See core members Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson for a live experience of physical sound and glacial maximalism like no other.
This November and December, see core Sunn O))) members Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley return to the live aspect as Shoshin (初心) Duo in its original, raw form. They’ll perform as a pair, immersed in profound valve amplification, spectral harmonics, distortion, and volume. Pure and primeval riffs of temporality, massively heavy structures of sound pressure. Witness a live experience of physical sound, and glacial maximalism like no other.
Having most recently released Metta, Benevolence BBC 6 Music : Live on the Invitation of Mary Anne Hobbes (2021), Pyroclasts (2019) and Life Metal (2019), and performances last winter of this special duo performance, Sunn O))) continue their monumental momentum of the Shoshin (初心) Duo tour. See Anderson and O’Malley in Seattle (sharing the bill with Earth’s performance of Earth 2), Monterey, Los Angeles, Austin, Dallas, Houston, Asheville, Athens, Knoxville and Birmingham this November and December. Tickets are on sale now via SunnOfficial and linked below.
Sunn O))) Shoshin (初心) Duo tour dates:
November 22 Seattle, WA @ The Moore Theater ^ [tickets] November 25 Monterey, CA @ The Golden State Theatre * [tickets] November 26 Los Angeles, CA @ The Belasco * [tickets] November 29 Austin, TX @ The Paramount Theatre * [tickets] November 30 Dallas, TX @ The Texas Theatre * [tickets] December 1 Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall * [tickets] December 3 Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel * [tickets] December 4 Athens, GA @ Georgia Theatre * [tickets] December 5 Knoxville, TN @ Bijou Theatre * [tickets] December 6 Birmingham, AL @ The Saturn * [tickets]
^ w/ Earth (playing Earth 2), Jesse Sykes with Phil Wandscher & Bill Herzog * w/ Jesse Sykes with Phil Wandscher & Bill Herzog
The RSD-exclusive deluxe double LP’s will be available on April 22, 2023.
Southern Lord continues its prolific output with a exciting new release for Record Store Day: 2006’s monolith Altar from Sunn O))) + Boris.
Out of print for over 15 years, Altar will finally return on double LP. The album is a collaboration between experimental music groups Boris and Sunn O))), originally released on October 31, 2006 through Southern Lord Records. In addition to major players Sunn O))) and Boris, Altar also boasts an extensive roster of guest musicians/collaborators such as Kim Thayil (Soundgarden), Joe Preston (Earth, Thrones, Melvins, High on Fire), Phil Wandscher and Jesse Sykes (both of Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter) as well as long time Sunn O))) collaborators TOS Nieuwenhuizen and Rex Ritter.
Greg Anderson comments, “We had a lot of fun making Altar— we transcended all barriers and boundaries to create our own sonic language that still strongly resonates. It was incredibly adventurous for us at that point in time. We played in the moment without a preconceived direction then arrived at a beautifully heavy place together.” He continues, “Altar is a monumental documentation of some early experiments with collaboration. We learned a lot from working with Boris and engineer/producer: Randall Dunn as well as Bill Herzog, Jesse Sykes, Joe Preston etc. We definitely carried those ideas and spirit into recordings that followed Altar.”
Boris and Sunn O))) continue to circle each other with reverence; most recently, Boris’s Wata and Takeshi did a session with Sunn O)))’s “Life Pedal” which you can watch now courtesy of EarthQuaker Devices.
See core members Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson on the road soon, with a bonus show added in Los Angeles.
In the coming weeks, core Sunn O))) members Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley will return to the live aspect as Shoshin (初心) Duo in its original, raw form. They’ll perform as a pair, immersed in profound valve amplification, spectral harmonics, distortion, and volume. Pure and primeval riffs of temporality, massively heavy structures of sound pressure. Witness a live experience of physical sound, and glacial maximalism like no other.
Supporting acts for select dates on tour have been announced and include High Command, Kali Malone, Tzompantli, David Pajo and more. See the full list of support acts as well as ticket links for the shows listed below.
Limited edition colorway of 350 units available exclusively via the webstore.
Sunn O))) are pleased to present an enhanced version of the Sunn O))) Life Pedal Octave Distortion + Booster, in collaboration with their comrades at EarthQuaker Devices. The Sunn O))) Life Pedal circuit has been meticulously tweaked from the original to squeeze every last drop of heavy crushing tone available. The octave section has been fine tuned to make it more pronounced without losing the bottom end and a third foot-switch has been added, utilizing Flexi-Switch Technology®, for the octave to allow an additional method of quick and radical tone shaping.
To commemorate the launch, Sunn O))) is offering a limited-edition White & Black colorway available exclusively on their Bandcamp page and webshop. This colorway is available only from the band and includes an exclusive 5.75″x2″ Sunn O))) Life Pedal v3 woven patch.
