Seven years ago Bristol Brit-Industrialists, Sunna, dropped off the face of the Earth – but now they’re back. Hugh Platt tracked down frontman Jon Harris for some answers.

It was a series of happy online co-incidences that alerted us to the return of Sunna – a Twitter post here, leads to a blog entry there, and before we knew it we were firing off questions to Jon Harris about the band’s new album, Two Minute Terror. The band almost had the world at their feet in 2001, and then….nothing. Now they are back with a new record, we were dying to know just what the fuck had happened…

Watch Sunna from 2000: the video to ‘I’m Not Trading’

So why did it take so long after the release of One Minute Science to get the new album out?
“First of all, the label we were on folded, so consequently we were dropped. I had spent 15 years putting my entire heart and soul into Sunna, I had been signed before, but that was some shitty little development deal that I was given, as were many bands back in the day. I’m not sure how it works these days, but back then the major labels had to sign so many bands a year just so they could right it off against tax. Before I agreed to sign with Massive Attack’s label they had to come up with a deal that covered all aspects of what it takes to release and have a successful album. Monies for recording, promotion, marketing; and a decent budget for videos and touring, etc. It was hard work dealing with these people, and I constantly had to fight tooth and nail to make sure I was heard!”

“So when One Minute Science had the success that it did, Ian [MacLaren, Sunna guitarist] and I were kind of, “Fucking hell man, at last we’re getting somewhere”. After all the touring and hard work, we then signed the contract for the second record, started working on it, only to have the rug pulled from beneath our feet two or three weeks later. I then spiralled out of control, loosing everything, literary!! Slowly I began to re-group and pull myself up out of this shit pit. I worked on building sites, in pubs, and eventually set my studio up and started writing songs again. I went back and forth, one minute taking drugs, and the next cleaning up and doing lots of sport. I then met someone and moved in with her, that took me off into a whole new world of frustration…eventually this also came to an end, which in turn left me feeling like I’d been napalmed, and for another three years I quite literary locked myself away, and as strange as it may sound, I studied a considerable amount of the Bible. I hadn’t seen Ian for a long time, but about a year ago I pulled ‘Spider’, and ‘One Of A Twin’ up onto Pro-tools…..”

Was it difficult reforming Sunna? How did it eventually come about?
“It hasn’t been difficult as such, but it has taken me years as you know to take the step and go for it, but now that I have, I’m totally gob smacked and made up with the support and help I’m receiving from everyone involved. As I said, I pulled ‘Spider’ and ‘One Of A Twin’ up onto Pro-tools, and then one by one carried on working on the record. I’d been working with some amazing musicians in Bath on another project called Aereoplane, and found that I had the use of yet another great drummer in Josh Clark, who plays on ‘You Had To Steal’, ‘Sex Glue’ and another track which I can’t fucking remember right now…but anyway, one by one the tracks started to come together, and then by some kind of miracle, and after not seeing him for years, Ian and I were in my local pub getting very nostalgically pissed saying, “Lets put a band together”, and now eventually the album is out.”

You’ve been very open about his drug and alcohol abuse following the label dropping the band. Why did you decide to come out and be honest about that when you could’ve kept quiet?
“I’ve always been very honest about the mischief I’ve got up to in my life. So when I started writing songs, I didn’t want to sing about drivel and I found that I could only write about events that I’d experienced, all of which are very apparent in both albums.  I guess this means that when questioned about songs I’ve written, I’ve set myself up to either tell the truth, or completely talk out of my ass… which would you prefer?”

So how would you say the music you’re making in 2009 is different from that of 2000?
“We have absolutely no industry input, everything we are doing is completely done by our own hands right down to lining up the lyrics on the album art work. Two Minute Terror was mixed and engineered by me, all the artwork was done by me; the ‘One Of A Twin’ video was filmed and edited by me. So I guess this time you really are getting a whole lot of me!”

Were you ever tempted to drop the name of Sunna and release under a whole new musical identity?
“No way! We weren’t dropped because we were shit, and I couldn’t give a fuck whether some record company bod thinks I’m too old because I’m over 25. We’d already built a considerable fan base, so why change something that works… if it’s not broken, why fix it?”

What was the idea behind the video to ‘One Of A Twin’?
“Ian suggested about a week before I did the video that we should maybe get some friends to help us make a video for ‘One Of A Twin’.  I kept avoiding the idea, until one night – it must have been a full moon or something – because I suddenly decided that I was going to make a video…now…here…in my house…so I pulled out my kids’ face paints, covered mine with white and then ruined my girlfriends makeup by painting my teeth with it.  Then I sucked all the ink out of ink pen, and then persisted to film myself singing the song.  By the time my girlfriend returned from work I had finished filming and had washed off most of the cack that was all over my face. I had started to clear up the mess I’d made from various pots of foundation that I’d either broken or spilt. My girlfriend was like, “what the fuck have you been doing”? Feeling like I’d just been caught being a naughty little boy, I said, “Nothing baby, just made a video that’s all”…”

Watch Sunna in 2009: the video to ‘One Of A Twin’

“Seriously, I was trying to capture the disruption between the alternate realities of consciousness and sleep, but of the dreams or nightmares that come semiconsciously. This song is very close to experiences I’ve been through all my life…”

For a city of its size, Bristol punches above its weight when it comes to music – why do you think the city has had such a good musical pedigree over the years?
“In many ways Bristol reminds me of Seattle. It’s a dock side city that gets a lot of rain, it seems to collect a lot of waifs and strays, and like Seattle, self taught musicians come in there plenty, I think Bristol can be quite a melancholy place.  Ever since I was a small child I remember going to see local bands with my parents, but it’s not just music though, you’ve got the likes of Banksy, and the Bristol Old Vic, and the arty – acting thing going on here to.  What else can I say, Bristol has got it going on man…but to be honest, though I love Bristol I don’t hold any patriotism to it…it’s people that make a place!”

We know what Richie is up to these days with MiLLS, but do you know what the rest of the old band is up to these days?
“Flatline [former DJ] is in Manchester, but I don’t know what he’s doing. I did have a very brief conversation with him on MySpace, but I don’t think we really said much more than hello mate, long time no see.  From what I hear, ShaneO [aka Shane Goodwin] is doing great things with Muse [as Chris Wolstenholme's bass tech]. Good on you, ShaneO.”

So when are we gonna see some live gigs?
“Early next year 2010″

…and will we ever hear the song you wrote for Spiderman?
“Yes… It’s on Two Minute Terror……………it’s called ‘Spider’ -Man!”

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Two Minute Terror is out now, and available to buy through the official Sunna website.