Legendary dronesters Sunn o))) and record label Southern Lord share not just a penchant for original, outside-the-box thinking but a man by the name of Greg Anderson, who splits his time between playing guitar for the former and running all operations of the latter. In the interest of full disclosure I’m not really much of a fan of either the band or the label for no other reason than it’s just not my thing, but I have the utmost respect for the legacy of Sunn o))) and the business acumen, foresight and individuality of Southern Lord and all the bands thereon. I was recently given an opportunity to email a few questions to Mr. Anderson himself, and the man was so kind as to respond with his thoughts on the roles the band and label play in the metal community, his thoughts on the metal community at large, and what’s in store for both Sunn o))) and Southern Lord in 2009. Our chat transcript, after the jump.

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Between soaring inflation and a lagging economy, jobs disappearing and wages stagnating everyone has had to cut back. Maybe you make fewer trips in your car to save on gas. Maybe you limit your groceries to the barest necessities. Maybe you’ve managed to talk your wife out of having another kid so you won’t need to worry about feeding one more person in your home. Maybe you’ve scaled back your band’s membership from four people to just two. Like Adai, for example. Hey if it can work for great acts like the White Stripes, Jucifer and Sunn O))) then why not? Besides, considering the number of inept producers and idiot engineers who can’t seem to figure out how to make the bass guitar audible in the final mix (poor, poor Robert Trujillo) why bother with one, right?

Adai consists of a drummer and a guitarist/vocalist. Their style of music is similar to doom/sludge but seems a bit more…shall we say, Progressive? The sound of the band isn’t mired in low-end feedback or paced with a dragging sluggishness. At times Devin M’s axework can be quite melodic but don’t kid yourself into thinking they’re big on Maiden. The vocals are sporadic, incidental and barely audible growls like you might expect from a drone act. By and large this EP, running just under 24 minutes, is instrumental; and while it can be hit and miss, it does showcase a couple musicians that might evolve into a convincing force within a subgenre whose adherents are largely devotional.

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That is a fucking great question; what the fuck has ex-Soundgarden axeman Kim Thayil been up to recently? We all know what Chris Cornell has been doing, and some of us might know that ex-Soundgarden skinsman Matt Cameron has been busy playing drums for some band called Pearl Jam for the last 10 years. As for bassist Ben Shepherd, “Nobody gives a flying fuck what Ben Shepherd is doing because bassists do what again?” But thankfully MetalSucks reader and fellow blogger NoYokoNo has done some research and turned up an answer about how Soundgarden’s resident beardo is keeping busy.

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I do believe that if there were a soundtrack to a bear climbing up a mountain, it would sound precisely like Ascend, a sludge/doom collaboration featuring Gentry Densley (Iceburn, Eagle Twin) and Greg Anderson (sunn 0))), Goatsnake, Engine Kid).

Thanks to Iann Robinson for tipping me off to this excellent band. It’s not the kind of thing you’d really, ya know, rock out to, but FUCK is it heavy. And bear-like. Climbing a mountain.

Ample Fire Within drops May 27th on Southern Lord.

-VN

[Ascend on MySpace]