The Indianapolis metalcore frontman discusses AI, creativity, cyberpunk nightmares and why the future belongs to people willing to think for themselves.
Full article + interview: @killer.solo.music
The future arrived while we were busy scrolling.
Not with flying cars.
Not with robot servants.
Not even with some chrome-plated Terminator kicking in your front door.
Instead it arrived quietly. An algorithm suggesting your next song. A chatbot helping write your emails. A machine creating artwork in seconds while human artists spend years learning their craft.
That uncomfortable tension sits right at the heart of NORMUNDY’s latest single, Corrupt My Code.
When I sat down with vocalist Joshua D-Day, I expected to talk about breakdowns, songwriting and the band’s increasingly cinematic sound.
Instead we found ourselves discussing philosophy, spirituality, technology, creativity and what it actually means to remain human.
That’s probably the point.
The band’s debut album Everbloom was deeply personal. Joshua describes it as an internal journey, written during a period where he found himself carrying the band forward after other members stepped away to pursue different paths in life.
This new era is different.
“The last record was very internal,” Joshua explains. “This time I wanted to go external.”
The result is a cyberpunk-inspired world influenced by Blade Runner, Cyberpunk 2077, futuristic aesthetics and real-world concerns about technology’s growing influence on everyday life.
What makes Corrupt My Code fascinating is that it isn’t some boomer-style rant against technology.
Joshua isn’t anti-AI.
He’s anti-laziness.
He’s anti-replacing creativity with convenience.
And perhaps most importantly, he’s anti-forgetting what makes people unique.
“I don’t think it’s inherently an evil thing,” he says of AI. “No technology in and of itself is evil. It’s just how you use it.“
That distinction matters.
Far too many conversations about AI quickly descend into tribal warfare. One side believes machines will solve everything. The other thinks we’re all doomed.
Joshua sits somewhere in the middle.
His biggest concern isn’t the technology itself.
It’s who controls it.
“It’s coming from the one percent,” he explains, discussing the enormous corporate investment pouring into artificial intelligence.
Yet despite his concerns, he remains optimistic about creativity.
One quote from our conversation hit me like a freight train.
“AI is really good at iterating. It’s not great at innovating.”
There it is.
The entire debate distilled into a single sentence.
Machines can remix.
Machines can imitate.
Machines can generate.
But innovation?
That weird spark that makes someone combine seemingly unrelated ideas and create something genuinely new?
That’s still ours.
Joshua points to NORMUNDY’s own music as proof.
The band blends metalcore, industrial textures, synthwave influences, electronic elements and cinematic storytelling into something uniquely theirs.
It’s not about copying genres.
It’s about smashing them together until something fresh emerges.
“The creative brain is always going to override anything that AI can do.”
For musicians, artists and creators feeling nervous about technology’s rapid growth, that’s probably the most reassuring thing said during our entire conversation.
The discussion eventually drifted into spirituality.
Not religion.
Spirituality.
The distinction is important.
Joshua spoke openly about his journey from atheism, through depression, travel and self-discovery, eventually landing somewhere closer to Daoist philosophy than traditional western belief systems.
Travel changed him.
Seeing different cultures.
Different languages.
Different people living fundamentally similar lives.
It led him to a belief in connection.
Not just between people.
But between everything.
Listening to him explain it, I couldn’t help but notice how perfectly it connects back to Corrupt My Code.
The song may wear cyberpunk clothing.
But underneath all the neon lights and futuristic imagery, it asks an ancient question.
What makes us human?
Connection.
Creativity.
Purpose.
Experience.
The things that can’t be downloaded.
At least not yet.
NORMUNDY’s next album is already underway, with additional singles planned and a larger story unfolding through multiple music videos.
If Corrupt My Code is any indication, this next chapter won’t just be heavier than Everbloom.
It’ll be smarter too.
And in an age increasingly obsessed with artificial intelligence, Joshua D-Day is betting on something far more powerful.
Human intelligence.
Human creativity.
Human connection.
That’s a wager I wouldn’t bet against.
This is the gospel.
I bite crowd surfers.
Killer.
