This record has an overall experimental vibe for you guys, but did you have any sonic goals going into it?
No we never really want to set a sound for ourselves, it just comes out naturally. We never know what it’s gonna be like until we’re done—it just sort of happens.
What does the title The Anti-Mother mean?
It’s a character in a way, or a personality that’s inside of everybody. People in general will do stuff we think is right at the time or we think is good for us and it ends up hurting us in the long run. It’s just about those decisions we make throughout life. Like, take something that’s beautiful and nurturing or caring on the outside, but inside its very deceptive and bad for you.
Does that translate to any lyrical themes within the record?
It’s not really a themed record but a lot of it is personal experiences that we’ve gone through, and especially Cory. Just the things that have happened in his life where that comes into play a lot.
What do you hope to achieve with this record?
I feel like we’ve already achieved everything we wanted to. We’re really excited about this record, we got to work with some of our heroes; it was just an amazing record to make, it was really hard, but at the same time I think we really earned it. It was a long recording process, and I think we really pushed ourselves this time musically, so as far as that goes the record is a success in our eyes.
Awesome, and what’s next in store?
After Warped Tour, we’re doing a festival in New Jersey called Revelation Generation. Then we’ll be home for a month before we start a headliner in the fall—its gonna be a Solid State tour [with] Haste The Day, My Children My Bride, O Sleeper, Children 813 from October to November.
Tell me more about Revelation Generation.
It’s a Christian festival we did last year and it was a lot of fun and they invited us to come back this year, so we’re like yeah we’ll do it! It’s set up kind of like a Warped Tour day: Its outside and there’s a bunch of different stages. We don’t really fly in and do one-off shows like this, but we’re just flying up and hanging out and running our own merch with no crew, no tour manager, nothing; and that’s kind of a different experience for us. And just like last year there’s all these bands you haven’t seen in a while, so any kind of festival where you can see friends you haven’t seen in a while is always a lot of fun.
The Anti-Mother is available now. Norma Jean are playing Revelation Generation in Frenchtown, NJ, on Aug. 30. For more info, visit normajeannoise.com
