THE CORNERSTONES out of North Belfast have been steadily making a name for themselves in the local band scene for some time and now with two EPs and a rake of gigs behind them, the band are looking forward to the new year.
Speaking to the North Belfast News, Jordan McKeown the bands singer and rhythm guitarist said the band emerged jam sessions in his family home in the Bone.
“I haven’t been playing guitar for that many years," he said. "I’ve always been into music and was a part of a brass quartet and the orchestra in school but in 2018 I decided to pick up the guitar because I was getting into guitar music. After learning by myself, by 2019 I wanted to start playing with others and I got in contact with our now lead guitarist Eoin as we both went to St Malachy's.
“We soon got hooked up with a bass player we knew, Ruairi and we began to play in my house in the Bone, in the kitchen. It was the only place to fit us in with the amps and at the start we made an awful racket!
“We then worked on getting a drummer and it’s quite hard to get a drummer because they’re a noisy instrument and you need neighbours with quite a large noise tolerance to play them!
"We eventually got our keyboardist Niall, who put us in touch with a drummer, Conor and that’s when we became The Cornerstones as a proper unit in 2019."
Jordan explained the band has had a few lineup changes since forming as some of the original members went to England for University.“We’ve had a few lineup changes since our first few gigs in 2020. We started off with covers and then began working on our own sound which we felt was unique to us and our first gigs went very well and we got asked to play more.
“Covid shut down all of our gigs just as soon as we had got going and we had to stop playing together, having to just send music back and forward to each other online. Covid was a big foundational experience for us as a band because we just had loads of time to practice so we came out of it very tight in our own playing and we then had to work out how to put it all together again."
MUSIC: The Cornerstones began playing in Jordan's family home in the Bone in the North Belfast
Looking forward the band have just played their most recent gig at McHugh's but after gigging solidly for the past year they are now looking to write some new material which will add to the two EPs the band have already released, with their last EP 'Desert Hamlet' having been released at the start of summer.
Jordan said the latest EP had been well received with the band being asked to give interviews for an Australian music magazine.
“At the moment we’re taking a bit of a step back and will be working on new material because throughout the summer we were focused on practicing our sets and getting in shape for gigs so it will be great to sit down now and focus on some new writing.”
“We found out last week there’s a magazine in Australia of all places who are looking to get an interview with us!”
The band are now practicing in a space at Blackstaff Mill, and are looking to hone their sound and develop their brand of Psychedelic Rock which is inspired by the bands love of bands such as Pink Floyd.Added Jordan “Now we’re focused on writing some new material and getting ready for some gigs in the upcoming months."
