If ever two musical acts were suited to the cold, dark and misty mystique of a Tasmanian winter it’s Sunn O))) and Striborg.Often misunderstood, in part due to their hooded black cloaks, Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson of Sunn O))) push a slow and heavy take on metal, drone, contemporary composition, jazz, and minimalism.Mysterious Tasmanian Sin Nanna, aka Striborg, is a loner with a fascination for forests, darkness, and misanthropy. Despite retaining a staunch anonymity for the last 20 years, he’s built a cult status in the black metal/ambient scene.They team up for a special one-off performance alongside US doom pioneers Earth as part of this year’s Dark Mofo program that includes Diamanda Galás, Total Control, HTRK, Native Cats, NUN, and black metal Goths Yo Gabba Gabba!Noisey: Are you familiar with Tasmania’s dark history?
Greg Anderson: Unfortunately not as much as I would like to be. I know that it was a place where prisoners were shipped but besides that I don’t know much. I’m keen to learn more.What are you expecting from Striborg, or "Veil of Darkness" as he will be performing as, at Dark Mofo?
I have no idea what he is doing nowadays. We collaborated with him on our second tour of Australia. A live collaboration of a one-hour improvisational piece, which we ended up recording and releasing as a 12” record called Pentemple. I haven’t been following him too much of late, but I’m looking forward to seeing him as he is a very interesting musician and artist. I’ve actually released a few of his own records on my label Southern Lord about six or seven year ago.He’s cut such a mythical figure. He doesn’t tour or travel to the point where people have to come to Tasmania to see him.
Yeah totally. Obviously he’s a unique individual and it’s really interesting that he has incorporated the whole package into his persona and performance. The whole nature and the darkness thing. It all adds to and suits his music as well.You are originally from Seattle, does the whole North West mountain man thing tie in with your music?
Nah, we haven’t lived in Seattle for seventeen years I’m in Southern California and Steven is in Paris. We are originally from Seattle and the North West but that was a long time ago.You are known for your collaborations. Have you considered doing work with Earth?
We are very close to them. They are our good friends and I’ve released their albums on my label but we’ve got our own thing and they’ve got their thing going on. Though they seem to be moving away from what they originally started out doing. It’s become more rare for Sunn O))) to play shows and Earth are kind of irregular too. So it will be a pretty special occasion to be playing this show in Tasmania.Will you be playing from the whole spectrum of your catalogue?
We usually work on three or four pieces that we have recorded already but then we also include some improvisation. There are no strict scripts. We keep it open so we can explore other things. Some of it will be from our last album Monoliths and Dimensions then we expand on that. There’s some new stuff that we are doing with this current lineup that hasn’t been recorded. It keeps it interesting for us. We are playing two shows down there. One with two guitars, analogue synth and a vocalist, then there’s a duo set which is the founding and core members Stephen and I doing a set stripped back from synth which is based on the formation of the set in the late 90’s. For the diehards it’s good to see how the core is. Open and raw and right in your face.Sunn O))), Earth, and Veil of Darkness perform Friday June 20 at the Odeon Theatre Hobart as part of the Dark Mofo festival.
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Greg Anderson: Unfortunately not as much as I would like to be. I know that it was a place where prisoners were shipped but besides that I don’t know much. I’m keen to learn more.What are you expecting from Striborg, or "Veil of Darkness" as he will be performing as, at Dark Mofo?
I have no idea what he is doing nowadays. We collaborated with him on our second tour of Australia. A live collaboration of a one-hour improvisational piece, which we ended up recording and releasing as a 12” record called Pentemple. I haven’t been following him too much of late, but I’m looking forward to seeing him as he is a very interesting musician and artist. I’ve actually released a few of his own records on my label Southern Lord about six or seven year ago.He’s cut such a mythical figure. He doesn’t tour or travel to the point where people have to come to Tasmania to see him.
Yeah totally. Obviously he’s a unique individual and it’s really interesting that he has incorporated the whole package into his persona and performance. The whole nature and the darkness thing. It all adds to and suits his music as well.You are originally from Seattle, does the whole North West mountain man thing tie in with your music?
Nah, we haven’t lived in Seattle for seventeen years I’m in Southern California and Steven is in Paris. We are originally from Seattle and the North West but that was a long time ago.You are known for your collaborations. Have you considered doing work with Earth?
We are very close to them. They are our good friends and I’ve released their albums on my label but we’ve got our own thing and they’ve got their thing going on. Though they seem to be moving away from what they originally started out doing. It’s become more rare for Sunn O))) to play shows and Earth are kind of irregular too. So it will be a pretty special occasion to be playing this show in Tasmania.Will you be playing from the whole spectrum of your catalogue?
We usually work on three or four pieces that we have recorded already but then we also include some improvisation. There are no strict scripts. We keep it open so we can explore other things. Some of it will be from our last album Monoliths and Dimensions then we expand on that. There’s some new stuff that we are doing with this current lineup that hasn’t been recorded. It keeps it interesting for us. We are playing two shows down there. One with two guitars, analogue synth and a vocalist, then there’s a duo set which is the founding and core members Stephen and I doing a set stripped back from synth which is based on the formation of the set in the late 90’s. For the diehards it’s good to see how the core is. Open and raw and right in your face.Sunn O))), Earth, and Veil of Darkness perform Friday June 20 at the Odeon Theatre Hobart as part of the Dark Mofo festival.