''Sumo'' is the debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by Australian

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band

the Superjesus The Superjesus are an Australian rock band formed in Adelaide in late 1994. Their debut album, ''Sumo'' (February 1998), peaked at No. 2 on the ARIA Albums Chart, their second album, ''Jet Age'' (October 2000) reached No. 5 and their ...

, which was issued on 1 February 1998. It was produced and mixed by

Matt Serletic Matthew Michael Serletic II (born 1970 or 1971) is an American record producer, songwriter, and music executive. Career As a teenager, Serletic joined a band with members of Collective Soul, a group for which he would later produce. Serletic h ...

for

East West Records East West Records (stylized as east''west'') is a record label formed in 1955, distributed and owned by Warner Music Group, headquartered in London, England. History Upon its creation in 1955 by Atlantic Records, the label had one hit with th ...

Warner Music Australia Warner Music Australia Pty Limited (WMA) is the Australian division of the Warner Music Group. WMA also distributes in New Zealand. History In 1969, Warner Bros. Records branched out and WEA was born. The first country in which it was estab ...

and peaked at number 2 on the

ARIA Albums Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

. The album was re-issued in October 1998 as ''

Sumo II ''Sumo II'' is the reissue of Australian band The Superjesus' debut studio album '' Sumo''. The album was released in October 1998, 8 months after the original and features live tracks and video clips. The album peaked at number 34 on the ARIA ...

'', with an additional disc of live performances. At the 1998 ARIA Music Awards ''Sumo'' won the inaugural

Best Rock Album The Grammy Award for Best Rock Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality albums in the rock music genre. Honors in sev ...

category. It was also nominated for Best Group, Breakthrough Artist – Album and Chris Tennent and William Tennent were nominated for Best Cover Art. To celebrate 20 years since its release, ''Sumo'' was re-released in August 2018, with bonus tracks and 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 m ...

for the first time. The Superjesus toured the album during the second half of 2018.

Background and recording

''Sumo'' was recorded by

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, Georgia from April 1997.* 1st edition nline * 2nd edition: Their debut five-track extended play, ''

Eight Step Rail ''Eight Step Rail'' is the debut EP by Australian rock band The Superjesus. The EP was released in May 1996. The track "I'm Stained" was later re-recorded for their debut album, ''Sumo''. A re-recorded version of "Shut My Eyes" was also later ...

'', was released in August 1996 via Aloha Records, two of its tracks are "Shut My Eyes" and "I'm Stained". After touring with visiting British band,

Bush Bush commonly refers to: * Shrub, a small or medium woody plant Bush, Bushes, or the bush may also refer to: People * Bush (surname), including any of several people with that name **Bush family, a prominent American family that includes: *** ...

in late 1996 and performing at the 1997

Big Day Out The Big Day Out (BDO) was an annual music festival that was held in five Australian cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Adelaide, and Perth, as well as Auckland, New Zealand. The festival was held during summer, typically in January of eac ...

Festival, the Superjesus began work on the album. In an August 1997 interview with ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'', guitarist Chris Tennent stated, "We did the Bush tour and the Big Day Out. Then we took time out to get some songs together before recording the album." In 2018, vocalist

Sarah McLeod Sarah McLeod (born 18 July 1971) is a New Zealand film and television actress. Her most notable role was in the Peter Jackson films '' The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'' and '' The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'' ...

reflected, "we flew to Atlanta, Georgia to record our first full length record for our new label Warner. We chose Triclops Studios because that's where the Smashing Pumpkins recorded our favourite record, ''

Siamese Dream ''Siamese Dream'' is the second studio album by American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins, released on July 27, 1993, on Virgin Records. Despite recording sessions fraught with difficulties and tensions, ''Siamese Dream'' debuted at num ...

''. Once it was in the can, we came back to Australia and were asked to play at the

997 Year 997 (Roman numerals, CMXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Japan * 1 February: Empress Teishi gives birth to Princess Shushi - she is the first ...

ARIAs." Both "I'm Stained" and "Shut My Eyes" were re-recorded for ''Sumo'', with "Shut My Eyes" as a

hidden track In the field of recorded music, a hidden track (sometimes called a ghost track, secret track or unlisted track) is a song or a piece of audio that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, LP record, or other recorded medium, in such a way as t ...

. McLeod and Tennent were dating prior to recording the album, Tennent was "writing songs which he recorded, complete with all the guitar parts, onto a tape" and McLeod "spent a considerable time familiarising herself with the songs. She was still writing lyrics on the plane bound for Atlanta." By the time it was released McLeod and Tennent's personal relationship was over however they continued in the band. Two singles appeared ahead of the album, "

Down Again "Down Again" is a song by Australian band the Superjesus. The song was released in August 1997 as the lead single from the band's debut studio album, '' Sumo'' (1998), and peaked at number 23 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart. In January 19 ...

" (August 1997) and "

Saturation Saturation, saturated, unsaturation or unsaturated may refer to: Chemistry * Saturation, a property of organic compounds referring to carbon-carbon bonds **Saturated and unsaturated compounds ** Degree of unsaturation **Saturated fat or fatty aci ...

" (November). Its third single, " Now and Then" was issued in March 1998. The fourth single, "Ashes", followed in September. The group provided a track-by-track description of the album for ''The iZine'' in February 1998. The Sumo Tour of Australia, with over 40 dates, occurred from mid-February to late April. They started the tour with an appearance on national youth radio

Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...

's program ''Live at the Wireless'' in Sydney, where they recorded tracks live-in-the-studio. ''Sumo'' was released in the United States in July 1998 and the Superjesus relocated to Los Angeles to promote it. Upon return to Australia Tennent left the Superjesus and was replaced on guitar by Tim Henwood in July 1999.

Reception

Jonathan Lewis from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

wrote: "''Sumo'' was full of guitar-driven alternative radio-friendly songs." adding "Opening with the Helmet-style riffing of the excellent "

", the Superjesus show that guitar rock with McLeod's vocals soaring over the top is definitely their strength. It is also their weakness, with ''Sumo'' containing too little variation in style." Lewis said "While the first half of Sumo shows plenty of promise, the second half loses its intensity."

Track listing

2018 20th Anniversary Edition

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes: The Superjesus *

Paul Berryman Paul Michael Berryman is an Australian musician who played drums for alternative rockers, the Superjesus (1994–2004, 2013–16), and Faker (2003–08). Nathan Hudson of Faker explained why Berryman had replaced founding drummer Andrew Day, ...

– drums *

– vocals, guitar *

Stuart Rudd Stuart William Rudd (born 8 June 1969) is an Australian songwriter/bass guitar player of rock band, The Superjesus. The South Australia News reported that last March 3, 2017, Superjesus was inducted into the South Australia Hall of Fame at the M ...

– bass guitar * Chris Tennent – guitar, composer (strings) Additional personnel * Greg Archilla – mixing engineer * Sophie Howarth – photography *

Stephen Marcussen Stephen Marcussen is the founder and chief mastering engineer at Marcussen Mastering in Hollywood, California, United States. He has been mastering music since 1979. Biography Marcussen's introduction to music recording happened in 1976 when, at ...

– mastering engineer * Brian Parker – assistant audio engineer *

– record producer, mixing engineer, arranger, composer (strings) * Chris Tennent, William Tennent – cover art * Jeff Tomei – audio engineer

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sumo (Album) 1998 albums The Superjesus albums Albums produced by Matt Serletic