki.
NR: I'm just loving these answers though!
Randall: That's just off of half a beer. So stick around.

NR: So any plans of recording a new cd anytime soon?

Randall: There's plans...
Scott: In the works...
Randall: I guess we might as well put it out there for the public though everybody probably knows already I write really slow as shit. I'm overly critical of how my stuff comes out because to be honest right now the type of music we do is not "cool" anymore. So we have to be more than just a rap-rock band. We have to make sure that musically and lyrically we're steppin it up or at least diversifying it a little bit. It's something I'm kind of growing with. Just sometimes it hits me and sometimes it's not. But most of the CD is already done and we are probably going to do 2-3 more songs, get those recorded and get that out as soon as possible. I'm not even going to do the label date. Then we could push it back like 8 times. So it's in the works.
Rocky: It's in the works.

NR: So what can we expect from you guys later this year?

Rocky: Hard-core nudity.
Scott: And lots of it!
Randall: Rocky likes to do poop scenes... No, um.. I mean hopefully we'll hit the road a little bit more because that was something that we did pretty solid the first year at least when the 3 newest members joined. This year we kind of slacked on it. It's definitely something we are going to try and pick up, especially once the new CD is done. You know Vegas is cool but it's not the only place to play. We've been doing well out in Salt Lake City, so we are heading back out there next week. We just played San Diego not too long ago. Hopefully we'll be getting out to Long Beach and probably Reno just stuff like that. Hopefully trying to find those markets. We are a decent enough band we've been doing well when we go out of town so that's something we will hopefully be doing. I mean we'll see. Like I said 3 guys in the band have kids on the way so we'll see.