Sunami is an American

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (commonly abbreviated to hardcore or hXc) is a punk rock music genre#subtypes, subgenre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots ...

band formed in

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

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

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 four 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 A gulch is a deep V-shaped valley formed by erosion. It may contain a small stream or dry creek bed and is usually larger in size than a gully. Sudden intense rainfall upstream may produce flash floods in the bed of the gulch. In eastern Can ...

, Hands of God, Drain, Spinebreaker and Lead Dream. The band formed in 2019, as a joke band parodying what the band members perceived as low intelligence in

beatdown hardcore Beatdown hardcore (also known as heavy hardcore, brutal hardcore, moshcore, or simply beatdown) is a subgenre of hardcore punk which incorporates elements of thrash metal and hip hop music, hip hop. The genre features aggressive vocals, heavy, ...

. 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. Sunami's live debut was on October 26, 2019. ''

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'' described the

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as particularly intense, with audience members hardcore dancing in Halloween costumes with boxing gloves. Several people were bleeding by the end of Sunami's set, which lasting only 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

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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,

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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

and

metallic hardcore Metalcore is a broadly defined fusion genre combining elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk, originating in the 1990s United States and becoming popular in the 2000s. Metalcore typically has aggressive verses and melodic choruses, combined ...

. They often make use of elements of slam metal,

crust punk Crust punk (also known as stenchcore or simply crust) is a fusion genre of anarcho-punk and extreme metal that originated in the early to mid-1980s in England. Originally, the genre was primarily mid-tempo, making use of metal riffs in a stri ...

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- ...

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

and

death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, 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 death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...

. ''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, Terror,

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

and

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. Alfonso in particular has cited

East Coast hip hop East Coast hip-hop is a regional subgenre of hip-hop music that originated in New York City during the 1970s. Hip-hop is recognized to have originated and evolved first in the Bronx borough of New York City. In contrast to other styles, East Co ...

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 (2019–present) *Mike "Durt" Durrett – guitars (2019–present) *Theo Dominguez – bass (2019–present) *Benny Eissmann – drums (2019–present)

Discography

;Albums *''Sunami'' (2023) ;EPs *''Sunami'' (2020) *''Sunami / Gulch'' (2021; split with

) *''LP Promo'' (2022) *Coast to Coast(2025; split with Pain of Truth) ;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 Beatdown hardcore musical groups