Aaron Turner


Aaron Turner is an American musician, singer, graphic artist, and founder of label Hydra Head Records. He is most widely known for his role as guitarist and vocalist for the post-metal bands SUMAC and Isis, while also participating in several other bands and projects such as Old Man Gloom, Lotus Eaters, Greymachine and Split Cranium, a collaboration with Jussi Lehtisalo of Finnish band Circle who toured with Isis in 2009.
Raised in New Mexico, Turner moved to the Boston area, where he attended art school and formed Isis and Hydra Head. In June 2003, Turner moved operations of both the band and label to Los Angeles, California. Turner now resides in Vashon, WA which is also the base of operations for Hydra Head and his various other activities.
In partnership with his wife Faith Coloccia, Turner founded another record label, SIGE, in March 2011. It has gone on to release material from his musical collaboration with Coloccia, Mamiffer. SIGE is distributed by The Business.
WWW Official Site𝕏 aaronbturner

Personal life

Turner was born in Springfield, Massachusetts on November 5, 1977. At an early age, his family moved to New Mexico, where he was raised. His mother was a teacher "who taught a progressive curriculum" and his father an author, "mainly non-fiction". Turner describes his upbringing, surrounded by his parents' writer, artist and photographer friends, as "creatively nurturing". At age 17, he started a company that sold rare punk rock records via mail-order. He later moved to Boston to attend art school at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, and in 1995 began releasing music. By 1997, the Hydra Head label was becoming a respectable small record label. Turner describes his early industriousness as being motivated in part by boredom:
I grew up in New Mexico, and there wasn't a whole lot as far as youth culture is concerned. Especially when I started to get interested in straight edge and wasn't doing drugs anymore, there was really nothing for me to do. So that was like a big reason for me, I suppose, to become really productive. Also, I've never been a really social person. So there's not a lot of time taken up by my social life. And music has always been a very very big part of my life. I guess just a combination of those factors is why everything got started so early.

Around 1997–99, Turner was living with future Isis bassist and co-founder Jeff Caxide; until this point, he had been a member of the bands Union Suit and Hollomen. Isis was formed in 1997 out of a dissatisfaction with said bands' musical direction and Turner and Caxide's respective degrees of creative control.
In mid-2009, Turner moved from Los Angeles, where both Isis and Hydra Head Records were based at the time, to Seattle with his then-girlfriend, Faith Coloccia; they went on to wed in September of the same year.

Equipment

Touring with Isis in 2007, Turner used two different guitars: a 1976 Fender Telecaster Custom, and a 1975 Fender Telecaster Deluxe, played through various effects, a VHT/Fryette Pitbull Ultra Lead, and two 4x12 Sunn cabinets. He has also acquired a custom guitar from the Electrical Guitar Company.
In the past, Turner has also used a Gibson Les Paul Standard, PRS CE24, and has played through Sunn, Mesa Boogie, and Mackie amplifiers.
When playing with Isis, Turner and his fellow guitarists usually tuned their instruments B-F#-B-E-G#-B, to achieve a heavier sound. They also used other tunings, though less frequently, such as F# -F#-B-E-G#-B.
In 2016, Turner described the live rig he used with SUMAC as consisting of two custom-built guitars from the Electrical Guitar Company. Both have lucite bodies and aluminum necks, and custom-wound wide frequency range pickups. The newer of the twoβ€”a prototype for a signature modelβ€”has a slightly flatter fingerboard radius than the older instrument. On a tour of the Eastern US, Turner was using an Orange Dual Dark 100 amplifier head with a slaved Fryette Two/Ninety/Two power amp. Both heads drove Orange and Marshall cabinets, though Turner claimed to have no strong preferences for particular speaker cabinets. While recording, Turner prefers to use a Fryette Pitbull Ultra Lead, an amp model he's used consistently since his work in Isis. Turner described using a variety of effects pedals in his live rig. Specifically, he runs a BOSS TU-3 Chromatic Tuner, a Death By Audio Apocalypse fuzz, a MASF fuzz, a Strymon BlueSky reverb, a TC Electronics Ditto Looper X2, and an EHX Forty-Five Thousand sampler. Turner prefers a Heil PR20 vocal microphone.
When playing with Sumac he uses two distinct tunings being A-F#-B-D-F#-B and A#-F-A#-D-F#-A#.

