If you don’t feel “Memphis will be laid to waste” at a Norma Jean show there is something wrong with you. For days after I see them I always have the lyric “you’re doing a waltz with your murderer” in my head.
The first time I saw Norma Jean they were still called Luti-Kriss. They opened for ZAO at the Where-House on their first tour. At the time they were doing this sort of post Marilyn Manson semi-goth metal thing. I remember that the band came out and started playing this sort of extended instrumental intro. After a couple of minutes the singer comes running full speed from backstage does a full forward flip onto his back on the stage and starts screaming to the mic writhing around the stage. Amazing. I couldn’t believe it. I had them a couple more times at the WH until they got too big for us.
One memory I have of them was the big Cornerstone 04 possession thing. Here’s what I remember. Norma Jean was playing in one of the Encore tents late in the evening. If I remember correctly they were still on “Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child” so there were a ton of people just spilling out of the tent. They were also doing this really stark performance where they just used strobes and really bright white lights with stuff being projected onto a screen behind them. I remember going for a couple of songs and then taking off and then forgetting about it until the next day. I think I was waiting in line at the showers when I heard someone talking about the girl that got “possessed” at Norma Jean last night. People were saying all kinds of crazy things about how people were getting sick and passing out and this one chick got possessed in front of the stage. It was hilarious, everyone was talking about it and the story was getting crazier and crazier as the day progressed.
We interviewed the guys at the “Otherside” club in Tulsa that is run by my friend Matt during the “Great American Noise Tour” with the Chariot, the Handshake Murders, and a Life Once Lost. We only got to do a short interview but it came out really good. The guys were really frank about how many bands in the genre were largely irrelevant and had some good stories. We talked quite a bit about Ozzfest and Corey admitted that when Living Sacrifice broke up there was talk of continuing on in a third incarnation with him as the singer. When I asked them about a good Cornerstone story they came clean about the “possessed” girl and said that it was all a set up. You heard it here folks.
The first time I saw Norma Jean they were still called Luti-Kriss. They opened for ZAO at the Where-House on their first tour. At the time they were doing this sort of post Marilyn Manson semi-goth metal thing. I remember that the band came out and started playing this sort of extended instrumental intro. After a couple of minutes the singer comes running full speed from backstage does a full forward flip onto his back on the stage and starts screaming to the mic writhing around the stage. Amazing. I couldn’t believe it. I had them a couple more times at the WH until they got too big for us.
One memory I have of them was the big Cornerstone 04 possession thing. Here’s what I remember. Norma Jean was playing in one of the Encore tents late in the evening. If I remember correctly they were still on “Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child” so there were a ton of people just spilling out of the tent. They were also doing this really stark performance where they just used strobes and really bright white lights with stuff being projected onto a screen behind them. I remember going for a couple of songs and then taking off and then forgetting about it until the next day. I think I was waiting in line at the showers when I heard someone talking about the girl that got “possessed” at Norma Jean last night. People were saying all kinds of crazy things about how people were getting sick and passing out and this one chick got possessed in front of the stage. It was hilarious, everyone was talking about it and the story was getting crazier and crazier as the day progressed.
We interviewed the guys at the “Otherside” club in Tulsa that is run by my friend Matt during the “Great American Noise Tour” with the Chariot, the Handshake Murders, and a Life Once Lost. We only got to do a short interview but it came out really good. The guys were really frank about how many bands in the genre were largely irrelevant and had some good stories. We talked quite a bit about Ozzfest and Corey admitted that when Living Sacrifice broke up there was talk of continuing on in a third incarnation with him as the singer. When I asked them about a good Cornerstone story they came clean about the “possessed” girl and said that it was all a set up. You heard it here folks.
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