One half of the kings of sonic d

One half of the kings of sonic distortion, Greg Anderson allows us into the world of Sunn0))). Let the body shaking reverb drone on!

How are things with Sunn0))) at the moment?
Really good! Steve and and I are preparing to make another record next week, we're going to do a collaboration record with Boris up in Seattle, before we start the West Coast tour with Boris and Throne. We're really looking forward to that, and trying to just get everything nailed down, helping Boris to get into the country. A lot of organizing but it's all been good. We're looking forward to getting out to play [live] and to record this record.
How did the idea for the split record with Boris come about?
I've been working with Boris for the last 5 years through Southern Lord, we've released 3 albums together. We've both been fan's of each others music for quite a long time, and when we did a tour together earlier this year in Europe we had the Boris drummer do some vocals for us live at some of the European gigs and also played gong at some of the shows, we kinda had this idea when they came over for their US dates to try and make a recording out of it.
On the Sunn0))) front "Black One" has just been released. What has been the reaction so far to the record?
Real strong. What I've read so far people are really getting into it. It's a more cohesive record that the last 2 records we've released, and it's got more of a defined theme, so I think people are reacting to that. We consciously on this record decided to, unlike the last 2 records, step it up and have more tracks on it, which has kinda thrown people off a little. Which is kinda interesting, as people are commenting on it. Some people think it is a cool idea that we have broken up into seven tracks and some people say that they miss the 3 songs per album. It's always interesting to hear peoples thoughts on things.
How did the writing process evolve therefore from writing 3 songs per album to 7?
On each record we try to make a little different from the one before, and one of the ways we made this on different was to have shorter pieces. With that in mind when we're recording or composing try and get what we trying to get across in a shorter period of time. It was a real challenge. There are little subtle challenges with every record and that was one we discussed before hand on this record, "hey lets try and and have shorter pieces, and try and accomplish what we want to do, that we usually do in 15 - 20 minutes in 10 or 8 minutes"?
The album is being described and bleak and devoid of light. Was this the direction you set out for the record to take or was it more of development process?
Real simply, we did the "White" records which have their own concepts and theories and this one is called "Black One" which sort of helps defines what it is. The other thing is that we were touching on the theme of death as a foundation and to build things upon. The atmosphere of Black Metal is something we wanted to inject into the Sunn0))) sound, Steve and I are big fans of Black Metal and we thought it would be really interesting to try to capture elements and textures of Black Metal that we linked, and put it into what Sunn0))) does. See what kinda combination and result would happen with that kind of experimenting.
"Black One" features a number of guest artists. How did you come to choose, or how did the respective people become involved in the recording of the album?
Oren Ambarchi who does the intro to the record, and does some pieces in between tracks and did percussion on one track; Steve and I were huge fans of his work, especially "Grapes from the estate". He ended up getting in touch with us ironically and asking us to play at this festival he was putting together in Australia called What is music. So we meet him that way; we went over and played and really hit it off with him both on a musical and personal level. He then ended up playing with us live in Australia at the gigs we played there, so that is how we meet him. The vocalist on the record Xasthur we contacted through mutual acquaintances in the underground scene. Judging from their music and albums we figured that they had an experimental and non conventional way to their to music, or at least that is what interpreted it as. We hoped they would be open
minded and into doing something in a different context, i.e. Sunn0))). When we contacted them they were totally up for it, and when we sent them the tracks they sent us back what they contributed to it and I was very impressed. We also got to work on a couple of tracks with Xasthur in the studio. The other Oren Ambarchi who does the intro to the record, and does some pieces in between tracks and did percussion on one track; Steve and I were huge fans of his work, especially "Grapes from the estate". He ended up getting in touch with us ironically and asking us to play at this festival he was putting together in Australia called What is music. So we meet him that way; we went over and played and really hit it off with him both on a musical and personal level. He then ended up playing with us live in Australia at the gigs we played there, so that is how we meet him. The vocalist on the record Xasthur we contacted through mutual acquaintances in the underground scene. Judging from their music and albums we figured that they had an experimental and non conventional way to their to music, or at least that is what interpreted it as. We hoped they would be open minded and into doing something in a different context, i.e. Sunn0))). When we contacted them they were totally up for it, and when we sent them the tracks they sent us back what they contributed to it and I was very impressed. We also got to work on a couple of tracks with Xasthur in the studio. The other guys on the record like John Wiese we did some kind of power electronic and noise stuff, we'd actually toured with him earlier in the year, so we already knew him. There was some stuff he was doing on that tour that we thought was great and we kind of wanted him to try and recreate some of that stuff and gave him some freedom to do other stuff.
