 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Norma Jean are a band at the top of their game. They recently released Redeemer (September 12, 2006), arguably their best album to date, and they are headlining the first annual Radio Rebellion Tour. This interview went down on October 13, 2006 with bassist Jake Schultz on their tour bus while singer Cory Brandan was sleeping across from us. This interview covers some topics that are both fun (a fight between the Tooth and Nail bands against Solid State bands) and informative (endorsement deals and package tours).
PL: State something interesting about yourself.
JS: I have pancakes tattooed on my body.
PL: The word "pancakes" or actual pancakes?
JS: No, actual pancakes. Its not a short stack, its a full stack of six pancakes on a plate with butter and syrup.
PL: Are pancakes your favorite food?
JS: No. Not really. I was going to get just filler tattoo, and I having a hard time deciding on pancakes or a pork chop. I asked my guy what he thought, and he goes "dude, we're doing pancakes." It came out really well.
PL: Does the excitement of releasing a new album ever fade?
JS: No. Never. Unless-not for us, no. The way I would think it would not be exciting would be if we were not happy with the way it came out, and we would not release something that we weren't happy with. For this record, we're stoked on everything. All the songs came together and we think this is the best album we've ever done.
PL: Do you get to pick the bands that you tour with on a tour like this?
JS: Yeah, usually. For us headlining a tour, we get to pick the bands or we have choice bands. With this tour, the only band we didn't pick was The Fully Down. Smartpunk is one of the sponsors and they wanted them on the tour. There's a lot of really cool sponsors on here, and they're helping us out, and we were totally gonna return the favor. We weren't going to tell them that we didn't want their band on it. The rest of the bands were all assembled by us.
PL: Did you guys set up the tour and then try to get the sponsorship?
JS: Yeah. We were actually planning on doing a headlining run, and we were already talking with Between the Buried and Me and Fear Before the March of Flames. All of a sudden our management told us that all these people like Hurley and Smartpunk were putting this sponsored tour together. It was actually supposed to go to Silverstein, and they dropped the ball a couple times because they weren't sure what was going on. Finally, it got handed to us instead, and we were stoked. We were already planning on doing a headlining run, and then with all these sponsors backing it, and they're doing an amazing job as far as promoting it. I guess its going to be an annual thing, and they wanted to put together a tour with really good promotion that the bands didn't have to pay for.
PL: Are you surprised by the popularity of this style of music?
JS: Very much so, especially after seeing grow these past three years. Stuff that a small scene of kids in a town would listen to, a majority of the kids are now listening to this style of music. Its amazing to see that happen.
PL: Do you have any theories on why that is?
JS: Not really. Everything comes around. Rock, punk, even like disco; things just keep circling. I think one thing that it could attribute to, as far as mainstream goes, there isn't a whole lot of music that has much integrity to it. Its just regurgitated crap that is put out by major labels, and I think that that may have something to do with why its become so popular: the people behind it are real people.
PL: Is it difficult to get into a routine while on tour?
JS: Not really. The most difficult part about it is being worn out the first week. The first week always wears me out. I'm exhausted the first week, and then I kind of get into the swing of things.
PL: Whats one misconception you had about touring before you went on your first tour?
JS: I never had any when I first started touring. I feel like one misconception that people can have is that its luxurious and amazing. It is amazing; its pretty much the best thing in the world, but as far as having things handed to you, it takes a lot of work. Thats one thing that people probably don't understand: its hard work to tour and its hard work before tour. We spent two to three before tour just getting ready and getting everything together.
PL: Name one current band that you feel is underrated.
JS: Oh gosh, let me think. There's a lot, but one band is Classic Case. One dude used to be in Beloved, and they are amazing songwriters and amazing musicians. The songs they write are so good, but for some reason, people don't catch on to it.
PL: Explain how an endorsement deal works.
JS: With different companies it works different ways. With a lot of companies, we get a percentage off, which means we still have to pay for gear. The only free things we get is Chris, our guitar player, who gets free ESP guitars. Everything else is at a discounted rate. Companies are making it easier for bands to be on the road and play their equipment all the time.
PL: I came up with this question watching "The Passion of the Christ." If a guy was here today saying that he was Jesus, the son of God, do you think people would react that much differently?
JS: I'm sure some people would, but the majority of people would call him crazy. There's some people who think that Jesus was a prophet and others who think he was crazy. Didn't the guy in Waco, TX say that he was Jesus? I can't remember. Crazy people. I think people would think that he's just crazy.
PL: With that mindset, do you think those people were all that far off to think that he wasn't their Saviour?
JS: Things were a lot different back then. If someone showed up and started doing all these miracles that the Bible said he did, it might be a little different than saying this dude's a crazy dude. The fact that he did all those things, or that I believe that he did all those things, than I don't think that people would think he's crazy. Its kind of weird, now that I'm thinking about it. If there was someone who came out today and started doing all these crazy miracles and healing people and things like that, people would be swayed. They might think that this really is the son of God.
PL: That would freak me out.
JS: That would freak me out too.
PL: His return is supposed to be the end of the world, right?
JS: That is the end of the world. I was also thinking about when the Antichrist comes back, he'll be doing some crazy stuff too.
PL: Thats gonna suck.
PL: Who would win in a fight: the bands on Tooth and Nail or the bands on Solid State?
JS: There's a lot of bands on Tooth and Nail. Probably for every one band on Solid State, there's ten bands on Tooth and Nail, so we're pretty much outnumbered, but we'd put up a good fight.
PL: I was going to ask if the staff from each label fought, but I figured it was the same staff.
JS: Yeah, its the same staff. The staff isn't that big either. Its a pretty small staff.
PL: So the bands from Solid State could fight the staff.
JS: That would be awesome. Or we could-no, there's no way to do it fair. The numbers are stacked any way you do it.
PL: You guys can have weapons.
JS: Oh, we'll take weapons. We'll fight all the Tooth and Nail bands if each member is equipped with weapons. We were actually talking about fighting the band Saosin, and each member would get a weapon. Cory got to choose their singer's weapon, and his weapon was just a big balloon.
PL: It'd be like "Battle Royale."
JS: Thats a great movie. We should make a movie: "Solid State vs. Tooth and Nail."
PL: You can all go on a tour bus together, and wake up in this jail cell or classroom with things around your neck.
JS: We should probably pick the top five bands from each label, and then I would probably say that-I don't even know what bands are on Tooth and Nail nowadays.
PL: You'd probably pick the bands with the smallest guys.
JS: If I got to pick, I'd definitely pick the smallest guys, but I don't know who's on there any more. That label's changed a lot; they've had so many bands come and go throughout the years.
PL: Is there anything else you'd like to say?
JS: Eat barbeque. Its a good motto to go by. I try to eat it as much as possible.
