Country of origin: United States Location: Seattle, Washington (early); Los Angeles, California / Paris, France (later) Status: Active Formed in: 1998 Genre: Drone/Doom Metal Themes: Darkness, Nothingness, Occultism Current label: Southern Lord Recordings Years active: 1996-1998 (as Mars), 1998-present Contact: sunn@southernlord.com The band's name is simply pronounced "sun". Before the band members moved to Los Angeles, the band was briefly known as Mars. The band calls the live shows with its two founding members Shoshin Duo; this is not an independent project or entity as the shows use the Sunn O))) name too. Sunn O))) is named after the Sunn amplifier brand, whose logo includes a circle next to the "SUNN" banner with waves heading off to the right (the band uses this logo in the cover art of many releases). In interviews, Stephen O'Malley stated that the name was also chosen as a play on the name of the band Earth (pioneers of drone music throughout the 1990s), reasoning that Sunn O))) revolved around Earth. They call their style "Life Metal". Not to be confused with the UK drone/doom metal band Sunn ■]]].