>>PREVIEW
RADIO REBELLION TOUR
Saturday, November 11
MacEwan Hall (U of C)
Many bands often have to wait until multiple releases before entering the studio with the most highly regarded knob-tweakers. However, certain smaller or specialty genres can afford groups the opportunity to access renowned producers very early on in their careers.
Thus was the case for metal core’s Norma Jean and Misery Signals. The latter teamed up with Strapping Young Lad’s Devin Townsend for their 2004 debut full-length while Norma Jean got to go head to head with Ross Robinson (Sepultura, At the Drive In) on their latest, Redeemer.
"He (Townsend) was a big influence on Malice," says Signals bassist Kyle Johnson, referring to Of Malice and the Magnum Heart. "He had a lot to offer as far as things we hadn’t really experimented with before, like the atmospheric sound that we’ve become known for, we owe a lot of that to him."
Robinson was as influential for Norma Jean, but mostly with the unconventional method of recording that saw the quintet on the stage of an old movie theatre, rehearsing songs until they were rushed downstairs to another equipment set that was miked and ready to record.
"It’s such an efficient way to record and it takes a lot of pressure away," explains drummer Daniel Davison. "It loosens you up a bit and makes it feel like you’re at practice at a home or at a show. I can’t see us recording any other way now."
Content with the new approach, the five-year-old metal core outfit from Atlanta, Georgia is now actively cementing their collaborative songwriting process while on a constant string of tours.
"It’s never just been our singer writes all the lyrics and we have nothing to say," states Davison. "It’s evolved into more of a collaborative effort now, it brings out more meaning, and more personal ideas and issues can be addressed or talked about. We’re all comfortable with how we play and where we are as musicians and how we play together. Somehow we work a lot better when we’re all playing together instead of us as individual musicians. It just clicks."
Working out kinks collectively and in person instead of via e-mail and file sharing was also the formula that proved most effective for Johnson and company, who overcome the obstacle of members residing in both Canada and the U.S.
"It was pretty rough at first, just getting used to driving 24 hours in whatever direction just to be with the rest of the band," he shares. "It was really the only thing that we could do if we wanted to continue as a band, we obviously have to be together. The five of us work best together stuck in a room where all the ideas happen."
A joint effort and the resulting musical chemistry is worth the sacrifice in both bands, but Davison and cohorts in particular want their music to be soaked in symbolism as well, with a lot of effort and time being spent developing songs, lyrics, album artwork and their stage show.
"We try to write the songs we would want to hear," he begins. "We want it to be more than just songs, we put a lot of feeling and passion and emotion into it."
As for the Christian content, Davison is upfront about its presence but hopeful it can and will be presented in a unique manner.
"We’re not up on stage preaching or necessarily saying what we believe. I think that it can be poetic and a little bit more diverse than straightforward praise and worship type lyrics. It’s more fun that way. We don’t want to hide, we try to make that the main focus of our band. We’re not all exactly on the same page with everything we believe but something that we strive to be the centre and focus of our band is God."
Regardless of the motivator for either band, both expound heavy, driving music laden with erratic time changes, grandiose guitar layering, bone-tinglingly deep vocals and rapid-fire drumming indicative of the often higher level of technicality present in metal music. With undeniable intensity and a certain brutality in the mood and imagery conjured, Norma Jean and Misery Signals seem poised to catapult both themselves and listeners into a sweat-drenched frenzy. Though somewhat frightening to behold, they leave you no choice but to jump head-down into the furious pit and be swallowed by the energy and infectious atmosphere created. |
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