“I’m super stoked to have this pedal back in our line!” says EarthQuaker founder, president and designer Jamie Stillman. “We put in a lot of hours dialing this one in and I’m very proud of the final product. Sunn O))) is such an iconic band and I’m thrilled to be part of their legacy.”
EarthQuaker CEO Julie Robbins agrees. “It has been an honour and privilege to collaborate with Greg and Stephen on the SUNN O))) Life Pedal. We are so excited to give this special pedal a permanent place in our line.“
In the writing sessions for Life Metal, Stephen & Greg worked extensively shearing their tones toward a broader energy spectrum over high powered saturation and across planes of sonic character, with the ambition to take full advantage of recording engineer Steve Albini’s exacting capture skills.
The results are astounding: there is breadth and luminosity of color, vast sonic cosmoses, flashes of abstract color (synthetic and objective) through resulting themes which emerged from the mastered depths of saturation and circuits between the two players and their mountains of gear.
Photo Credit: Al Overdrive
“We set out to create something that was unique and had its own distinct character to it. The result combines different distortions and achieves different shades of saturation that we were actually doing in the studio,” says Greg Anderson. “I’m extremely happy with this pedal. It’s an integral part of my tone and it holds an important place in my pedal chain.“
“Working on this new version has been a great continuity of this collaboration which feels so right, and sounds so right,” says Stephen O’Malley. “It’s a really beautiful pedal and it’s also a beautiful art collaboration. I think we made something really interesting that people can enjoy to use for their own music, but also, it makes a lot of sense to release a piece of distortion as a release for our band. We’re really happy that this is a trilogy now.“
The Sunn O))) Life Pedal is designed to represent the core front end chain used in those sessions, to drive the tubes of the band’s multiple vintage Sunn O))) Model T amplifiers (or take your fancy) into overload ecstasy. This is a 100w tube amp full stack’s holy dream – or its apostate nightmare.
An octave fuzz inspired by the Shin-Ei FY2 & FY6 units leads the circuit into a brutal big box rodent inspired distortion, recreated with the best components, and including a three-way clipping switch (OpAmp, Asymmetric & Symmetric). Second stage is a purely clean boost to further overdrive the preamp tubes of your vintage system into -scaped harmonics, and feedback overtone bliss.
Chasms are cleared, mountains sheared, glaciers calved, nova-birthed. Vintage valve amplifiers recommended. We hope you transcend.
TECH SPECS:
Sunn O))) Life Pedal is a distortion with a blendable analogue octave up and a booster
Features 3 different clipping options: Symmetrical Silicon, Asymmetrical Silicon & LED, and pure OpAmp Drive
Distortion and booster can be used independently
Expression and footswitch control over analog octave up
Octave blend allows total control over how much Octave is mixed into the circuit
True bypass with silent relay based soft touch switches
Features EarthQuaker Devices’ proprietary Flexi-Switch® Technology
Sunn O)))) formed in March 1998 in Los Angeles. A synthesis of diverse: drone, ur, noise, metal, minimalism/maximalism; supported by a cast of collaborators, O))) has two core members: Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson. For twenty four years, Sunn O))) have been challenging the way we think about music. From 1999’s The Grimmrobe Demos to 2021’s Metta, Benevolence BBC 6Music : Live on the Invitation of Mary Anne Hobbs, core members Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson have forged connections between the worlds of Metal, Drone, Contemporary Composition, Jazz and Minimalism with startling results while remaining true to the eternal principles of volume, density and weight.
ABOUT EARTHQUAKER DEVICES:
Akron, Ohio-based, hand-crafted effects pedal manufacturer EarthQuaker Devices, top-six in the U.S. and one of the top-10 in the world, creates products that are available in approximately 1,000 retail locations in 40 countries. Key retailers include Guitar Center, Sam Ash, Sweetwater and Thomann.
The company’s current workforce reaches over 40 individuals, and has been praised for its commitment to inclusion, diversity and cooperation with other pedal manufacturers by Best Guitar Effects.
See core members Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson on the road in December + January.
This winter, see core Sunn O))) members Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley return to the live aspect as Shoshin (初心) Duo in its original, raw form. They’ll perform as a pair, immersed in profound valve amplification, spectral harmonics, distortion, and volume. Pure and primeval riffs of temporality, massively heavy structures of sound pressure. Witness a live experience of physical sound, and glacial maximalism like no other. Tickets for the tour are on sale now.
SUNN O))) have announced a one-off Shoshin (初心) Duo show taking place at Fabric in London on 22nd June, in celebration of a Savage Pencil retrospective exhibit of his many and varied artworks in connection to the band. Kali Malone shall support SUNN O))) with a live electronics set. Ticket link for the show here, further event detailshere.
