Sun Dial (occasionally spelled Sundial) is a British psychedelic rock band formed in 1990 by Gary Ramon.

History

The precursor to Sun Dial was Ramon's the Modern Art, formed in the mid-1980s with a loose lineup that never played gigs but did see the release of two studio albums. Ramon disbanded the group out of a desire "to make a more live-sounding group that could go out and play". The band gained prominence after the release of their first album, ''Other Way Out'', which quickly sold out its initial run through word of mouth alone. The album was near-universally praised in the independent music press, winning several awards and accolades. However, the album saw little popularity among mainstream critics and radio stations as their authentic 1960s psychedelic sound was out of fashion at the time. ''Other Way Out'' remains popular to this day in the psychedelic and

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...

communities, and has gone through eight reissues since its original release. Subsequent albums have explored many branches of psychedelia, including

space rock Space rock is a music genre characterized by loose and lengthy song structures centered on instrumental textures that typically produce a hypnotic, otherworldly sound. It may feature distorted and reverberation-laden guitars, minimal drummin ...

acid rock Acid rock is a loosely defined type of rock music that evolved out of the mid-1960s garage punk movement and helped launch the psychedelic subculture. Named after lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), the style is generally defined by heavy, d ...

stoner rock Stoner rock, also known as stoner metal or stoner doom, is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of doom metal with psychedelic rock and acid rock. The genre emerged during the early 1990s and was pioneered foremost by Kyuss and Sleep ...

neo-psychedelia Neo-psychedelia is a diverse genre of psychedelic music that draws inspiration from the sounds of 1960s psychedelia, either updating or copying the approaches from that era. Originating in the 1970s, it has occasionally seen mainstream pop su ...

, and psych pop. Their music has been compared to, influenced, or praised by prominent artists such as

Monster Magnet Monster Magnet is an American rock band. Hailing from Red Bank, New Jersey, the group was founded in 1989 by Dave Wyndorf (vocals and guitar), John McBain (guitar) and Tim Cronin (vocals and drums); they have since gone through several lineup ...

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...

Spiritualized Spiritualized (stylised as Spiritualized®) are an English rock band formed in 1990 in Rugby, Warwickshire, by Jason Pierce (often known as J. Spaceman), formerly of Spacemen 3. After several line up-changes, in 1999, the band centered on Pi ...

, and

Spacemen 3 Spacemen 3 were an English neo-psychedelia space rock band, formed in 1982 in Rugby, Warwickshire, by Peter Kember and Jason Pierce, known respectively under their pseudonyms Sonic Boom and J Spaceman. Their music is known for its brand of " ...

. Sun Dial in turn were influenced by the 1960s and 1970s psychedelia and hard rock of Jimi Hendrix,

the Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...

the Stooges The Stooges, originally billed as the Psychedelic Stooges, also known as Iggy and the Stooges, was an American rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1967 by singer Iggy Pop, guitarist Ron Asheton, drummer Scott Asheton, and bassist Da ...

, Pink Floyd, and

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

, as well as the drug-influenced "

Madchester Madchester was a musical and cultural scene that developed in the English city of Manchester in the late 1980s, closely associated with the indie dance scene. Indie-dance (sometimes referred to as indie-rave) saw artists merging indie music ...

" sound of

the Stone Roses The Stone Roses were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1983. One of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the band's classic and most prominent lineup consisted of vocalist Ian Brown, ...

Inspiral Carpets Inspiral Carpets are an English rock band, part of the late-1980s/early-1990s Madchester movement. Formed in Oldham in 1980, the band's most successful lineup featured frontman Tom Hingley, drummer Craig Gill, guitarist Graham Lambert, bassi ...

, and

Happy Mondays Happy Mondays are an English rock band formed in Salford in 1980. The original line-up was Shaun Ryder (vocals), his brother Paul Ryder (bass), Gary Whelan (drums), Paul Davis (keyboard), and Mark Day (guitar). Mark "Bez" Berry later joine ...

. After the 1996 live album ''Live Drug'', Ramon recorded an album called Kahoutek with Russell Barrett (ex-Chapterhouse who would officially join the band in 2003). However, the album remains unreleased to this day (except for a couple of tracks that came out on the 2009 compilation Processed for DNA). With management deeming the album to be too extreme by the bands management, Ramon took Sun Dial on an extended hiatus and devoted his time to producing records by other bands, including Chemical, and Fantasyy Factoryy. Many of these records were released on Ramon's own Acme label. During this time Ramon also worked with Coil and Current93 and released ''Quad'', a solo project exploring

ambient electronica Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes tone and atmosphere over traditional musical structure or rhythm. It may lack net composition, beat, or structured melody.The Ambient Century by Mark Prendergast, Bloomsbury, London, 2003. It ...

and kraut rock. Sun Dial reconvened for a live performance in December 2002 and released their next album, ''Zen For Sale'', a few months thereafter. In 2010, they released a 20th anniversary 2-CD anthology, ''Processed For DNA'', via Shrunken Head, their own imprint with Cherry Red, before returning with a new eponymous studio album, musically much heavier than before, and more influenced by early 1990s Seattle than late 1960s psychedelia. It was released alongside a major Sun Dial reissue campaign which stopped after the re-release of the Reflector album.

Members

As with fellow psych rocker Nick Saloman's

The Bevis Frond The Bevis Frond is an English rock band formed in 1986 in Walthamstow, London, England. The band is fronted by Nick Saloman and has recorded many singles and albums on various independent labels. Information Saloman was originally in a band kno ...