"Black One" has also been released as a special limited edition 2 CD. The second disc is a live Sunn0))) show recorded at the Roskilde festival. What was the reason to release the live show as a limited edition to this album?
We have more and more being trying to come out with stuff that is designed for touring, you know stuff that people can buy at the shows and direct to the customer via mail order has been a big part for the label and the band. We just wanted to give something back to those people who have help with the growth of the band. You know that you're not going to be able to buy this from HMV or Virgin, it is for the die hards. Oren Ambarchi off the cuff, without really letting us know, remixed a live performance he played on in Denmark. What he tweaked and fucked with, Steve and I thought it was amazing, and also the recording quality was great. The way in which he arranged it was like really cool, he chopped it up and edited it. What we really liked about was half the recording is basically Attila's vocal's and Oren's tones and electronics which put a different focus on Sunn0))). We thought it was cool and we should release it in some form, and then we thought lets a special disc thing for a limited thing for the die hards. It's kind of cool because the whole Black Metal concept almost started on the "White 2" record by getting Attila involved, he has been a Black Metal vocalist we have admired for many years through his stuff in Tormentor and Mayhem. It was a little link between "White 2" and "Black One" that wasn't going to be obvious on the single disc version that we thought would be cool.
	Is a live record something you'd look to do again, now you know that is the formula works?
	Probably not for a commercial release, we have done live discs. Last year when we were touring we had a live white disc which was a lot of the stuff from the White records live and some other stuff. It was [from] one show in Brooklyn, New York that the audio on was incredible so we just decided to release 300 or 400, just to sell on tour. We really do like to offer something special for people when we play live, take home something different that they can't get anywhere else. I'm just grateful that people want this stuff, it is really cool to me that people are into it.
	Sunn0))) have also just released "The Grimm Robe Demos". Why did you feel it was the right time to re-release this collection of demo tracks and other rarities?
	Basically that was the very first recording we ever did and it came out in a very limited edition, through a different label. It then went out of print, everyone seemed to want to hear this stuff. We kept seeing the originals on Ebay for ridiculous prices and it was frustrating that people couldn't hear the stuff, and if you wanted to hear it you had to pay $70 for a fucking CD! It was at the time where we'd released the "White 1 & 2" records and we'd kind of gotten embraced by an more experimental eclectic arty crowd, which was cool for us and we're always grateful of fans whoever they are. But Steve and I are metal-heads and we were like "we don't want people to forget where we came from", we're not arty intellectual types. We're fucking metal-head cave men and the recording to me was still valid, it still meant something. So we put it out, this is our roots, this is where we came from. Plus we were constantly being asked by people why we
hadn't released this record, and people should be able to buy this as it's an important statement for us. We wanted it to come out again in a proper fashion.
On the subject of Ebay, it does allow people to exchange music or whatever. However morally it is wrong on a number of levels, what do you make of Ebay?
Man at this point in time I've almost given up, you can't really fight it, well you can but it's a loosing battle. It's genius for a business model on so many different level, it appeals to this whole gambling side of people; it's insane. In the United States it's very spread out. It's easy, or easier to find hard to find stuff in the cities. But if you live in the mid west, in the middle of nowhere and have no opportunities to go to stores that carry anything cool and you can't the stuff through mail order. Ebay is perfect, it's a humungous swap meet to buy whatever you can't find in your town. So I realise there is that aspect too, unlike some they can't just go down to their local store and get these cool things because they don't carry it. There may only be a Musicland which don't carry any independent underground stuff. I have my issues with it but I can see why it works.
When it comes time to writing new Sunn0))) material , due to your songs improvisational nature, how do you approach writing?
Keep in mind Steve and I have been playing together for over 12 years, we're very much like minded in our vision of what music is and means to us. The chemistry between Steve and I is strong enough that a lot of the stuff happens naturally and without a lot of though and / or analysis. Which is kind of what we wanted to keep Sunn0))). The improvisational nature of it is to not over analysis things, just let things happen. With that said when we do play there is a lot of times when Steve or I will go, "I've got this new riff, what do you think of this"? We use that as a skeletal frame work to work from and to add to, and to move it forward. There are a couple of songs on each record that are basically made up in the studio and we'll add layers, textures or send it to someone to add stuff too or collaborate on, that'll become the song or the piece.
Given the improvisational aspects to the songs how do you feel Sunn0))) as an entity works in the live forum?
