Interview: Normandie | Slam Dunk Festival 2021
During Slam Dunk 2021, we were lucky enough to have Philip Strand, of Normandie fame, take time out of his busy schedule and chat with us about the return of live music, the band’s upcoming tour and more:
So! What’s it like playing a show, first time in eighteen months?
I was a bit in my head in the beginning; to me, coming back after a year and a half of no shows it was all down to my performance, the technical... we had changed the whole back line, the way we do a show, so the technical side I was a bit nervous about... but we forgot about the crowd. We were on stage, we started playing Babylon, that’s what we open with — the reception was so loud that I almost cried and I forgot the words to the first verse. I lost it. I thought I had everything under control but I hadn’t taken the crowd into consideration, so I was a bit blown away. But the show was amazing and I think we filled whatever space we could fill on the stage. For some reason, festivals in the UK seem to be really great for us — Reading and Leeds was amazing, Download was amazing, 2000 trees was amazing... this is another one to check off! I love them!
Babylon’s the opener for your live show but also the opener for your new album, Dark & Beautiful Secrets. Are there any others on the album you’ve been particularly excited to debut?
Playing Holy Water live, finally being able to scream again and have that full on metal sound! Sort of. It’s super interesting to do, we got to do it last night and it was mind blowing. Plus bringing back some more of the Synth-y stuff, like Mission Control, that could be really cool. As long as it’s good PA, the system in the actual venue, I think it’s going to sound really cool.
You mention the metal sound, yet you guys recently released an entirely acoustic EP! How did you guys choose the track listing for that?
Well, Babylon was one from the get-go, one of the first songs we picked out, and Hostage too. But when it came to the third one, it was more of a “let’s pick the song that we felt we could lift a little more”. It has a good vibe on the actual album, but we felt we could make it even more than it was intended to be in the first place. A lot of the times we write songs straight from the get go, from the production — from the hard guitar and drums — but Chemicals was one of the songs that was written on acoustic guitar. It was intended to sound the way it sounds now, on the acoustic version. It’s kind of interesting
Do you find it trickier to play it acoustic or... ‘proper’, if that’s the right word!
With the acoustic, we didn’t try to make it too complex. We just wanted it to be straight, like butter for the ears! Clean sound guitars, tiny tiny production when it comes to percussion, maybe some synth-y sub during the bass; we just wanted it to be very very polished, nice to listen to, rather than just belting out with an acoustic and making it sound like a room. That’s the sound we went for. It wasn’t really hard to do, but the vocals had to be as close to perfect as possible to make sure that it can be pleasant to listen to, both when you go to sleep and when you want to sing along in the car! That was the hardest thing, especially in Babylon and Hostage. We do one chorus falsetto and the second one belting — it’s just an interesting thing to do.
Speaking about difficulties with recording, were there any that arose during the making of the album?
I think the hardest part was to make Mission Control be the best mix of electronics and guitars possible. The actual breakdown in Mission Control is so Muse-y and heavy; there’s so much going on, and the synth wants to take up so much space but we also want to make sure that the guitars are there to fill it up: making sure that everything fits together; there’s also a huge sidechain going through the entire atmosphere. Just to make sure that it’s electronically interesting but also still rock music. Really hard, I don’t know how Muse does it!
Changing topic a bit, how did [Normandie’s Facebook group Inner Circle] come about?
It was something that we were hesitant to do, as we don’t want to be the band that’s like “oh look we have fans”, or “here’s a place you guys can start bragging about us”, but we’ve also never been that good at keeping in contact with our fans in DMs. Håkan [Normandie’s guitarist] is a really good DM answerer but to be able to let fans talk to each other... sometimes we get comments like “oh who’s coming to London?”, and to be able to set up a group where people can actually start communicating is beautiful. It’s even led to even smaller groups, DM groups on Instagram! So yeah, we were pretty hesitant at the beginning but it felt very natural when COVID happened, so we took that opportunity to just go “here’s a full year of us connecting with you and listening to you” — we even pick out some setlists according to what people ask for!
Speaking of setlists, after so long away and now this third album, what was it like deciding for these shows, and indeed the tour?
It was so hard — we actually ended up doing two setlists! We’re going to have a moshier setlist and then a more atmospheric one, it’s gonna be interesting! Two different sets!
Any acoustic ones?
Not for this one! It’s too much of a hassle with production and everything, but we’re still going to bring out some of the chiller ones. Plus some old surprises, like Fight!
Would you like to take the opportunity to plug the tour?
I think the tour’s sold out basically! There’s maybe ten tickets left in Glasgow and maybe 15 left in Bristol! We’re playing in October in the UK, six shows I think, and they’re basically all sold out which is super exciting.
Finally, what would you say has been your favourite period so far for Normandie?
Well, yesterday! And whatever’s ahead of us! We’ve never been a band that really sells out full tours, and now to see it happening is... it’s not that it’s ‘finally’ happening, it just feels meant to be! The third album is doing great, shows are selling out, we’re upgrading shows, they’re selling out... it feels like we’ve got the best to come!
Interview by James O'Sullivan
NORMANDIE ·Dark & Beautiful Secrets UK Tour 2021
W/ Special guests THOUSAND BELOW & CASKETS
20.10.21 UK Bristol @ The Fleece
21.10.21 UK Manchester @ Rebellion SOLD OUT
22.10.21 UK Glasgow @ Cathouse LOW TICKETS
23.10.21 UK Southampton @ The Joiners SOLD OUT
24.10.21 UK London @ O2 Academy, Islington SOLD OUT
25.10.21 UK Birmingham @ Mama Roux's SOLD OUT
Remaining tickets available at https://www.normandieofficial.com/tour-dates