Cornerstone 2007 Report
Evan Stanek

I love observing the eb and flow of music, culture, fashion, and faith at Cornerstone. In my fifth year, I see that although everything has changed, it will always stay the same in that Cornerstone is a place for genuine and un-hindered expression of faith and music.

First of all, the bands this year were really heavy and really loud, which means your ears were ringing if you didn‘t bring earplugs. If I was in a band, every show from the stage I would tell people how they needed Jesus and earplugs. I saw lots of little kids this year with hearing protection, which made me happy.

Pictured: kid with phones, Mohawk, dinosaurs, radio flyer, and smart parents

Some of my friends go to see the new fashions. This year, it seemed you were either hardcore (wearing almost nothing), punk rock (wearing black everything in the beating sun), or just a normal person. There were more t-shirt and jeans type people than ever before. Gone were the scene kids with white belts, tiny t-shirts, black-dyed hair, bored expressions, and tear shields. People were just kind of being normal. It was also nice to see more people just hanging out, playing sports, listening to speakers, and enjoying everything ELSE the festival has to offer. I met people from South Africa, Iceland, UK, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire.

Onto the music, Tooth and Nail day featured a lot of metal bands. The most impressive was August Burns Red. I don’t even really dig music that is THIS heavy, but these guys were the tightest, most technical, and (2nd) youngest band I saw all week. *(2nd youngest to Divebomber) Even if you don’t like their music, watching them live is super awesome. I was locked on the drummer the whole time, he was a machine with every muscle in his body tensed through the whole set.

Life In Your Way was solid as well with a little singing mixed with heavy breakdowns. Their guitar work has gotten more intricate and their live performance as a whole has gotten more energetic and more precise. They look like really normal dudes, which was good to see with so many bands relying on image to get along. They closed with Salty Grave, a sweet song with a powerful ending invoking a popular worship song. These guys have great focus and a bright future.

As Cities Burn played 2 sets this year, one featuring older stuff (awesome as always) and another featuring more new stuff from their upcoming album “Come Now Sleep.” Cody’s message of grace resonates vocally, his signature guitar sound abounds, and is complemented perfectly by the free forms of Christopher, their new guitarist. After hearing the new songs, I am very eagerly awaiting the release of this record in August.

Showbread was Showbread. Funny, energetic, not very tight. Losing Ivory has meant the other guys multitask on screaming with mixed results. They played a mix of fan favorites from “no sir…” and “reptiles.” They played another show the next day that turned into a sort of worship session. Which brings me to my next point…

The Glorious Unseen was a pleasant surprise and a confirmation of what I had already been feeling…the festival was more focused spiritually than I can remember. This is perhaps part of the “eb and flow” that I referred to earlier, but it seems that more bands are really making an impact spiritually, and not in a cheesy preachy way, but in a real, genuine, worshipful way. It was refreshing to hear The Glorious Unseen and their ambient worship style close the night , a representation of where the focus of Tooth and Nail and the festival lie. They borrow some of the delay-laden lush guitar atmosphere of Explosions in the Sky and add some expert vocals to make a very moving experience. The Glorious Unseen is releasing a record in the fall that promises to be both spiritually refreshing and musically relevant.

Of course at every turn were the generator stages. Most notable performance was mewithoutYou who played some of their older screamy songs for hundreds at a main intersection. It was good to see them staying in touch with that part of the fest and their history.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MWY in there somewhere... POD has kind of dropped off the map.

Most of the other generator bands sucked. Except for one Post-Accapela German Hardcore band named Settle Down Antler I sat down with lead singer Gunther Schwagmaneis to hear how they came across their signature sound. “Well, we basically decided that the conventional bounds of music…you know, things like rhythm, pitch, tempo, and conventional scales were all too constricting. So we invented this new style that doesn’t incorporate any of those…” Well spoken, even prophetic.
Settle Down Antler doing their impromptu accapella hardcore thang…

 

 

Skies Revolt played the Decapolis stage. They had signs up everywhere, so I checked them out. They had some screaming along with that hip dance groove that all the kids are talking about. Their guitarist wore a Michael Jordan jersey which was awesome because MJ was really good.

 

Decapolis’s very own Divebomber played the HM stage, and got the crowd involved with a Conga line, a cover of Ghoti Hook’s “My Bike”, DC Talk’s Jesus Freak, and of course Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love.” With the band’s extensive overseas tour schedule, I decided to take the rare opportunity to talk with rhythm guitarist and lead stage-presence expert Conrad Telusa.

An exhausted Conrad didn’t have much to say after the show except “We play so many shows overseas, they all kind of blend into one…Stockholm, Paris, London, Tokyo…all just the same. But for us, something really special happens when we come to Cornerstone. Its home. We play our best, the fans understand English, and I really feel like we left it all out there on the stage tonight…”

 

 

The sound engineer also had some nice words to say about the band…”I learned 2 things in sound school. First, don’t plug Line Level into Mic Level. Second, you can’t make crap into gold. After trying to make all of these metal bands sound good, it was nice to have a band so talented, they didn’t really even need me back here at all. And dang, did I enjoy this raspberry banana smoothie.”

