Interviews

Norma Jean

January 15th, 2007, by Tobe

After an awesomely energetic show at the Dirty Southern Blood Tour in Stuttgart, Germany, I sat down with Norma Jean’s Cory Brandan (vocals) and Daniel Davison (drums) for a little interview. Already in the first question I was asking them about a certain bible verse that they had put at the end of the lyrics of the song "Coffinspire" on their last record "O God, The Aftermath"; the passage Joel 3, 13-16.


As I couldn´t find such passage in my bible - only Joel 4, 13-16 - I was wondering if it was actually meant to be this way on purpose or if it was just accidently misprinted. The guys weren´t really sure about it being misprinted or the wrong passage, but as I found out the day after the interview, all European bibles (except the Luther version from 1545) seemingly have the 3rd chapter of Joel only with five verses and an additional 4th chapter - on the other side, American bible versions don´t have a 4th chapter, but instead have all 21 verses within the 3rd chapter.
So, with the fact in mind that "Norma Jean" actually stands for "pattern of God´s grace and mercy", I thought I would just share with you this very passage from Joel and then dive right into the interview:
 
13 Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full and the vats overflow— so great is their wickedness!’ 14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. 15 The sun and moon will be darkened, and the stars no longer shine. 16 The Lord will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the heavens will tremble. But the Lord will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel.
 
So, in "Pretendeavor" (from "O God, The Aftermath") there´s the lyric: "I burned 41 hills for the love of academic ability. That exceeds the love of searching for the truth." What does that mean exactly?
 
Cory: Oh, um, that song or that part is kind of a thing where I feel like, with all the things we have these days like science and knowledge, that we can dig too far into it and can kind of get away from the things that really matter. Basically, it´s a C.S. Lewis quote, like alot of the songs, cause at the time when we were writing I was reading C.S. Lewis...there´s one thing that he said that I think was really amazing that he was talking about, that if you look through everything, like in original form science is amazing you know, knowledge and seeking knowledge...but like, if you had an apple and you open that up and you keep opening until there´s nothing left to open. When you find your goal, you look through that, too, and then there´s nothing. It´s the same as..."Seeing through everything is the same as seeing nothing at all", that´s basically what he was saying. So, that´s what I was thinking about when writing this line.
 
As for one of the first lyrics on "Redeemer" in "A Grand Scene For A Color Film", what does it mean for you to "unlearn the strange devices of the world"?
 
Daniel: Yeah, like a lot of the things that we find appealing or that are a pleasure to us, can in the wrong context be strange devices. Things that we somehow find pleasure in even though we know that it´s wrong. And just kind of finding a way to break out of that somehow, and not be a slave to those things or just to get away from that. Again like, a more simple way of life I guess?!
 
What did you mean by the words "No passenger, No parasite", the last song on "Redeemer"?
 
Cory: I guess that was a C.S. Lewis quote, too, wasn´t it?
Daniel: I don´t remember if it`s C.S . Lewis or Tozer, but yeah, I think it´s C.S. Lewis talking about Christianity, like in Christianity there´s no passenger, no parasite. Like, just because I know you, let´s say we would be best friends and you would be a Christian, you can´t take me to heaven with you. Parasite is just basically like a passenger, kind of synonyms.
 
In the time of recording "Redeemer" there was this one happening where you, Daniel, were snowboarding with your merch guy, Noah, and you found a dead body on the hill. How did that make you approach the record differently after you got confronted with that kind of situation?
 
"[...] The city is right next to Mount Shasta, so there’s lots of snowboarding and stuff up there," explains Brandan, setting the scene for the most unnerving occurrence of their time in the mountains. "So, our merch dude, Noah, who is kind of a vagabond, came to hang out with us for a couple weeks and to go snowboarding with Daniel [Davison, drums]. They went boarding at the same spot two days in a row and they found a dead body on the second day! They went one day and went to the exact same place the second day; she wasn’t there the first day and the next day she was. She actually had committed suicide. The story we heard was that she drove from San Francisco to that spot, there was alcohol involved, and for some reason she had taken her shoes off and walked out into the snow. It totally flipped those dudes out; none of us have ever experienced anything like that before.[...]" (Decibel Magazine)
 

Cory: I think you were done by this time, weren´t you? Cause I was actually tracking.
Daniel: Yeah, I was personally finished with my...
 
Oh yeah, that´s why you had actually time to go snowboarding, right?
 
Daniel: Yeah, that was like a day or two days after I finished, so I was able to go out and do whatever...so it didn´t really affect my play on the record.
Cory: I kind of like felt like we were more weirded out than he was, or maybe we weren´t, but I know I´ve been in situations that were very stressful, like there was a time when I saw a wreck happen where this car was upside down under the water and they pulled this woman out, she wasn´t breathing, and...it would freak me out. But like...telling that other people they would freak out even more. Like telling that whole story...if you were a part of something and you were there and you saw it and were part of the event it´s somehow not as weird to you as to other people who have never experienced that or something like that. Although it was totally freaking weird.
Daniel: Yeah...it was crazy, but I mean, it didn´t really affect the record other than that for the next like two weeks I was thinking about a lot of stuff...
 
So Ross Robinson [producer - Wikipedia English / German], I guess, is a good friend of you now...and there´s all these stories out there of how he needed to "treat" certain bands in the past, like you were talking about in your interview with NotMTV.tv [watch the video interview here!]
 
