Sunna Interview from Raft Talk:
(with John, Ritchie, Flatine and new recruit Shane)
Do you think that your music has been received well in the states?
Yeah. I think so. I think it leans towards that market, more that in the U.K because of our influences. Some of the kids have been e-mailing over from the States who have heard the sound clips, and have been saying that they have heard that we are touring with APC and that they think that we are really cool. I haven't had anybody write to me and say that your band is shit and I don't think you should do the tour, or anything like that , a few people saying that you are really brave.
Brave?
I don't know, I just think that there is some sort of mysterious element about the band (APC) and people have got this thing that they are above, and that they are in another place, I think it will just be a case of getting in there and finding out, none of us have met the band, so we have got no idea of what they are like as people.
Are you doing well in the Sates?
It is to do with the Hollowman film, the way the single ('Power Struggle') has been tested and played on radio stations, and there is another two films coming out with tracks on, one called Fifteen Minutes and the other is Blair Witch 2.
Which tracks have you got on those then?
'Power struggle' for Fifteen minutes and 'Not Trading' for Blair Witch 2.
So how do you feel about Kevin Bacon singing your song?
Even better now that film has gone to number 1 in the film charts in the states! So a lot of people are getting to hear it, I think that is the reason for all of the sales.
Do you think that is one of the best things a band can do, get on a soundtrack?
Yeah. A lot of people like all the cred people would accuse us of selling out but.... Fuck'em.
Have you seen any of these films?
We haven't seen them, we have seen some trailers, and they look really good. We have heard it's great, we are flying into New York on Tuesday night so we are going to go and see it. The first thing I am going to do is get some food and then go to the cinema and check it out. And watch the first 10 minutes, I think it is in the credits.
I know some of you have been in bands before or have all of you?
Well me and John were in a band for 8 or so years, Richard has been in Cable, Shane in the Rolf Harris Quintet, and Flatline has been in a coma. He still is!
The album is coming out in October can you tell us anything about it, the songs or the recording process or anything?
No. The question is when we started demoing, We hired a house down in Cornwall in Constantine, but we wrote off too many bikes and crashed too many cars, so we had to come home. It was mixed in London, scrapped in London, re-mixed in Bristol, scrapped in Bristol.
Sounds like a trial?
A task it was. It was just really frustrating.
Is that because of other people?
Yeah it was other people who thought they knew how it should sound.
Are you happy with it now?
Yeah, I mean when we first mixed it the actual demos were sounding better, then it just fell flat for about a month. It took longer to mix than to record it.
Have you spoken to Massive Attack or any label mates (I know O.D was re-mixed by Alpha) to do any cross-pollination?
There is probably not much, as they all have the same producer and so it would be the same people working on it any way. James Lavelle is doing a mix, but I think that will be it I think it will be an acoustic song and James Lavelle mixing it.
How is the live process going, I know you have played down at the Water Rats, have you got the sound together as you want it?
Yeah, absolutely. It is a little bit darker, and heavier, like for' Power Struggle' we had to buy a certain type of guitar but it was the wrong thing so we have gone back to a Gibson, and got a fat sound and it is coming along.
Has it evolved much since the first gig?
Yeah, Yeah. We have got the songs completely sorted, and we are confident about what we are doing.
Do you actually rehearse the performance?
Sometimes it is easy to get a bit carried away, John sometimes is gritting his teeth and shaking his guitar about, but it is that sort of music, and if you are that passionate about anything it is quite easy to get carried away with it, and it is as if you were playing a gig.
The video revolves around you lot being surrounded by thousands of bees, was it scary?
Yeah you had 30,000 bees from 6 hives crawling around, it makes me itch just thinking about it.
How did you control the bees?
Just be nice to them. They know if you are going to be hostile. They like bee keepers, one bee keeper was stung quite badly they got into his suit and they got the camera man and he was rolling around. They put them in a freezer so they are really dopey, but they just hoover them up. There was one bee who was just walking across the carpet looking really deluded and lost and I just watched him for about 20 minutes while he walked across the carpet then some bloke just came along and, squash.
Can you describe the other members of the band? Lets start with Flatline?
He doesn't really talk, he doesn't talk to us, it is all actions, his heart rate is three beats a minute.
How do you communicate?
He only hears certain frequencies, big mice talk to him.
Lets move on to Shane?
We have not met Shane yet, he's new. It has only been a month. no, two he auditioned in June.
And what was it about Shane - why did you take him on?
There was no one else! (Shane incidentally is sitting with the rest of the band and sharing in the piss-taking)
What about John?
Big it up boys. You do what you are told, alright he is definitely not like anyone I have ever met before, but it is hard to say anything as he is the boss man, you've known him for age you talk about him, there are no half measures he is a very powerful person he does everything to the extremes in good and bad things.
Richie?
He's tall, he used to be in the Dukes of Hazzard.
In your opinion who rocks the hardest?
It is so easy to get caught up in what is the current fad, I mean attitude wise bands like Metallica who just do their own thing, and really just do it for themselves, they have slogged it out for years and although the kids aren't really buying it at the moment I have a lot of respect for them.
American bands?
Yeah, there aren't really any British bands who are doing anything of their own merit they are all just jumping on band wagons, there is nothing really going on.
So it has just lost its way a little bit?
We tend to ignore the commercial music, hedonistic pop, plastic pop. Some bands like Prodigy and Propellorheads who have introduced a hard core element, and big beat and drum and bass, it is in your face music, but this is the turn around you can only take so much happy house.
What about your references?
You can't deny that bands like Saxon and Magnum, on a British scene you would not have many bands, I mean bands like Metallica were influenced by Motorhead, Saxon and Iron maiden. For me the British scene was always the punk element and America was always Rock, I am not into American Punk they haven't quite got it.
Would you like to spear head a British revival?
I would hate to think that someone would just catagorise us as a type of music, but I would be honoured if someone turned round and said you are spear heading the new, new wave of British heavy metal but I would not say we are essentially a heavy metal band, it is just the way things have turned around, but I would be honoured, but we are not trend setters we are just doing our own thing.
Finally lets just recap on what you have got coming up over the next couple of months?
Solid touring, lets get America. MTV, we are doing a program next week, 20 favourite videos by Sunna. The album is out in the States on the 15th then we tour, then over to France and the European release, then a European tour and the album is out in Europe on October the 23rd .
How would you feel if you did really well, in America but not so well in the U.K would that bother you?
I think it is important to break it here. But you have to understand that the British music scene is very snobby whereas everyone else in the world is happy to hear what is coming over before just categorising it or saying this is shit this is good, the British music press is so far up its own arse at the moment by championing these shit daytime radio bands RnB and crap arse stuff. I would like to do well in the U.K it would be really good to do it at home but I am not going to worry about it.