Norma Jean Interview

Interview
Scottie Henry
Norma Jean

Lineup:
Scottie Henry - Guitar
Chris Day - Guitar
Cory Brandan - Vocals
Daniel Davison - Drums
Jake Schultz - Bass

6/1/05
Email Interview
Interviewer: Sharita Lumpkin
Photo: Kimisha Pierce

NORMA JEAN

Norma Jean is about to embark on the Sounds Of The Underground Tour with such acts as Unearth, Every Time I Die, The Red Chord, Strapping Young Lad, Lamb Of God, and Opeth, just to name a few. However, the fact that they advertise their belief in God, makes them stand out over the others. This band from Atlanta has got their heads on straight but at the same time doesn't force their faith or beliefs on their tourmates. In my previous interview with drummer Daniel Davidson, we only scratched the surface regarding the Christian tag. This interview with guitarist Scottie Henry, goes a little deeper into that as well as the excitement of the upcoming Sounds extravaganza.

The album is fabulous, how are sales and what has been the reaction on the road?
Thanks a lot. We've been really excited. The record has been doing great. It's blowing us away how well it is doing. The reaction on the road has been great too, it's awesome seeing so many kids coming out and singing along.

After reading through the lyrics I detected some angst and the same kind of discontent in hardcore, explain that. Would you say the first single "Bayonetwork" is about suicide because of the chorus?
I feel like it's bigger than just hardcore or even one thing in particular. It's hard for me to talk about the lyrics on a lot of the songs because Cory wrote them, but I know that he was definitely writing a lot about deception and discontent in personal things in his life.

Are there any tour plans after SOTU and who decided you'd play on that?
There are a few things we have in mind for after the Sounds tour. We're not sure what we're going to do though. We were really stoked when we heard about the Sounds tour, we really wanted to do it when we heard of the possible line up. It's gonna be rad.

I wanted to talk about the fact that NJ is called a Christian hardcore band. When we think of that we think of something cheesy like Stryper. How does their message differ from yours?
To tell you the truth, I've never heard Stryper before so I can't really compare us to them but we are definitely all Christians in the band but we aren't out there trying to shove that on anybody. We're just out there having fun, hanging out with kids, and trying to be real with them.

Are a lot of the lyrics based on scripture or personal beliefs?
Most of the lyrics come from our singer Cory's personal life and I'm sure that his personal beliefs are a part of that. He's been thru a lot of crap in his life though and I know that a lot of this record is to do with that.

Being a Christian, why do you think so many hardcore kids are apt to say they don't believe in GOD?
Well, I think it goes way beyond hardcore kids, I think that rock and roll, metal, heavy music, whatever has always been associated with Satan. So, I think maybe it's just kinda the thing to do. Who knows?

Why do you think Death Metal is so popular?
Death metal is probably so popular because it's bad as crap.

How was it working with Matt Bayles?
It was great working with Matt, he's somebody that we've always wanted to work with. We've loved everything he's done. His recordings are all amazing and have their own unique sound, plus they are super heavy and crisp without sounding over produced. He's an awesome dude and worked us hard but worked even harder himself. It was a great experience. Hopefully, we'll continue working with him.

Are you self taught or did you have lessons?
I've never had lessons. We all actually started playing our instruments at the same time and started the band right away. I think that's why our sound changes so much over the years. We don't really know much about actual music, like notes, and scales, and technique or whatever, we just write what we like.

What do you think true hardcore is?
Gorilla Biscuits, Youth of Today, and Judge.

Give me one single word to describe NJ's music?
Hardcore. I'm just kidding, um.... loud.