The following story was part of the Day in Rock Report for 5/13/08 - (PR) Norma Jean, now in the studio with producer Ross Robinson (Slipknot, The Cure, Deftones, At The Drive In, Glassjaw) and engineer Ryan Boesch, will deliver their fourth album The Anti Mother late this summer on indie Solid State Records (exact release date TBA). For a few of the album's songs, the band wrote in collaboration separately with Page Hamilton of Helmet and Chino Moreno of Deftones.
The Anti Mother marks the follow-up to the Atlanta-based post hardcore group's critically lauded 2006 Redeemer album. Fans will get to experience The Anti Mother live this summer when Norma Jean hit the road as one of the headlining main-stage acts on the Vans Warped Tour '08."The Anti Mother is a character we created which represents anything that is deceptive, and yet possesses an outwardly beautiful nature," lead singer Cory Brandan says of the album title and theme. Musically, he points out "this record is the most melodic album we've ever created, but it's definitely the heaviest record Norma Jean has done as well--and furious at that."
The spirit of collaboration highlights The Anti Mother. "We were able to work with Page and Chino on two separate occasions, and as two of our biggest influences musically, it was definitely a moment having them here in the studio." CORY notes, "Page came to our practice space and for the first hour he was just showing us cool guitar chords, teaching us new things technically. The song we wrote with him is heavy as crap and full of energy--you'll notice his influence. For Chino, the writing was more impulsive. We were already in pre-production with Ross, but the song we wrote with Chino came out so diverse and anti-traditional. Chino ended up hanging out for a few days and we wrote two songs with him." Adds CORY: "Many bands have guest vocalists on their records, but we were inspired by the idea of collaborative songwriting with some of our favorite musicians. In a collaboration, no one is beyond reproach, and there is always something we can learn and someone to learn it from."
Vans Warped Tour 2008
6/20 Pomona, CA Pomona Fairgrounds
6/21 San Francisco, CA Pier 30/32
6/22 Ventura, CA Seaside Park
6/25 Phoenix, AZ Cricket Pavilion
6/26 Las Cruces, NM N.M.S.U. Practice Field
6/28 Salt Lake City, UT Utah State Fairgrounds
6/29 Denver, CO Invesco Field
7/1 St. Louis, MO Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
7/2 Kansas City, KS Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
7/3 Dallas, TX Superpages.com Center
7/5 San Antonio, TX Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
7/6 Houston, TX Sam Houston Race Park
7/9 Atlanta, GA Lakewood Amphitheater
7/10 Orlando, FL Central Florida Fairgrounds
7/11 Tampa, FL Vinoy Park
7/12 Miami, FL Bicentennial Park
7/13 Jacksonville, FL St. Johns County Fairgrounds
7/14 Charlotte, NC Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
7/15 Virginia Beach, VA Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
7/16 Washington, DC Merriweather Post Pavilion
7/17 Cleveland, OH Time Warner Cable Amphitheatre
7/18 Detroit, MI Comerica Park
7/19 Toronto, Ontario Downsview Park Allen Road
7/20 Montreal, Quebec Parc Jean Drapeau
7/23 Boston, MA Tweeter Center
7/24 Buffalo, NY Darien Lake Performing Arts Center
7/25 Camden, NJ Susquehanna Bank Center
7/26 Uniondale, NY Nassau Coliseum
7/27 Scranton, PA Toyota Pavilion
7/28 Englishtown, NJ Raceway Park
7/29 Pittsburgh, PA Post Gazette Pavilion
7/30 Cincinnati, OH Riverbend Music Center
7/31 Indianapolis, IN Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
8/1 Milwaukee, WI Marcus Amphitheatre
8/2 Chicago, IL First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
8/3 Minneapolis, MN Canterbury Park
8/5 Saskatoon, SK Credit Union Centre
8/6 Calgary, AB Race City Speedway
8/8 Boise, ID Idaho Center Amphitheatre
8/9 Seattle, WA George Amphitheatre
8/10 Portland, OR Columbia Meadows
8/13 Fresno, CA Save Mart Center
8/14 San Diego, CA Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre
8/15 San Francisco, CA Shoreline Amphitheatre
8/16 Sacramento, CA Sleep Train Amphitheatre
8/17 Los Angeles, CA Home Depot Center
