NORMA JEAN INTERVIEW
August 6, 2006

Ed Martin for Prophecy21.com: How's the tour been going so far?
Cory Brandan Vocals for Norma Jean: Ozzfest has been awesome dude. It's been amazing. Can't say much more then that.

P21: How have the crowd reactions been?
CB: Surprising, because the thing is we're playing for a lot of people who don't know who we are. Like maybe today was the first time they've ever seen us. Considering that, it's been pretty awesome. They're stoked, people are really stoked to be here. No complaints here.

P21: Are there any bands on this tour that you were particularly excited to hear you'd be touring with?
CB: Most of the bands on the second stage we've toured with before, so we're all pretty good friends already. All of those bands really it's been awesome to hang out with.

P21: What are your feelings about Ozzy playing the second stage at some dates?
CB: I think it's pretty awesome. I don't know why he's doing that. Of course tonight he's on the main stage and he was last night too. I don't know, it's cool.

P21: What are your favorite and least favorite parts of playing a festival tour like this?
CB: Definitely my favorite thing would be that there are so many bands on the tour and everyone is bringing out their own fans and it's such a great opportunity for us to get to play to them. And like I said before, a lot of people haven't heard us, they don't even know who we are and that's what touring is all about. You know, you don't want to tour and go and play for people who know who you are all the time. You wanna bring out an awesome package for that tour so that you're playing for lots of new people, getting new fans constantly. Least favorite things are pretty easy, simple things to figure out. Like it's hot, we're outside a lot, stuff like that. We have to haul our equipment sometimes like 200 feet to the stage. When at a club show you drive up your right out and on. People are pretty far away from us up on the stage. Pretty simple stuff like that, nothing real serious.

P21: On a festival tour like this with so much downtime, what do you to pass it by?
CB: There's a lot of downtime. Whatever we can do just to keep ourselves entertained. I mean obviously the bus is a pretty amazing place to hang out. A lot of stupid stuff happens. Golf cart races, fire works, we do barbecues and stuff. Like I said since we've toured with a lot of these bands. We have friends so there's a lot to do.

P21: How important do you think it was that you guys landed a fixed spot on the second stage rather then a rotating one?
CB: It's imperative. We wouldn't have done it without that. There are a lot of tours that happen during the summer and we felt it was best to wait for that kind of opportunity. We were so totally stoked that Ozzfest offered it to us, so it's pretty important to us. It is definitely a better place to be for right now what we're doing.

P21: What is going on with the new album?
CB: It's all recorded and set to go it'll be coming out September 12th. We recorded it in April and May with Ross Robinson. It's gonna be called Redeemer.

P21: What are your plans for videos for the new album?
CB: We're gonna do a song called "Blueprints for Future Homes." It's on our MySpace page right now. Then after that we're gonna do another song that I'm gonna have to keep to myself right now, but we definitely have two videos in mind that we're gonna try to do within like two days of each other.

P21: Are there any specific bands that you haven't toured with yet, that you'd really like to?
CB: Soooo many, but most of 'em are just like ridiculous, like Nirvana, which is just stupid. The Beatles. Sure man, I mean one of our favorite bands in the world is Helmet. We've tried to tours with them, shows with them, and it's just never worked out. One of my favorite bands is Slayer, of course. It'd be amazing to play with those dudes and we haven't got to yet. There are so many good bands out there so to make a whole list would take too long.

P21: What do you feel is the aspect of your band that really sets you guys apart from your peers?
CB: Interesting question. I think there's a lot. The thing is like musically we always try to do something different with every record. Obviously we're a heavy band and there are other heavy bands out there, so we're still in that genre and if you're a fan of heavy music. It's not hard to decipher the difference between us and the hundreds of other bands out there. Musical integrity in that sense is pretty important to us, to make sure that we're always doing something different. As far as like what we sing about, in one sense, of course, we sing about our beliefs and they're ours and other people might not see the same thing, but in another sense we are doing exactly the same thing as our peers we're singing about what we believe in which is what every band does. So, in that sense we're no different from any of our peers. I'd have to say that definitely all those things combined make us who we are.

P21: Are there any shows from when you were younger that you remember as being one of the best shows that you've been to?
CB: Yes, yes, from when I was younger I saw Ink & Dagger with Zao and that was one of the best shows ever. Zao, they were like the best band in the world to me. There's a ton of shows that I went to as a kid I can't even remember them all. That one really sticks out in my mind.

P21: Thanks, is there anything that you want to add?
CB: The new record September 12th, that's pretty much the most important thing.