"There's two people in this world: You're either from the Bay, or you're a bitch."
In the Sunami Style revolution, those words are effectively the shot heard 'round the world. Vocalist Josef Alfonso roared that knowingly absurd boast into the mic during his San Jose hardcore band's first-ever show in 2019, and the frenzy of comically violent batterings that followed — a crowd-killer wearing boxing gloves, several moshers in Halloween costumes and many shirtless dudes gleefully taking punches to the face — were captured on video that quickly went viral.
In a genre like hardcore where hype cycles turn over quickly, Sunami could've easily been a flash in the pan. Between the playfully illiterate misspelling of their moniker and lyrical mosh calls like, "Beat yo ass then steal yo bitch," the vibe has been decidedly unserious from the get-go — but their ignorantly heavy beatdown anthems have resonated deeply with a whole new generation of post-pandemic hardcore kids.
Now, Sunami are beloved on hardcore TikTok, almost all their U.S. shows sell out, and whether you love their half-joking/half-serious attitude or find yourself scratching your head at their snowballing popularity, there's no denying that Sunami are currently in the upper echelon of bands dominating the hardcore zeitgeist.
Amazingly, the band have achieved all their success without a manager or a booking agent, and they rose to the forefront of the international scene before they even released their self-titled debut album, which surprise-dropped in June 2023 via the hardcore powerhouse Triple B Records.
"I used to consider us a joke band, but I don't know, man," Alfonso muses, his soft-spoken voice and introverted personality a hilarious contrast to the belligerent shit-talker he portrays onstage. "I guess the proper term is just: We're having fun."
The 30-year-old Alfonso is a Bay Area native who started going to shows at 12 and was playing in bands by 16. Although many people suspect he's actually dealt out the hard-knock ass-beatings he screams about, he calmly denies that assumption, saying that "being an aggressive or violent guy is just not really my thing." Even so, he "didn't live in the greatest area" growing up and was subjected to an environment where the streets could be dangerous. For him, hardcore offered a more positive path.
"It definitely was an escape for me," Alfonso says. "At the time, I grew up with my single parent mom. That was my home life. I was an introverted kid — I'm still an introverted guy — but hardcore was just a cool way for me to express myself."
When Alfonso phones Revolver, it's a couple days after Sunami played Manchester, England's Outbreak Fest to over 5,000 hard-moshing maniacs. "It was the most amount of people I've played to," says Alfonso, who came up playing "shot-ass shows" in the Bay Area with the half-dozen local bands he was in before Sunami unexpectedly broke big.
While Sunami and their neighbors in Drain, Gulch and Scowl have made the Bay Area a supreme hardcore destination in recent years, before as recently as 2018, it wasn't anything close to a hotbed.
"As long as I can remember, shows in my area have, in terms of attendance, never been that great," Alfonso recalls. "I felt like the Bay and San Jose in general has just been overlooked, especially with the awesome scene that L.A. has, just six hours away."
Once Gulch and Hands of God (the latter a now-defunct heavy hardcore band that three members of Sunami played in) started gaining traction in the late 2010s, new audiences started coming out and a thriving scene emerged. Sunami formed right as it was cresting, releasing their demo in August 2019, and playing their now-iconic first show that October. Back then, they had no intentions to take the band beyond their home turf.
"We just released a demo and only planned on playing a couple of local shows," Alfonso explains. "But then the pandemic happened and for whatever reason … the demo just blew up, and we just got a crazy amount of hype."
When live shows returned, Sunami's internet popularity materialized into bonkers live shows, and the crowd sizes have since ballooned to a scale that Alfonso finds staggering. In spring 2023, Sunami self-booked their first full North American tour, and all 28 dates were entirely sold out — a true DIY triumph and a nearly unprecedented statistic in the world of hardcore.
"It's crazy because we played some venues that I never thought I'd be able to play, let alone sell out," Alfonso says with disbelief. "We played the upstairs of the Nile in Arizona, which is crazy because I've been on tour with Power Trip in their prime, and they played the little room of that venue, and I don't even think that was sold out."
Even with all of this wind in their sails, Sunami are continuing to take every move one step at a time. Part of the reason why they independently booked their first proper tour was because they weren't sure if the band would even exist by the time it ended.
"After a full U.S. tour, who knows," Alfonso recalls of the uncertainty going into those live dates. "The vibes of the band might have been different. But it's not. We're chilling."
They've taken a similar approach with their recorded output, trickling out EPs (including a 2021 split with Gulch) because they've noticed a demand for more music, not because they were actively trying to kickstart a career. Their refreshingly lackadaisical ethos might be why it took so long for them to finally drop their first full-length album.
"We really dragged our feet in the ground in terms of writing it, but we knew it was going to happen," says Alfonso. He laughs. "We are such not serious people. We literally wrote it in two weeks, just right before we recorded."
Alfonso's self-effacing comments aside, the immediacy and zeal of those sessions resulted in a crushing eight-song debut that boasts some of Sunami's heaviest cuts yet, including standouts "Y.S.A.B.," "Dirty Work" and "Think About It."
Sunami find themselves, inadvertently, entrenched in one of the hottest scenes in the world right now, at a time when hardcore is promising more career stability than ever before. They also find themselves at the crossroads where their peer bands have either leveled up — or broken up.
Gulch were one of hardcore's most celebrated rising bands in the lead-up to the pandemic and played some of the craziest shows when live music returned. Regardless, they called it quits in 2022 at the apex of their popularity. Conversely, Sunami's San Jose pals in Drain (fronted by Gulch drummer Sammy Ciaramitaro) signed to Epitaph Records and have become a full-time touring machine, perhaps already surpassing the popularity of Gulch.
"It's just a weird time for hardcore in general, because the bands are getting huge," says Alfonso. "I don't really know how to navigate that, but it's been cool."
True to form, Alfonso is just riding the wave and seemingly impartial to whichever way the current takes Sunami.
"We have plans until next year, but if no one hits us up to do shows later, then that's it," he says with a shrug. "I'll still play music no matter what. I'm in a bunch of other different current bands, so I still got things to do."
Besides, he's already crossed off every bucket-list item for Sunami — and then some. "I've done more than I would've ever wanted," says Alfonso. "If it stops tomorrow, then it stops tomorrow. I'm just having fun."
Order Sunami's self-titled debut on limited-edition "ultra clear w/ neon green & neon pink splatter" vinyl at Revolver's shop.
