Rock N Roll Experience - Norma Jean

On October 17, 2006, the Radio Rebellion Tour rolled through the Maryland area, & It was definitley an interesting tour...the bands on the bill were basically all hardcore bands, & the crowd reflected it...lots of choppy haircuts with blonde streaks, the usual emo clothes, & an interesting side note, atleast in these parts, is that the hardcore crowd is 9/10's under 21...it's a very young crowd & I usually refer to it as being the "Black X's Crowd" because it's usually a sea of kids with black x's marked on their hands which says they are under 21 & cannot consume alcohol. Anyways, the entire show was pretty tight & band after band played their respective sets & I was there primarily to check out Norma Jean, who I had seen on this years Ozzfest 2 times & was impressed with their performance enough that I wanted to do an interview with the band as well, & I was lucky enough to be able to conduct a sit-down interview with lead singer Corey Putnam prior to the show. Corey is a very low key kinda guy who doesn't have an ounce of ego..he's a southern guy who's very down to earth, & I decided that I wanted the interview to be short, fast, & to the point, because it would match the bands music, & there was no need to drag it out, so here's the interview with Corey from Norma Jean:

Rock N Roll Experience: How was it playing Ozzfest this year?

Corey: Ozzfest was amazing...what the tour is about is playing for a ton of kids who wouldn't normally see you because your here on tour with these other bands who have their own fans & you all play for each others fans..that's the relationship on the tour with other bands & that was probably the best tour ever for that...we probably played for 5 or 6 thousand kids every show & that was amazing

Rock N Roll Experience: What is that stuff/dirt you put on your face when you play live?

Corey: It's just dirt...like black, like ashy kinda stuff..just dirt

Rock N Roll Experience: Do you get it from outside?

Corey: No, we bought it...there's a name for it, it's pretty much just dirt, I guess people buy it to recreate burns & stuff like that, but we just wanted to get really dirty.

Rock N Roll Experience: Are you still doing the dirt thing in your live show?

Corey: yeah

Rock N Roll Experience: Does the dirt signify anything?

Corey: It's just mostly fun...more fun for us...I mean the thing is, like our set up is probably 1/2 of it too, like in bigger rooms we usually have the whole production & it's just a thing to us, we feel like if people are gonna come & watch us play & pay money to see us play then we wanna make it fun & we want them to walk away & feel like they got their monies worth & alot of people, bands, they won't do that & I don't know why they wouldn't, but to us, like entertainment is part of what we do...it's beyond us being musicians & artists, we want people to have fun at our shows.

Rock N Roll Experience: Then are you a big KISS & David Bowie fan?

Corey: Actually, no. I like David Bowie's stuff, but I've never been a KISS fan ever..just never got into it. I'm sure the show is amazing.

Rock N Roll Experience: Have you ever seen Marilyn Manson in concert?

Corey: No, I would love to though..again, like, just cool shows..fun things to go & see & experience is fun...I bet KISS would blow my mind...the pyro & everything, but songwise I never really got into KISS.

Rock N Roll Experience: Who are some of your favorite bands?

Corey: We all collectively love the band Helmet & then beyond that, there is a bunch of other bands we all like together, but for me, I really love the Smashing Pumpkins, Fugazi are one of my favorite bands of all time, The Toadies..they are one of my favorite bands ever & it sucks that they broke up.

Rock N Roll Experience: But the singer has a new band now

Corey: Yeah, Burdon Brothers...it's cool, but it's not the Toadies ha ha..there was something about that band, I don't know...they were just different & when that record came out it just blew my mind...I just wanted to rip every song off ha ha.

Rock N Roll Experience: You guys should have played the Warped Tour this Summer with Helmet..that was a great tour

Corey: Actually, some of the dudes got to go & hang out on that tour & saw Helmet & they said it was one of the heaviest things ever.

Rock N Roll Experience: When this tour is done, what's next?

Corey: We actually don't know..things keep popping up actually, so I can't say for sure because we don't know, but I know as of right now, we are scheduled to go overseas in January & we'll take a break in between this tour & that tour & then it'll be the UK & Europe & we may go to Australia..after that it's wide open pretty much

Rock N Roll Experience: Norma Jean has had alot of members come & go..do you still keep in touch with the past members?

Corey: Yeah, yeah..uhm, now of course, they left before I was in the band, but I've been friends with all these dudes for years before I was in the band & I'm also friends with Josh & Dolittle, the 2 members that quite...Josh is in the Chariot now.

Rock N Roll Experience: The Chariot is a strange band

Corey: Yeah..it's noisy! I like that though..I like noisy bands, so I'm into the Chariot

Rock N Roll Experience: The thing I remember about the Chariot, when I saw them live, was that their singer always keeps his back to the crowd...is that nerves?

Corey: I don't know..the last time I saw the Chariot, we actually played a festival this Summer & dude was all over the place ha ha...he went nuts & he's a great vocalist, but yeah, we're definitley friends with those dudes.

Rock N Roll Experience: Did the band name Norma Jean come from Marilyn Monroe?

Corey: Yeah...it comes from that because the dudes are fans & I am too, but I think for me. the name has more significance in it's meaning, which is another thing that the guys really wanted..they wanted the name to have meaning, you know how things have to sound cool for bands, but they wanted it to have meaning too, to have a backstory, & the name means patterns of grace & mercy, which is just really an awesome meaning..2 of the coolest things ever, so yeah, I think for me, the meaning of the name has more significance for sure.

I'd like to thank Corey for taking a few minutes to chat with me, & to go onto the Norma Jean performance later in the evening, the band just tore it up! They played over an hour that was full of aggression, angst, & dirt! Corey & company took the stage looking like they had just been in a mud fight & they whaled away from beginning to end with 2 drummers, & a stage that was adorned with damaged looking amplifiers, & a huge movie screen behind them that showed strange movie clips throughout the entire show! Twas definitley a high energy show that was powerful from beginning to end & every band on the Radio Rebellion tour just killed it!

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