, Sun Dial has always been an instrument of its frontman Gary Ramon; the band's line up tends to change from album to album. The most stable line ups include the following: *1990 (''Other Way Out'') **Gary Ramon (

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

) **Anthony Clough (

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

s) **David Morgan ( drums/

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

) *1991 (''Return Journey'') **Gary Ramon (guitar/vocals) **Anthony Clough (keyboards) **John Pelech (drums) *1991 **Gary Ramon (guitar/vocals) **Anthony Clough (keyboards) **John Pelech (drums) **Nigel Carpenter (bass guitar) **Chris Dalley (guitar/backing vocals) *1991–1992 (''Reflecter'') **Gary Ramon (guitar/vocals) **John Pelech (drums) **Nigel Carpenter (bass guitar) **Chris Dalley (guitar/backing vocals) *1993 (''Libertine'') **Gary Ramon (guitar/vocals/drums) **Nigel Carpenter (bass guitar) **Chris Dalley (guitar/backing vocals) **Craig Adrienne (drums/backing vocals) *1994–1996 (''Acid Yantra'', ''Live Drug'') **Gary Ramon (guitar/vocals) **Craig Adrienne (drums/backing vocals) **Jake Honeywill (bass guitar) *2002 (''Zen for Sale'') **Gary Ramon (guitar/vocals) **Joolie Woods (keyboards/

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

/ flute) **Peter Dunton (drums) **Lee Moon (bass guitar) *2003 **Gary Ramon (guitar/vocals) **Russell Barrett (bass guitar) **Angelo Pantaleo (drums) *2008–2010 **Gary Ramon (guitar/vocals/drums) **Russell Barrett (bass guitar/percussion) *2012 **Gary Ramon (guitar/vocals/mellotron, Minimoog, ARP, hammond organ) **Scorpio (bass guitar/moog taurus 3 bass pedals) **Conrad Farmer (drums) **Joolie Wood (violin/melodica)

Discography

Sun Dial are noted for releasing limited-edition albums and singles on independent labels. The discs (often printed on

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

only) become highly sought-after by collectors.

Albums

*''Other Way Out'' — Tangerine Records (1990);

Dutch East India Trading Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock co ...

(1991); UFO Records (1991); Acme Records (1994, 1996, 2003); Gallium Arsenide (1996); Lava (1997); Relapse Records (2006) *''Reflecter'' — UFO Records (1992); Dutch East India Trading Company (1992); Midi Inc. (1992) *''Libertine'' —

Beggars Banquet Records Beggars Banquet Records is a British independent record label. Beggars Banquet started as a chain of record shops owned by Martin Mills and Nick Austin and is part of the Beggars Group of labels. History In 1977, spurred by the prevailing ...

(1994); CD/MC (1994); Atlantic Records (1993) *''Return Journey'' — Acme Records (1994); Gallium Arsenide (1996); Relapse Records (2006) *''Acid Yantra'' — Beggars Banquet Records (1995); Acme Records (1995, 2007) *''Live Drug'' — Acme Records (1996) *''Kahoutek (Unreleased)'' — Unknown (1998) *''Zen For Sale'' — Acme Records (2003); Headspin (2003) *''Shards Of God'' — Acme Records (compilation, 2007) *''Libertine - Deprogrammed'' — Acme Records (2007) *''Processed For DNA (The 20th Anniversary Anthology)'' — Shrunken Head (2010) *''Sun Dial'' — Shrunken Head (2010) *''Return Journey - The Lost Second Album Session 1991'' — Shrunken Head (2010) *''Reflector'' — Shrunken Head (2010) *''Pumpkinhead'' — Shrunken Head (2011) *''Mind Control'' — Tangerine Records (2012) (CD by Sulatron Records in 2015) *''Made in the Machine'' — Sulatron Records (2016) *''Science Fiction'' — Sulatron Records (2018) *''Return Journey'' — re-issue on Sulatron Records (2019)

Singles

*''Exploding in your Mind'' — 12", Tangerine Records (1990) *''Visitation'' — 7", (1991) *''Exploding in your Mind'' — one-sided 12", UFO Records (1991) *''Fireball'' — 7", UFO Records (1991) *''Reflecter'' — CD, UFO Records (1992) *''Fazer'' — 12", UFO Records (1992) *''Fazer remix'' — 12", UFO Records (1992) *''Bad Drug'' — 7", Beggars Banquet Records (1995) *''Apollo'' — 7", Munster (1995) *''Ghost Machine'' — 7", Distortions (1997) *''Out of Space Out of Time'' — 7", Ace of Discs (2002) *''Free Sitar'' — 7", Acme Records (2002)

EPs

*''Overspill'' (12"/CD, UFO Records, 1991) *''Fazer'' (12"/CD, UFO Records, 1992) *''Going Down'' (7"/CD, Beggars Banquet, 1993) *''Pumpkinhead'' (CD, Acme, 2008) *''Pumpkinhead 2'' (CD, Acme, 2008) *''Pumpkinhead 3'' (CD, Acme, 2008) *''Salem'' (CD, Acme, 2009) *''Afterlife'' (CD, Acme, 2009) *''Equinox'' (CD, Acme, 2009) *''Dead at Dawn'' (CD, Acme, 2010)

Box Set

*''Exploding in your Mind - A 13 Disc Collection of Outtakes, Alternative Mixes and Rehearsals 1990-91'' — (Acme 2010) *''Live - A 13 Disc Box Set of Live tracks from 1991-93'' — Acme Records (2010)

Videos

*''Fireball'' (UFO Records, 1991) *''Going Down'' (

, 1994) *''Bad Drug'' (

, 1995)

External links

Sun Dial on FacebookSun Dial on MySpace
* AllMusic Guide entry for Sun Dialbr>''Aural Innovations'' interview with Gary Ramon
(English)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sun Dial Musical groups established in 1990 British psychedelic rock music groups 1990 establishments in England