Sunn0))) was never meant to be a live band actually. We almost decided to keep it as a studio project. We realised that volume and physical presence of volume and sound was an important aspect of it, and we weren't always accomplishing that with the recordings depending on the persons stereo system was. We figured if we took it into a live setting we would be able to feel it and add a new dimension to Sunn0))). As far the improvisation at the live show, it is a little like the live records [just] more extreme. Steve writes set lists every night that are basically skeletons and riff names to work off of. It's never that you have to follow the set list or no ones going to get mad if you skip something, we use it loosely as a foundation and a spring board to work off. To me a good show is when we start of with something we have been working on throughout the tour and then go into completely new territory. The collaborators aren't familiar with the words or titles so there addition kind of forges new directions as well.
What equipment do you use live to generate such sonic power?
At this point, seen as we don't have our own PA, yet! We basically work with cabinets and amplifiers, real simple. We just try and use a mass amount of them. Three or four 4/12 cabinets per guitar player and then for the keyboards, which generate a lot of the low end tones, we use a couple of 8/10's, 15's or if we are lucky we'll get some 18's. Sometimes, fortunately or unfortunately, we often have to rely on the PA mostly for the keyboards and the sub, so if the PA is good we know it will be a good show because the keyboards will cut through the wall of guitar.
Sunn0))) commitment to touring has grown over the past year as you have endeavored on trips to Japan, European and the USA. How have all these tours worked out for the band?
Great! They keep getting better and better really, Europe especially. The UK even more so, England is amazing, that is our best place to play. We get a really good reaction there. The US is starting to come around a little bit, the US has not embraced us as much, but over the past year the shows have been really good and I have a feeling now that Sunn0))) is sinking in with people and they are beginning to get it. A lot of the stuff that is happening is the States, music wise is crap, so I'd hope Sunn0))) offers a bit of an alternative to people, and I think people are gravitating to something unique to go and see and listen to.
Do you think the state of extreme world affairs lends itself to people being drawn to extreme music?
	I think as the far as the United States goes everything has been pretty shity since Bush took office. When Clinton was in office, and there was a Democrat in the White House people were a lot more content, I think people were happy and satisfied, as far as the alternative cultures. When the Republicans took over the office there started to be anger, tension and frustration with people. That is coming out in the music a bit more these days. With everything else going on the States, you know 9/11 and the recent floods, the last 5 years in my opinion has been pretty apocalyptic. Now where Sunn0))) fits into that I really don't know, we don't make a soundtrack for that type of thing, it's more a personal thing. With that said, Steve and I do have a wide range of emotions, it's not all darkness and blackness.
	As your commitments with Sunn0))) increases how are you managing to juggle your time between Sunn0))), Southern Lord and Goatsnake?
	It's difficult. Goatsnake's not really happening any more, there was talk about doing the new record next year and I'd really like to do that, but that's not really a concern at the moment. At the moment it's all about the label and Sunn0))), because they are taking up so much time. It's real difficult to be honest, but to me I'm really thankful to where things are at today, it's such a privilege to be able to do this and that people give a fuck. I'm enjoying the moment because who knows that people may not care in the future.
	As momentum around Sunn0))) builds, do either Steve or yourself feel any pressure building as expectations rise around each new Sunn0))) release?
	We never set out to do accomplish anything, we just did what was natural and it everything flowed really freely. That is the way I'd like to keep it and that is what the special aspect of Sunn0))) for Steve and I. It's not like your typical band where you have bass, drum, vocals and you have all these personalities you have to deal with and all the goals you set as a band. With Sunn0))) we never had any expectations, ever! It's always been a case of "that's happening now....cool"! Apparently we are on the right track, as someone is buying our records and come to see our shows. We've never stopped to analysis it as that would spoil the flavour of it.
	Southern Lord is no doubt keeping you busy, what's from the label?
Right now we've just released the brand new studio album from Earth, and that is a very important release for the label and the band. The new Sunn0))) record is also important to us and we are concentrating on those. We always have things happening on the peripheral and other projects in the pip line moving forward. I've been really exploring, getting into and releasing a lot of Black Metal these days, so for the rest of this year and next year and beyond we will continue to release interesting Black Metal recordings, not as a solid direction we're going in, but just one of dimensions of the label that has been happening. Honestly, as far as the slower music or what is considered Doom I'm a little disappointed with a lot of the bands that are out there...that aren't on the label! There just hasn't been a lot that has struck me, whereas the Black Metal scene like Leviathan and Xasthur are thriving and they are really pushing the boundaries of their genre. This is what appeals to me and what I try to do with a lot of the releases on Southern Lord.
That's all of my questions done, just thanks for taking the time!
No problem, thanks for the interest. Take it easy.

All photographs and images used with kind permission of Southern Lord Records.