{"id":326,"date":"2016-09-05T12:46:10","date_gmt":"2016-09-05T11:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.danhudson.net\/?p=326"},"modified":"2016-12-22T12:48:16","modified_gmt":"2016-12-22T11:48:16","slug":"norma-jean-recall-being-the-last-band-to-play-londons-barfly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.danhudson.net\/?p=326","title":{"rendered":"Norma Jean recall being the last band to play London\u2019s Barfly"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/h2>\n

“I think the most uncomfortable thing is literally digging up past things \u2013 but Norma Jean have always written about real lives”<\/h2>\n

We\u2019re in Camden, North London, on the phone to Cory Brandon, frontman in Atlanta\u2019s metalcore veterans Norma Jean. The band have a strong connection with this area \u2013 being the last band to ever play legendary venue The Barfly.<\/p>\n

During their headline set at this year\u2019s Camden Rocks festival, the news that they were the swansong act was helpfully imparted to the crowd from the venue\u2019s outgoing management \u2013 with the instruction to do whatever they liked; from then on, Cory says, \u201ca riot ensued. People rushed the stage\u2026 literally tearing the walls down and the air conditioning, it was insane.\u201d<\/p>\n

The band\u2019s gig at The Barfly was part of a 45-date European tour \u2013 including three dates at Slam Dunk (\u201cit was amazing, it was like being on tour for three days\u201d) \u2013 and went about giving us reminder of their brilliant live show energy, as well as getting us pumped for their forthcoming seventh album, Polar Similar, which is out this month.<\/p>\n

The new album feels like an exercise in therapy. The track Everything Louder than Everything Else deals with abusive relationships, while A Thousand Years A Minute addresses self-harm, and Reaction is about the search to reach victims. And certainly, it helped Cory open up new wounds, \u201cI think the most uncomfortable thing is literally digging up past things \u2013 but Norma Jean have always written about our real lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

But then, you wouldn\u2019t really expect anything else from an album recorded at the same studios as where Nirvana recorded In Utero.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the key details for Polar Similar:<\/p>\n

They recorded the album in the middle of the woods \u2013 Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, Minnesota to be exact \u2013 and to be as isolated as possible
\nThese are the same studios as Nirvana\u2019s In Utero \u2013 and there\u2019s definitely a grungy feel to the album \u2013 especially on single 1, 000, 000 Watts
\nDuring recording, they watched The Shining hundreds of times. Continuing a tradition started on 2006\u2019s Redeemer, where the band watched American Movie throughout the recording, every day the band walked from the cabin to the backyard studio, turned on Stanley Kubrick\u2019s isolation-themed thriller and watched it on loop
\nThe new album is produced by legendary producer Ross Robinson, who\u2019s back working with the band for the first time since 2008\u2019s The Anti Mother<\/p>\n

Polar Similar is out on 9 September.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“I think the most uncomfortable thing is literally digging up past things \u2013 but Norma Jean have always written about real lives” We\u2019re in Camden, North London, on the phone to Cory Brandon, frontman in Atlanta\u2019s metalcore veterans Norma Jean. The band have a strong connection with this area \u2013 being the last band to… <\/p>\n

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