Sometimes the greatest of achievements start as a simple whim, a moment of flippant searching for an alternative to spending another Tuesday night in front of the television watching re-runs. Nora was formed in (insert here, I have NO idea) as a product of one of these whims.
Five friends sitting around decided "hey, we're going to be sitting around anyway, let's write a couple of songs and have fun." The notion that music should be rooted as an expression of the friendships and common experiences that make us a unit is one that's carried through the band's history to date, remaining the central core of our approach both to music and to life. The original lineup of Nora consisted of Mike Olender, (who took some extra time from singing from Endeavor) to play guitar, Christopher Spliedt (editor and publisher of Crash Position fanzine) on bass, Carl Severson (the infamous Ferret Records mogul) on the microphone, Chris Ross (then-recently departed from Ensign, and doing a stint in Rain on the Parade) on drums, and Murph on guitar.
Soon after the initial songs came into being, the long chain of second guitarists began, with Murph moving away from the area. He was replaced briefly by Justin Phillips from Rain on the Parade, and then, in time for the first record (xxxx's Kill You For a Dollar, a 5 song ep that came out on Ferret, with the vinyl released on HeartsDown records) by local hero John Kohler.
Nora's lineup remained stable for over a year and a half, recording twice more: first, two songs for a split ep with the Dillinger Escape Plan, and then The Neverendingyouline (xxxx), a 5 song ep that started out being released by Temperance, but ended up as a Trustkill record. Eventually, John left to pursue his other band, Ex Number Five. He was replaced by Chris Byrnes briefly, who departed to focus on his own efforts soon after Mike decided to return to singing with his own project, Burnt By the Sun. Left without guitar players, the three remaining members scoured the earth for two worthy replacements, and came up with one across the street, and one across the country.
First to enter the picture was Matt Hay, (known as Portland) formerly of the band Backside Disaster, who arrived via a three day bus ride through Middle America... and second came Matt Haick, former member of local heroes Nowhere Fast and Carousel Kid . The lineup solidified, the happy bunch put their noses to the grindstone, playing Hellfest and then departing for a European tour, followed by extensive traveling in the US. This brings us to the present date, where Nora can be found finishing up 10 new songs for an LP due out in early spring on Trustkill. Combining groove, chaos, and an unpredictable and original approach to both melody, timing, and dynamic, Members may have changed, but the central themes have not: five friends traveling, playing music from the heart, and expressing the simple concept that things could indeed be much better than they stand.
As a final note, the name Nora has it's origin from two widely divergent sources. One source stems from the girl from the movie Pump up the Volume, a band favorite (yes, both the movie and the girl). The second can be found in the Latin definition for the name Nora, which translates loosely as "the honorable one", or simply "light"....and is perhaps the perfect definition, in the end, to describe the motivation and drive behind the band as a whole
Source: http://www.thesyn.com/metal/general3/nora_losersintuitionbio.htm