As one of SUNN O)))’s longest supporters, Edwin Pouncey, a.k.a. Savage Pencil, created the artwork for SUNN O)))’s very first tour poster (“Nunns Have No Sunn O)))”) and has been at every SUNN O))) concert in London, and both BBC Sessions, playing tambura on the 2004 Peel session. In all, he has created more than 20 drawings for the band.
The exhibition “DEMO)))NS FOR SUNN O)))” is a retrospective of work he has done in collaboration with, or under the influence of SUNN O))). Created between 2003 and 2021, the drawings, prints, posters and various tour ephemera gathered together here are a collection of the artist’s demonic images that were invoked by SUNN O)))’s music on record, live on stage and in the studio. The exhibition shall take place at Atlantis Bookshop, the 100 year-old esoteric bookstore in Bloomsbury, London, opening 1st June to 2nd July.
In late October 2019, following a successful UK tour ending in a sold-out concert at the mythical Roundhouse in London, SUNN O))) entered studio 4 of the BBC Maida Vale on invitation to record a live session for Mary Anne Hobbs to be broadcast on Samhain via her excellent radio show on BBC6. To enter the legendary John Peel studios was to enter a temple of music and experimentation, liberty in ideas and sound.
The band was nearing the end of a long touring year around the Life Metal and Pyroclasts albums (of which Anna Von Hausswolff and her band had accompanied SUNN O))) on the UK tour, and Anna joined SUNN O))) in the studio on synths and with her tremendous voice). SUNN O))) had developed their compositions extensively, embracing the formative concepts of the Life Metalalbum conceptually and emotionally, but actualized and evolved into vast, open and bright hyper-saturated arrangements. Particularly the pieces the band chose to perform on this recording: Troubled Airand Pyroclasts. The former enriched into a total aspect of the band’s ethos and form in many ways, and Pyroclasts had evolved to become all-inclusive radiation of O))). The radiation embraces collaboration and freedom of interpretation by each player, within a structural format of the massive monuments of sound and distortion which define SUNN O))).
The recordings of this session— Metta, Benevolence. BBC 6Music: Live on the Invitation of Mary Anne Hobbs.— were released on CD and digital formats last November via Southern Lord and today, the long-awaited double LP version is finally available.
Stephen O’Malley (Electric Guitar, Minimoog Model D synthesizer) Greg Anderson (Electric Guitar, Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 synthesizer) Tos Nieuwenhuizen (Moog Rogue synthesizer) Stephen Moore (Trombone, Roland Junior-106 (mod) & Nord Stage (gaffed black) synthesizers) Tim Midyett (Electric Bass Guitar, Roland Juno-106 synthesizer) Anna von Hausswolff (Voice & Nord C2D synthesizer on Pyroclasts F & C#)
In late October 2019, following a successful UK tour ending in a sold-out concert at the mythical Roundhouse in London, SUNN O))) entered studio 4 of the BBC Maida Vale on invitation to record a live session for Mary Anne Hobbs to be broadcast on Samhain via her excellent radio show on BBC6. To enter the legendary John Peel studios was to enter a temple of music and experimentation, liberty in ideas and sound.
The brilliant Anna Von Hausswolff and her band had accompanied SUNN O))) on the UK tour, and Anna joined SUNN O))) in the BBC studio on synths and with her tremendous voice on the Pyroclasts pieces. Today, SUNN O))) premieres an excerpt from the remarkable “Pyroclasts F” track ahead of the November 26 CD/Digital release date.
Nearing the end of a long touring year around the Life Metal and Pyroclasts albums, SUNN O))) had developed the compositions extensively, embracing the formative concepts of the Life Metalalbum conceptually and emotionally. But on Metta, Benevolence…, the songs actualized and evolved into vast, open and bright hyper-saturated arrangements— particularly the pieces the band chose to perform on this recording: Troubled Air and Pyroclasts. The former enriched into a total aspect of the band’s ethos and form in many ways, and Pyroclasts had evolved to become all-inclusive radiation of O))). The radiation embraces collaboration and freedom of interpretation by each player, within a structural format of the massive monuments of sound and distortion which define SUNN O))).
SUNN O))) Metta, Benevolence BBC 6Music : Live on the invitation of Mary Anne Hobbs
Stephen O’Malley (Electric Guitar, Minimoog Model D synthesizer) Greg Anderson (Electric Guitar, Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 synthesizer) Tos Nieuwenhuizen (Moog Rogue synthesizer) Stephen Moore (Trombone, Roland Junior-106 (mod) & Nord Stage (gaffed black) synthesizers) Tim Midyett (Electric Bass Guitar, Roland Juno-106 synthesizer) Anna von Hausswolff (Voice & Nord C2D synthesizer on Pyroclasts F & C#)
CD/DL Arrives November 26th, 2xLP Arriving on January 28th via Southern Lord — Pre-orders Available Now.
