Hello. We love your new music video for your song “Shut Your Mouth”. What ideas went into making this? Also, how was the process of getting footage from fans and meticulously editing into one finish video?
It started with the video for ‘End of the Day’. We needed a music video but with the virus, there was no safe way to make one. After all we were all under lockdown. The result was great especially when the people involved were having fun. When we wrote ‘Shut Your Mouth’, we wanted listeners to feel support and confidence when listening to it. Especially if they are victims of domestic abuse. When I hear or perform the song, I feel a wave of it and it feels so therapeutic. I wanted a visual representation of that feeling, so I asked the fans if they wanted to take part in another video. Its a lot of fun to do when you get enough footage. The hardest part for me was getting the ‘panels’ to fit just right, especially for the final chorus. You can’t really plan ahead for it when people are submitting footage until you’ve seen all the submissions. It’s really a case of watching though it all, picking the best bites and saying to yourself ’Right, that fits there but where does this bit go?’. And with a song like this that has a lot of history and emotions behind it, there were a lot of moments where I had to give myself 5 minutes. As a survivor, seeing everyone literally sticking their middle finger at domestic abuse meant an awful lot to me. Especially when some of the people featured had their own survivor story.

We’ve seen a lot of Not Now Norman over the last twelve months, with new singles being release pretty frequently. How have things been going for the band during this period? How has it felt releasing new music, and how have the songs been received?
It’s been like a rollercoaster really. Seeing the band progress in such a short space of time has been a blur. We’ve live-streamed on our Facebook since the beginning of the first lockdown, originally to cheer up a few friends, and over time the response is still going strong. With being on the spectrum, I find it difficult to process a lot of thoughts and emotions at once. Before I got into music, I used bottle them up and pretend everything was fine when really I was having a meltdown. But since I started Not Now Norman, I have a way to make those feelings known. Making music has become a therapy for us so seeing people receive the messages in such a positive way has been exciting and makes it all worth it.


We’ve seen some gig and festival announcements. What events are confirmed so far, and what event are you able to talk about – or hint at for the future?
We have a few gigs lined up which we’re excited about especially in our local area of Berwick upon Tweed. We’re excited to be supporting LoGoZ this summer as well as taking part in festivals like Crossing the Tyne and Lindisfarne Festival.

Post-pandemic, what would you like for Not Now Norman to do? Are you looking at tour or festival dates for 2022?
There’s a lot of things I’m planning for Not Now Norman, so we’re showing no signs of slowing down. I’m excited to get us all back out there and storming the stage. I’d like to see us play at more venues and going further afield. With the rate Not Now Norman is going at the moment, who knows what 2022 is going to bring us.


Finally, are there any more releases in the pipeline? Where should fans go to stay in the loop regarding Now Now Norman news and announcements?
We’re recording tracks with a bunch of great bands and musicians, including Geo Moon. In fact, we’re set to release Run Boy Prt 2 in August with the beautiful Victoria Owsnett lending us her voice. And with several more tracks on the way, we’re in the process of writing an album so look out for that shortly. The best place to keep updated is on our website where fans can subscribe to our monthly newsletter. Or they can find us on all the socials. We’re on Facebook, Twitter, Insta, Youtube and TikTok.

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