From Out Of Nowhere will be featuring exclusive interviews with some of the bands involved in the SOTU tour. Up first is Norma Jean, who will be touring behind their new release O God, The Aftermath (read our review here) Our thanks to Norma Jean vocalist, Cory, for taking the time to answer our questions.

FOON: Let’s jump right into the Sounds of the Underground tour; give me a full report on Norma Jean’s part in SOTU.

Cory: Its probably one of the best heavy tours I’ve ever seen. It’s the first tour where this many bands in these genres have gotten together like this. I think we’ll fit right in and not fit in at the same time. Basically… I think that there is something on this tour for everyone who is a fan of heavy music. So we are bringing our own artistic element as any other. 

FOON: How will playing on an outdoor stage in the middle of the day compare to playing indoors with your light show, will it change your approach and/or song selection? 

Cory: Approach, yes… song selection, no. We do love to have our lights and everything as we always want kids to come to our shows and have fun and leave knowing that they got what they paid for, but being on a fest brings a different feel so not having lights is ok with most of the bands. There is something really cool about playing outside in the middle of summer to a bunch of kids. It’ll be fun I think. Plus we have little baby lambs to release into the wild during our shows so kids will have to watch out and not accidentally mosh on their little baby lamb heads. 

FOON: Which bands on SOTU will you be setting aside time for as your “I can’t wait to see these guys” pick? 

Cory: I really like what A Life Once Lost is doing. I also want to check out Strapping Young Lad as well. I like a lot of the bands though. So I shouldn’t be too disappointed and I have plenty of time to see all of them. 

FOON: O God, The Aftermath really jumped out of the gate, were you surprised at its reception? 

Cory: Yeah I was. I have never been apart of something this big. I think we are all blown away at how well it’s doing and has done so far. It was a lot of fun doing this record. We definitely put a lot of work into it. 

FOON: With 2 new members joining the band before the recording of O God… were there any transition issues with song structure or writing styles? 

Cory: Not to my knowledge… I am one the new guys. I did bring a lot to writing. But Norma Jeans’ writing style is very similar to what I was used to already. Everyone kind brings what they have and we all work together after that. There were also several songs already written before I even joined. 

FOON: You’ve been touring heavily behind this disc; things must be in a well-oiled groove for the SOTU tour? 

Cory: Yeah, we could say that but then we always change things and screw all of that up. We will be adding several new songs to the set that have never been played live. so we’ll see.  

FOON: You are well known BBQ aficionados, tell us all about O God, The BBQ Sauce. 

Cory: It’s real good. We had a bunch of samples to pick from and the one we picked is more of a sweet BBQ sauce. It’s probably more steered for slow cooking instead of dipping but it’s still thick enough to dip all kinds meat into. We strongly believe BBQ is a noun and not a verb. (it’s a food, not an action.) We did get BBQ tattooed on our lips with arrows pointing in as well. 

FOON: 3-part question: 1. Has Gene Simmons contacted you about making a KISS BBQ sauce for them? 2. Which sauce kicks more ass, yours or Joe Perry’s?  3. I need a killer recipe for BBQ chicken, lay it on me. 

Cory: No he hasn’t but he can if he wants... We’ll do our best.

2. Both are good. Ours is sweet though. Joe is more about his hot sauce “boneyard” Which is not a form of BBQ. 

3. Any recipe will work as long as its grilled and you baste it consistently with some good BBQ, try marinating it too. Don’t be afraid to even bake it as well even after you have grilled it…. maybe you could melt some cheese on it and put some bacon on it... also have a few dipping sauces handy as well... Nothing wrong with mixing it, but if you really want some serious BBQ... get your hands on some good pulled pork. Oh man!! 

FOON: Name your favorite Norma Jean “This is so rock and roll” moment and your “This is so Spinal Tap” moment. 

Cory: Ha-ha oh man… there are soooo many. We have been lost backstage so many times. We have actually played with the monitors that were used in the spinal tap movie on stage. We put our feet on them as much as possible just so we can say we did... like I am now. 

FOON: Do you have anything that you would like to add about the disc or the SOTU tour? 

Cory: We will play in the middle of the day on the SOTU tour around 2 to 4 somewhere. So everyone should make sure and get there way before that because there are plenty of good bands before us they need to see as well. To my knowledge there is only one stage… so no will miss anything. Good deal. Thanks. 

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