Tune into Mary Anne Hobbs on BBC 6 Music to Hear an Excerpt of “Troubled Air” + Check Out a Teaser Below.
In late October 2019, following a successful UK tour ending in a sold-out concert at the mythical Roundhouse in London, SUNN O))) entered studio 4 of the BBC Maida Vale. On invitation to record a live session for Mary Anne Hobbs to be broadcast on Samhain via her excellent radio show on BBC6. To enter the legendary John Peel studios was to enter a temple of music and experimentation, liberty in ideas and sound.
The band was nearing the end of a long touring year around the Life Metal and Pyroclasts albums. SUNN O))) had developed the compositions extensively, embracing the formative concepts of the Life Metal album conceptually and emotionally, but actualised and evolved into vast, open and bright hyper-saturated arrangements. Particularly the pieces the band chose to perform on this recording: Troubled Air and Pyroclasts. The former enriched into a total aspect of the band’s ethos and form in many ways, and Pyroclasts had evolved to become all-inclusive radiation of O))). The radiation embraces collaboration and freedom of interpretation by each player, within a structural format of the massive monuments of sound and distortion which define SUNN O))).
Anna Von Hausswolff and her band had accompanied SUNN O))) on the UK leg, and Anna joined SUNN O))) in the studio on synths and with her tremendous voice on the Pyroclasts pieces.
SUNN O))) Metta, Benevolence BBC 6Music : Live on the invitation of Mary Anne Hobbs
Pyroclasts F
Pyroclasts C#
Troubled Air
Stephen O’Malley (Electric Guitar, Minimoog Model D synthesizer) Greg Anderson (Electric Guitar, Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 synthesizer) Tos Nieuwenhuizen (Moog Rogue synthesizer) Stephen Moore (Trombone, Roland Junior-106 (mod) & Nord Stage (gaffed black) synthesizers) Tim Midyett (Electric Bass Guitar, Roland Juno-106 synthesizer) Anna von Hausswolff (Voice & Nord C2D synthesizer on Pyroclasts F & C#)
ALL PROFITS GO DIRECTLY TO JUSTIN BARTLETT. THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION & SUPPORT.
SUNN O))) “la mort noir dans Esch/Alzette” CD. Justin Bartlett Cancer Fund edition/reissue. Limited to 1000 copies.6-panel plastic-free matte digipak, gold and black ink. Artwork by O))) long time artistic collaborator Justin Bartlett, 2006.
In early 2006 SUNN O))) embarked on an extended European bus tour in support of their BLACK ONE album, together with our masters EARTH. Malefic/Xasthur (voice), Mark Deutrom (bass), Steve Moore (trombone), Tos (MOOG), Randall Dunn (FOH), Seldon Hunt (photo documentation) … and of course The Lord & SOMA (axes) comprised the geometry of that era of O))).
Through the chaos, mayhem and (mis)adventures, and multi-dimensionality of that incredible tour, the remarkable individuals in the tour party forged musical life bonds, friendships, creative peaks, destinies vanquished and traversed riffs and tones and bass intonated to most brutal edges. On 16 February 2006, the tour arrived at Alzette Kulturfabrik, Esch sur Alzette, Luxembourg and this distortion praising document was recorded by our sound master Randall Dunn. Dyan Carlson of EARTH joined us onstage for the horrifying piece “Reptile Lux”, of which only a handful of audience witnessed this representation of the evolved and eroded gems of BLACK ONE. A limited jewel case CD issued at the end of 2006 as a tour merchandise album for O)))’s subsequent tours in North America and marked the initial collaboration with our ally and illustrator Justin Bartlett, whom defined the ceremony with a portrait of a reposing corpse aided by fungus along her long return journey to the humus & other kingdoms.
Mr Barlett is presently in the midst of a battle with stage 4 cancer. We now offer a limited edition reissue of this black diamond to honour and benefit him. All profits of this release and the accompanying T-shirt will go directly to Mr Bartlett. Your purchase ensures that you contribute to helping him out in this challenging time and in the recovery to come. Thank you for considering this.
Guitar – Dylan Carlson, Greg Anderson, Stephen O’Malley Moog – Tos Nieuwenhuizen Trombone – Steve Moore Vocals – Malefic Live Sound Engineer – Randall Dunn Artwork – Justin Bartlett Mastered By Mell Detmer
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