Sunami is an American

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier punk ...

band formed in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

in 2019. Originally intended as a short-lived joke band by members of various

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

hardcore bands, Sunami sought to parody the ignorant style of many hardcore bands on their 2019 demo ''Demonstration''. However, after gaining notoriety for their violent debut live performance, the band continued past their planned time frame. They have since released three EPs, with their debut self-titled album being released on June 14, 2023. A 2023 article by ''

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'' credited them as "in the upper echelon of bands dominating the hardcore zeitgeist".

History

The members who would go on to form Sunami first met through attending local

hardcore shows. Each of member had been a part of other bands in the area including Gulch, Hands of God,

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, Spinebreaker and Lead Dream. The band formed in 2019, as a joke band parodying the ignorance of some hardcore. After Josef Alfonso suggested the band's concept, bassist Theo Dominguez proposed the name Sunami, having thought of the name around a decade prior, and Mike Durrett began writing the instrumentals at their friend Charles Toshio's home studio. Toshio wrote and recorded the drums of this early material structured the instrumental parts. This material was released as their debut demo ''Demonstration'', on August 19, 2019. At this time, they intended to only perform live three times as a band: a live debut and EP release show; a breakup show; and a reunion show. Their live debut was on October 26, 2019, which publications such as ''

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'' noted for the obscenity of its

moshing Moshing (also known as slam dancing or simply slamming) is an extreme style of dancing in which participants push or slam into each other, typically performed to "aggressive" live music such as heavy metal and punk rock. Moshing usually happen ...

, which included people hardcore dancing in Halloween costumes, with boxing gloves and multiple people beginning to bleed despite the set only lasting eight minutes. The performance took place at the San Jose Peace & Justice Center, a women and children's refuge center in San Jose, with the band performing in the smaller living room. The capacity of the room was only seventy but around one hundred people attended, with another one hundred people left outside. Drummer Benny Eissmann joined the band only hours before the performance, after Durrett had posted on his

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story asking whether anybody could play drums for it, with the band's first ever rehearsal taking place the same day. Videos of the performance began gaining traction on

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and in the following week the band were offered spots to perform at FYA Festival and Sound and Fury Festivals. However, before these events could take place, the COVID-19 lockdowns began, leading to live performances being unable to go ahead. On March 1, 2021, they released a split EP with Gulch. then they released their debut self-titled EP June 5, 2021. The band's second live performance was a guerrilla-style show which around 2000 people attended on June 19, 2021, in San Jose alongside Gulch, Drain,

Scowl A frown (also known as a scowl) is a facial expression in which the eyebrows are brought together, and the forehead is wrinkled, usually indicating displeasure, sadness or worry, or less often confusion or concentration. The appearance of a ...

, Xibalba and Maya Over Eyes. The performance was in a disused parking lot outside a warehouse their friend owned and the stage was built that morning by Gulch vocalist Elliot Morrow. This was followed by another outside performance on June 27 at the Lvl Up San Jose Punk Rock Flea Market with support from Fentanyl, Lead Dream, Connoisseur and Extinguish. On May 20, 2022, they released their ''LP Promo'' EP. On July 30, they performed at the 2022 Sound Fury Festival. The band's first North American headline tour took place in Spring 2023, with all 28 dates selling out. In May and June they toured

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with Scowl and

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. On June 14, they released their self-titled debut album. Between June 23 and July 9, they coheadlined a European tour with No Pressure and support from Pain of Truth, Restraining Order and C4. Between September 16 and 24, 2023, they will headline a Japanese tour.

Musical style

Critics have categorized Sunami's music as beatdown hardcore and

metallic hardcore Metalcore (also known as metallic hardcore) is a fusion music genre that combines elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk. As with other styles blending metal and hardcore, such as crust punk and grindcore, metalcore is noted for its use of ...

. They often make use of elements of slam metal, crust punk,

D-beat D-beat (also known as Discore, kängpunk, Discrust, and crust-beat) is a style of hardcore punk, developed in the early 1980s by imitators of Discharge, after whom the genre is named, as well as a drum beat characteristic of this subgenre. D-be ...

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...

and

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...

. ''DSCVRD'' magazine writer Harry Higginson stated that "Sunami are a quintessential beatdown band with every facet of their sound turned up to the maximum, blending elements of 90s metalcore and death metal into a pummelling, animalistic brawl." ''Revolver'' magazine writer Eli Enis stated that "Their hyperbolic tough-guy lyrics and stupidly heavy songs incite violence wherever they hit the stage, but crucially, it's all in the name of good fun." The band have cited influences including

Suffocation Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects primarily the tissues and organs. There are many circumstances that can i ...

, Terror,

Cannibal Corpse Cannibal Corpse is an American death metal band formed in Buffalo, New York in 1988, now based out of Tampa, Florida. The band has released fifteen studio albums, two box sets, four video albums, and two live albums. The band has had little radi ...

and

First Blood ''First Blood'' (also known as ''Rambo: First Blood'') is a 1982 American action film directed by Ted Kotcheff, and co-written by Sylvester Stallone, who also stars as Vietnam War veteran John Rambo. It co-stars Richard Crenna as Rambo's mentor ...

. Alfonso in particular has cited East Coast hip hop as important to his writing style, referencing that the biggest influence on his lyrics and vocal flows for ''Demonstration'' as Big L.

Members

*Josef Alfonso – vocals *Mike "Durt" Durrett – guitars *Theo Dominguez – bass *Benny Eissmann – drums

Discography

;Albums *''Sunami'' (2023) ;EPs *''Sunami'' (2020) *''Sunami / Gulch'' (2021; split with Gulch) *''LP Promo'' (2022) ;Demos *''Demonstration'' (2019)

References

{{Reflist 2019 establishments in California Hardcore punk groups from California Metalcore musical groups from California Musical groups established in 2019 Musical quartets from California