The band together with Ross Robinson (producer), Ryan Boesch (engineer) and Oak dog.
 
I was glad to hear that you guys got really deep with him, which probably was a big part from his side, that he wanted to have that for making the record, but on the other side I think - I mean you´re now friends, but before you were working with him you probably were wondering how it would be and hoping for the best - there probably was a certain point where you were having real deep conversations with him and he was really getting what you were about - just because it was necessary. But at that point where you really were talking with him about things that really have meaning or are important to think about, like the lyrics "Unbelief is no diversion" in "The Longest Lasting Stament". Plus I know you guys also prayed with him...How was that for him and how was it that he felt that God did something on that record and what kind of questions did he have?
 
Cory: Ross believes in God...He´s open, he said he wants to do that kind of thing with every band and he always tries to bring out something in that band, whatever they feed on, and alot of times he would bring up like, he would call it like an energy source or something like that, but he said in his mind he was thinking God and with us he was able to say it. But the weird thing is that we were already really good friends with him by the time we started recording, because he came to Atlanta before to spend a week or so just hanging out, we were playing songs for him, it all was just hanging out, talking, there was a lot of deep conversations and we already prayed, so we were very connected by that time.
Daniel: Yeah, he definitely did see something totally different in us, even to a point where he was like "It´s gonna be hard going back recording bands that don´t believe the same thing". Not necessarily "don´t believe", but "don´t act the same way" and have that, that God is a part of their music, he was like "It´s gonna be hard doing that". But it was cool, I think he got alot out of it, alot of the spiritual side of the band, which is cool!
 
Which is awesome, yeah.
Some shorter questions. What kind of music, which bands inspire you today personally?
 
Daniel: For me like Radiohead, Helmet...
Cory: That´s always a hard question for me...alot. Alot of bands!
 
Which Christian band influenced you on your way you´re at right now?
 
Cory: Strongarm was a BIG influence for me...
Daniel: Eso-Charis...
(Cory and me laughing)
That doesn´t count here...
(everybody laughing)
[Eso-Charis was the band Cory was singing in before he joined Norma Jean]
Daniel: Yeah...like..Warlord, Zao, Training For Utopia, Spitfire...all of it!
 
Which book would you recommend someone who is not a Christian but wants to know more about what Norma Jean stands for as a band, beyond your lyrics?
 
Cory: You mean besides the bible?
Yeah.
Daniel: Hmm, other than the bible...
Cory: I think even like C.S. Lewis books would be too heavy...
Daniel: I think "Mere Christianity" [C.S. Lewis - in German "Pardon, ich bin Christ"] would be a good one...it´s pretty deep. But, it´s not like, it doesn´t start off talking about Jesus necessarily. Basically it´s talking about "good" and "bad" like, if there really is a concept of good and bad then, if you really believe in that, that really points to God, because if there´s not a God, who´s to say what´s good and what´s bad. So, it starts off really broad, kind of like building its way up, like halfway through the book he´s like "I haven´t even hinted to the name Jesus yet", which is kinda cool. It´s a kind of a slow build and kind of hard to understand, but I would definitely recommend that book. "Mere Christianity" is awesome...
Cory: It´s good...sometimes even I´m like "phew, ok, let´s go back", cause it´s hard to grasp.
Daniel: Oh, me too...
 
One last question which I really would like to have you answer from your heart would be about the lyric in "Blueprints For Future Homes", "I will not sleep while you´re throwing anchors to a drowning generation". What do you wanna have people know are anchors for a generation that is actually drowning?
 
Daniel: Well in that case the anchors are a bad thing. Just any kind of deception...
Cory: A lot of our songs are about deception. Like our last record, "O God, The Aftermath", was completely about deception, and its many faces and forms.
Daniel: I mean anything...from something like a bad self-image, thinking you´re an idiot...that, to...everything you can´t deal with in life...to there´s no God, those are deceptions in different ways.
Like, for people who are not necessarily Christians, what kind of deceptions?
 
Daniel: Yeah, like the idea or belief that we can be good, good enough that we get to heaven just because we´re good people and because we´re nice, or that when you die you notice that we´re not eternal...
Cory: I feel like there´s so many things inside and outside of Christianity that can throw people off, but the most important thing is to remember that it´s not about...like when you come to that question specifically, there are alot of different things you can name off as this is bad and and this is bad, this can deceive you and this can deceive you, all that stuff, but the most important thing would be to remember that God is...he Invented love. He´s just waiting to give that love and he´s very merciful, and he basically has open arms anytime, no matter what or where you are in life, what you believe, how many times you´ve cursed his name or anything, it just doesn´t matter, just know he´s standing there with open arms. And even I forget that sometimes...where I´m like I´m not good enough you know...and that´s probably the most...that´s probably the biggest deception, just to not believe in His love.
 
Yeah man, totally!
So, any last thing you wanna shout-out to the European folks?!
 
Cory: Buy Redeemer!!!
I mean, that´s a given... : ) Other than that?
Cory: Buy it for you, and a friend! And listen to it!! :-)
 
Daniel: We might be coming back in June for some festivals and a little, like week on tour.
Will you be on tour with any specific band?Daniel: We don´t know at this point. We`ll be with some, but we have no idea.
Cory: It doesn´t matter which other bands are playing, come see us!! ;-)
 
 
Check out our blog with the complete lyrics for "Redeemer" - click here!

Interview by Tobias Reiss

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