For a couple of days ago I got a ring on my phone - in the other end there was a male voice with a very significant Scottish accent saying: " Hello, I'm Dougie White from Cornerstone".
And before I could say anything against that he continued: "How are you? I'm calling you from London and I'm ready for the interview now!
Finally I caught up with the situation and remembered that I had made an appointment with ".. a member of Cornerstone" - but in my little head I had imagined that Steen Mogensen would talk to me due to the fact that we're both Danish. But luckily we got a talk about Dougie White, Steen Mogensen, Cornerstone and the future...!

The Interview:

Q: You and Steen Mogensen has just released the second album with your common project Cornerstone called "Human Stain", but how did you two meet in the first place?

A: Well, I was auditioning for the job as the new lead singer in Royal hunt after the departure of DC Cooper. I didn't get the job - John West did, but I kept in contact with bassist Steen Mogensen.
He called me after a while and told me that he had written some material on his own an wanted me to sing on that - because he thought that my voice suited this kind of music better! And thats how we started.
I flew to Copenhagen and the first CD called "Arrival" was actually recorded with the speed of light - I sang my parts in just 3 days time!

Q: And how about the new one "Human Stain"? How did you work here. I think the debut was very big in the sound - very progressive, too - in opposition to the the new album, which I think is more of a band effort with a great focus on the melodies.

A: Steen and I agreed that we didn't want to make "Arrival II" - so we had absolute freedom to make whatever we wanted.
We sat down and composed - and after that we exchanged demoes after demoes. All very basic, so it could turn out as blues as well as much more powerful or death metal. Heh Heh.
But we made it much more guitar orientated - and we still exchanged demoes all the time. But our main and common work process is to make the songs simple and from there it can develop!

Q: Your "Arrival" album was compared with the sound of Dare in several magazines - how do you think of what?

A: That's a bit odd, actually. I had never heard of Dare. Our first album was very progressive - but in the vein of groups like Kansas, Marillion or Yes! Where "Human Stain" is a retro-album, too - but has a 70's feeling towards it.
We are back to the guitar sound of guitarist like Paul Kossoff and Free - and our guitarist Kasper Damgaard is outstanding!
He was on one of Steen's demoes, and I asked Steen who this was - we had to include this guy.

Q: How about yourself? What are you up to these days? And how about a tour and the future for Cornerstone?

A: If we get successful with Cornerstone's "Human Stain" we will make two albums more!
We hope to go on tour later on, maybe this fall. But especially Steen have some commitments with Royal Hunt.
And I'm writing on a heavy metal album alongside a guitarist called Billy Liesegang - best known from his work with German Punk/rock queen Nina Hagen, for whom he played in a period of 10 years, besides that he worked with Bruce Dickinson and actually auditioned for Mötörhead. So this material is very different from what I have done so far!

Q: And where do you live - I can see on my phone that you are calling from England?

A: Yes, I'm having a good time in London, where I have lived for 10 years now - though my Scottish accent is laughed at! I was at a party in New York and talked to a girl who asked me if I was from Ireland or Australia. I told her that my country started with a "S" - and she said: "Switzerland?" I mean, do I look like one who's livin' on Toblerone? I told her Scotland!! And she got very surprised and said something like:"Oh, but you don't sound anything like Mel Gibson in Braveheart!"

Q: That was nice talking to you - good luck to you and Steen Mogensen with Cornerstone!
Steen Peitersen