Formed with a shared vision of pushing beyond genre boundaries, Normundy quickly carved out a sound that fuses downtuned riffs, soaring melodies, and haunting electronic textures.
Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.
Joshua D-Day: Singing Vocalist & Founder
BVNE: Rapping Vocalist
Jake Gulla: Bassist
Maciann Hayes: Guitarist
Leo Durbin: Drummer
For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior to NORMUNDY? How long has the band been around?
Joshua D-Day: Running For Last
BVNE: No Catch and As The Fallen Rise
Jake Gulla: Chin Up Kid and Hometown Rejects
Maciann Hayes: Moxxie, Magnolia Soul, Indy Annies, The Indigos, Challenger Deep, and For This We Exist
Leo Durbin: Takers
NORMUNDY was ideated by Singer & Founder Joshua D-Day in Summer 2015. The band’s first public performance was in January 2017, so that year typically gets referenced as the “EST” year.
What’s the origin of that name and have you changed the band’s name before?
In a brainstorming session to come up with a band name, NORMUNDY’s other co-founder Gabriel Van Arch (who exited the band in 2021 to focus on family) proposed the band name as a play off of Joshua D-Day’s stage name. The name stuck because it felt genre-agnostic. It sounded like it could be a hardcore band, an alt indie band, or an EDM artist. This was highly appealing to NORMUNDY’s co-founders because they knew the music was going to defy genre boundaries.
What started as a simple play on words quickly found deeper meaning. As songs began to come together, lyrical content was often based around the idea of facing seemingly insurmountable odds and coming out stronger on the other side. Whether through conflict with self or external forces, the lyrics of each track typically started by addressing a tough challenge, and ended with some sort of resolution describing how that challenge was overcome. Similar to Operation Overlord in WWII, the core takeaway was always that something deemed “impossible” was achieved through perseverance.
The spelling was chosen for a couple of reasons. First, since the band has nu-metal roots (by nature of the bounce beats in the instrumentals, and having a rapping vocalist), an intentional misspelling felt natural, pulling inspiration from the likes of Limp Bizkit, Korn, Linkin Park, etc. Second, a different spelling helped to ensure that people find the band online, rather than the city of Normandy in France.
The name has remained the same since inception.
Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs and do you think these topics will change over time?
The band’s lead songwriter across all elements is founder Joshua D-Day, from guitar/bass to synth programming and production. Joshua and BVNE write their own respective lyrics, often collaborating to ensure seamless vocalist swaps throughout each song. BVNE also makes electronic contributions on various tracks, pulling from his background as an experienced beatmaker.
As previously mentioned, the core theme embedded within most of the band’s music is overcoming life-defining challenges and coming out on the other side as a stronger, fundamentally changed individual. That being said, each record has carried its own approach to this idea.
NORMUNDY’s first record, “The Depths Below,” was about creating a new sound through fearless genre-blending. Record number two, “Enter The Void,” was about spiritual growth that resulted from self-exploration of “The Connection,” a metaphysical concept rooted in the connectedness which unites everyone and everything in the Universe. The band’s most recent full-length, “Everbloom,” was written following the exit of everyone except for Joshua D-Day from the band during the COVID pandemic, and is about doubling down on music and giving everything to push NORMUNDY to success.
Our upcoming fourth full-length record (which our newest song “Corrupt My Code” is the first single from) is about the inextricable link between the current state of society and the persistent sense that something fundamental has gone wrong. More on that later.
TLDR: The core theme always remains the same, but the lens through which we view this theme shifts with each record.
What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?
The biggest inspirations behind the music of NORMUNDY’s upcoming fourth full-length record come from three different genres. First is Hardwave (a subgenre of Synthwave), with artists like Skeler and Juche being major influences on both the sound and the visuals. Second is instrumental prog, which has major influence on the rock instrumentals in each song. Standout artists from this genre include David Maxim Micic and I Built the Sky. Third and final is a blend of rock and metalcore, with the biggest influences on our current music being the likes of Silent Planet, Falling In Reverse, and LANDMVRKS.
Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?
Singer & Founder Joshua and Bassist Jake attended their first-ever rock concert together in their early teens. The lineup was Avenged Sevenfold, Three Days Grace, Seether, Bullet For My Valentine, and Escape The Fate (completely stacked bill, right?). That had a major influence on the music tastes of these two members, and the eventual formation of NORMUNDY could be largely attributed to this experience.
What do you do to prepare for a show? Any flexing, exercises, etc …
As we warm up, we all break off and do our own thing for a bit. Our singer Joshua goes to the green room (or van) and runs the same four warmup songs, moving from chest voice in the first song to full head voice in the final song. This gets followed up with a spritz of nasal mist to open up the sinuses and a few peperoncini peppers to de-gunk and loosen up the throat. Guitarist Maciann and Bassist Jake run through the set directly through their pedalboards.
Drummer Leo practices rhythmic techniques on his practice pad. Rapping Vocalist BVNE is just a beast and always sounds good with limited preparation. If only we could all be so lucky!
What has been the biggest highlight of the band’s career so far?
It’s hard to pick just one, but it would probably be when we played Louder Than Life in 2022. Not because it’s our favorite performance we’ve ever done (although it’s definitely up there), but because this really kickstarted our trajectory from local artist to regional. We placed second in a virtual DWP Battle of the Bands competition, and that’s how we landed the spot.
It felt good because we didn’t land the spot because of a label or because we “knew a guy.” We got the opportunity by proving ourselves, which felt appropriate, given the band’s core themes and values. This performance is what put us on the fast track to other major fests like Rock Fest, Gathering of the Juggalos, Upheaval, and ultimately to regional touring.
If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?
Past: Any OG nu-metal band when they were on the come up. That era of music was something else.
Present: Dream bands at the moment would be the rock/metalcore influences mentioned earlier: Silent Planet, Falling In Reverse, Poppy, or LANDMVRKS. Bands closer to our size that would be awesome to tour with include Dropout Kings and Kingdom of Giants.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
The new era of the NORMUNDY brand is significantly darker than previous ones. Rather than being based around a personal journey, this cycle is moreso about the realities of the human experience in the modern age.
As mentioned earlier, it’s about the inextricable link between the current state of society and the persistent sense that something fundamental has gone wrong.
We catch the occasional glimpse of real vitality, yet instead of reaching for it, we choose convenience, distraction, and numb routine. Not because we are unaware, but because action requires energy. Energy that the world seems intent on draining from us day after day.
As civilization trades its conscience for artificial consciousness, machine fetishes and technological fascination eclipse the human spirit. The Great Upload has begun, inching closer to completion with each AI query placed, megacorp product consumed, and emotion shed. By slowly giving fractions of ourselves to the machine, we construct the monolith that will be our undoing.
If we ever hope to reboot this system, we must revitalize our inherent strength by rediscovering what it means to be human. Step away from the machine long enough to remember who you were before it came online.
Expect all of the music we release over the next couple of years to tackle these ideas. Speaking of which, new music coming later this year.
Stay present. Stay grounded. And thanks for reading.