 

 

Celtic punk rockers Flatfoot 56 played like 4 times at the festival. Their best show was at midnight at the underground stage.

They came out dressed in Bears fan gear like the SuperFans from SNL. It was sweet. They threw Kielbasa on the crowd and got everybody involved with their interactive set.

David Crowder had the most interesting instrument at the entire festival. His drummer somehow hacked a Guitar Hero 2 controller to make actual instrument sounds.
They included it on one of their new songs, which was pretty much par for the course for Crowder with a contemporary worship vibe.

Cool Hand Luke was the perfect ending to a long Wednesday night. Mark was sick so his voice was a little strained, but he still sounded better than 98% of the other “singers” at the fest. Mark spoke for awhile the next day about how we lose the wonder of life as a Christian. He was right on, as he compared his life as a child to his life now, and made the parallel to our spiritual life. When we get older, we stop taking risks and stop relying on our Father, and instead live safe lives where we provide for ourselves.

The next day featured remarkable performances by The Violet Burning (always a classic) and Page France. I only caught bits of their sets, due to some schedule conflicts, but heard great things about both shows.

I caught a bit of Deas Veil, a keyboard indie-pop band. They’re getting a lot of publicity, and its well deserved. I also caught a newer band called All Day the Holiday. They mixed elements of 238 and Brandtson with the dance-pop thing with good results. If you miss the older emo-ish melodic bands, check these guys out.

Another worship band that really impressed me was Future of Forestry. Their music was epic, building to some great crescendos, their delivery was precise, and their focus was unwavering.

At one point, lead singer/songwriter Eric Owyoung began the song stage center singing while playing guitar, took the wireless mic mid-verse back to the keyboard, continued singing while playing keyboard AND kicking a sample on a laptop. They put extraordinary effort into reproducing the sounds as heard on their album Twilight.

The most impressive melodic band I was all week was the Myriad. I got to talk to the guys for good while before their show, and they gave me a sneak preview of their upcoming album. The tones were incredible, the song structures challenging, and it was obvious this would be a defining album in the coming year. I made their show at the gallery a “must see” on my schedule.

Comparisons to European rock like Radiohead and Muse may seem a bit pretentious, but in this case they are a good starting point to the depth and the beauty of The Myriad. They played another set on the Decapolis stage, pictured above. They are touring Europe later this year with Bjork.

The Winston Jazz Routine got a lot of buzz after their Decapolis shows last year, so I checked them out this year. They were far and away the best up and coming band to grace the Decapolis stage.

For their age, they had the most mature songwriting I heard all week, with gentle intros giving way to brilliantly complex portions with interweaving instruments, each playing unique parts to produce a breathtaking whole.

Discover America, although not scheduled, played a surprise show at the Anchor stage, formerly the Rock for Life stage. The stage was sponsored by Anchor Fellowship, which from my understanding is a hip church based out of Nashville. They had lots of decent bands play throughout the week, but also held services, guided prayer times, and featured some speakers including Chad, the A&R guy for Tooth and Nail records.

By now the festival was drawing to a close and but a shows seemed worthy on my schedule. MewithoutYou sounded better than I can ever remember, and it was good to see them back on the Encore stages rather than the main stage. Their set included all of the spider songs, guest performances from the Psalters on O Porcupine and Four Word Letter pt. 2, and Timbre on harp for In a Sweater Poorly Knit. Their soundman deserves major credit, because they sounded crystal clear while maintaining their urgency on stage.

After last year’s festival, Conrad was talking up the band The Blue Letter. They were a three-piece screamo band, which was surprisingly a rare and refreshing style at the festival this year.

The guitar player had like 50 pedals and produced a plethora of unique sounds I‘ve never laid ears to before then. I’m definitely picking up their new record when it comes out on Blood and Ink.

I had my Norma Jean phase 3 years ago, but since the release of Redeemer, I’ve really wanted to see them live. Apparently, lots of other people felt the same way. Their main-stage show was well attended, with hordes of people shouting along and a crescent moon hardcore dance pit extending around the catwalk. They played favorites from Redeemer, a couple from O God, and closed with Memphis Will be Laid to Waste. I was hoping for a surprise appearance from Aaron Weiss, but instead they just faked the vocals on his part. Still a great show, the band plays well, Cory’s vocals are spot-on, and the video adds a great eerie atmosphere to the show.

So, for now, musical trends lean towards the heavy. But if you’re willing to look, there is still plenty of melody resounding from the underground.

I think this may be my last year, at least for awhile. After attending the fest for 5 years, I kind of know what to expect. Perhaps someday I'll return with a wife, kids, or maybe just some friends looking for a summer road trip. Either way, I'm sure it will be sad to be gone, a joy to return to this place that has meant so much to me over the years in my spiritual and musical journey.