Rob: You are a New York based now a days...how long have you been there?
Stephen: 4, 4-5 years...
Rob: What made you decide to high tail it out of the Northwest?
Stephen: um, actually I left Seattle in `97, then I went to England for about a year, worked for a record label out there, and then I had to move back to the States because of a work permit issue...went to Los Angeles for about another year, and that was about the time Southern Lord was starting...and then I met my now, the woman who is now my wife and met her at some point during then...just couldn`t handle Los Angeles for a number of reasons...there was a number of good reasons just to get out of there and come here...so...thats that...hehe...
Rob: What are you mainly doing musically these days, you are doing Khanate and sunn0)))?
Stephen: yeah...
Rob: You guys are playing the Stoner Hands of Doom huh?
Stephen: Apparently...sunn0))) is, Khanate is not...Khanate is doing a show next month with Nate Carson`s band actually...in New York...and we have a 12" coming out next month too on Load Records...and there`s, we`re doing vocals for the second full length for Khanate for Southern Lord in probably September or October...and sunn0))) just finished, did a tour of Europe in March and we`re going to try do more live stuff this year... it`s been going, um...the live stuff`s been really fun and going well so its inspired us to figure out some more stuff in the future...and that band has always been really on the back burner, but it seems like a good thing to do...
Rob: yeah...
Stephen: I mean that show we did last summer in Portland was the first time we played in 2 years...
Rob: that was a good show...
Stephen: Thanks, yeah...
Rob: it was a lot of fun...
Stephen: yeah it was...
Rob: Sounds like you`ve got a lot going on...
Stephen: yeah kind of...
Rob: Do you have any other projects going on, do you jam with anyone in the city other than Khanate...
Stephen: Khanate`s the New York band...where everyone is in New York, and sunn0))) is everyone who is not in New York...
Rob: Everyone is pretty much from the West Coast...
Stephen: yeah, sunn0))) is the band where everyone comes from Seattle...but basically, no one lives there anymore...
Rob: is Joe still in it too?
Stephen: yeah, as far as I am concerned...Hopefully...
Rob: I don`t know who started it or the whole history...I mean from the beginning, how long has sunn0))) been a band?
Stephen: sunn0))) started when I moved to Los Angeles which was `98, Greg and I had played in couple bands before that when I was living in Seattle, and he was living there (Los Angeles) at the time...
Rob: was that Burning Witch?
Stephen: Yeah, well he didn`t play on any of the Burning Witch records...
Rob: ...he played live right?
Stephen: ...um, yeah at the beginning before we recorded anything, he left and went to do Goatsnake...continued on without him. You know him and I started that band and also Thorr`s Hammer...we were both in that band. We started playing together in Los Angeles again and started that band and uh...did a couple recordings, Stuart Dahlquist at the time, he was in Goatsnake and Burning Witch...
Rob: So he was in the early sunn0)))...
Stephen: yeah I mean it was Greg and I and then we were doing this recording, and he was down in LA or something so we invited him to play too...and he played on the second album as well, and is...really a considerable part of the sound of that record especially, but for whatever reason when he left Goatsnake that carried over to sunn0))) unfortunately...
Rob: so Stuart has been in three of the heaviest bands around then? Lucky guy...
Stephen: he`s an awesome bass player...I really like Stuart a lot, unfortunately I haven`t been in good contact with him the past two years, he`s a really cool person...
Rob: he`s got a major part in the first two sunn0))) albums you said...
Stephen: yeah, he was on those records...especially the second one I think...the first one was so raw it`s kind of hard to discern what`s going on as far as the separation of the sounds...but the OOVOID record, I think his playing is awesome on it...that guy taught me a lot about low end...
Rob: He`s got a pretty loud sound and that`s for sure...he doesn`t hold back!
Stephen: Totally...yeah we did those two records, and then the `Flight of the Behemoth` record was Greg and I straight up...and uh...a couple of the tracks were re-mixed by Merzbow, and there`s also one track on that album which was from the first recording session we ever did and Stuart plays on that too, it`s the track with a drum machine...and the last record, White1 has a bunch of collaborators on it, and that`s kind of where we`re at now...and as far as live, it seems like the band is Me, Greg, Joe Preston and Rex Ritter...that`s what the Europe tour was and hopefully we can continue like that...
Rob: Rex does recording here in Portland...
Stephen: yeah...
Rob: I had no idea he was in the band until I went and saw you guys at the Blackbird that night...
Stephen: we recorded in the Studio at his house in Portland, called Magnetic Park...he`s also another person that goes pretty far back from Seattle, Greg and him have been friends for a really long time, I`ve known him for a long time as well it`s kind of funny...he`s not a new person, it`s just getting to finally play with him...him and Joe, it is just really fun to do that and still have the context of sunn0))) going on too...
Rob: What else do you have coming out, White1 just came out...
Stephen: White2, the other half of that sesssion which probably will come out the end of this year or early next year...there`s a 12" coming out on a label from Olympia the label`s called `Thin the Herd` and the 12" is called `Veils It Whit`e, that`s been in production for about a year...taking a while, just one thing after another. It`s too bad, it`s funny you have people that are really nice, and want to do these records and stuff like that, it`s a great opportunity...have some stuff come out, a cool release...people can`t hold up there end of it sometimes. It`s unfortunate...there`s that. I have another group that I play with called Lotus Eaters, besides me it`s also James Plotkin who also plays in Khanate, and Aaron Turner who plays in Isis...that group is more of like a electro-acoustic, more experimental mellow ambient music, there`s a lot of ebows on there, and a lot of other kinds of stringed instruments and stuff that we`re using...a variety of sounds. It`s probably the most psychedelic, and without sounding cliche about it, the music I think is the most abstract that I do.
Rob: Is this something more recent or has this been a project that has been going on for a while?
Stephen: Its actually been going about the same amount of times as Khanate about 2-3 years...it started intentionally me and Aaron wanting to do stuff, and James was around too...he became the third member there.
Rob: wow, you`ve got a lot of bands going on...
Stephen: The thing is that Lotus Eaters is totally part time, pretty much a studio thing...we get together every six months or something for a three or four day weekend. You know, do it get a bunch of stuff and spend time mixing it later. That group had a CD come out on Neurot last year which is the Neurosis label, and there is some other vinyl releases that have come out here and there and we`re working on another CD for a label called Alien8 in Montreal. But yeah, That`s what I do. |