Musical influences

Turner cites Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Godflesh, Neurosis, and Led Zeppelin as influences on Isis' sound. However, he points to the electronica, krautrock and hip hop genres as shaping the group's rhythmic focus and use of sampling, as well as their occasional digressions into ambient passages. He has also listed Melvins, Jimi Hendrix, Swans, Keiji Haino, Oxbow, Earth, and Coil as among his favorite artists, and has noted that Megadeth, Metallica, and Slayer were important to his early interests in the guitar. In addition, he has noted Black Sabbath as an influence during his formative years.

Discography

Solo

Interminable Conniption, The Tapeworm / SigeRepression's Blossom, SigeThe Occupation of Selfishness To Speak, Trost

With Daniel Menche

NOX, Sige

With Doolhof

Doolhof, Sige

With Drawing Voices

Drawing Voices, Hydra Head Records

With Greymachine

With Hollomen

  • "Brand New Genius", Hydra Head Records

With House of Low Culture

Submarine Immersion Techniques Vol. 1, ActivitiesGettin' Sentimental EP, Robotic EmpireEdward's Lament, Neurot RecordingsLive from the House of Low Temperature! EP, Hydra Head RecordsChinatown Squalls EP, En/OfHousing Tracts Compilation, SigeUncrossing / Ice Mole Split EP with Mamiffer, Utech RecordsLou Lou... In Tokyo Split with Mamiffer and Merzbow, SigeCloey / Spoiled Fruits of the Kingdom Split EP with Mamiffer, SigePerverted Scripture / Silent Night Split EP with Mamiffer, SigePoisoned Soil, Taiga Records/Sub RosaMamiffer + HOLC Split EP with Mamiffer, SigeHouse of Low Culture / Caustic Touch / Daniel Menche / EMS Split, Accident ProneIrretrievable, Sige

With Isis">Isis (band)">Isis

Mosquito Control, Escape Artist RecordsThe Red Sea, Second Nature RecordingsSawblade, Tortuga RecordingsIsis / Pig Destroyer, Relapse RecordsCelestial, Escape Artist RecordsSGNL>05, Neurot RecordingsOceanic, Ipecac RecordingsPanopticon, Ipecac RecordingsIn the Fishtank 14 collaboration with Aereogramme, KonkurrentIn the Absence of Truth, Ipecac RecordingsWavering Radiant, Ipecac RecordingsMelvins / Isis, Hydra Head Records

With Jodis

Secret House, Hydra Head RecordsBlack Curtain, Hydra Head Records

With Jon Mueller

In the Falls, SigeNow That You've Found It, American Dreams Records

With Lotus Eaters

Alienist on a Pale Horse, Double H Noise IndustriesMind Control for Infants, Neurot RecordingsLotus Eaters, Drone RecordsWurmwulv, Troubleman Unlimited Records

With Mamiffer

Hirror Enniffer, Hydra Head RecordsUncrossing / Ice Mole Split EP with House of Low Culture, Utech RecordsIron Road II / Fake Witch Split 12" with Oakeater, SigeLou Lou... In Tokyo Split with House of Low Culture and Merzbow, SigePerverted Scripture / Silent Night Split EP with House of Low Culture, SigeMare Decendrii, SigeBless Them That Curse You Collaboration LP with Locrian, SigeMamiffer / Pyramids Split LP with Pyramids, Hydra Head RecordsEnharmonic Intervals Collaboration LP with Circle, SigeStatu Nascendi, SigeCrater Collaboration LP with Daniel Menche, Sige
  • The World Unseen, SigeRecordings For Lilac III limited cassette, The TapewormThe Brilliant Tabernacle, SigeAe/Be EP,, SigeMettapatterning for Constellation,, Sige

With Marshall Trammell

Experimental Love I & II, Sige

With [Old Man Gloom]

Meditations in B, Tortuga RecordingsSeminar II: The Holy Rites of Primitivism Regressionism, Tortuga RecordingsSeminar III: Zozobra, Tortuga RecordingsChristmas Eve I and II + 6, Tortuga RecordingsChristmas, Tortuga RecordingsNo, Hydra Head RecordsThe Ape of God, Profound LoreMickey Rookey Live at London, Ektro RecordsSeminar IX: Darkness of Being, Profound LoreSeminar VIII: Light of Meaning, Profound LoreWilling Vessel / Storms in our Eyes, Sige

With Pharaoh Overlord

6, Rocket Recordings

With Split Cranium

Sceptres To Rust 7-inch, Self ReleasedSplit Cranium, Hydra HeadI'm the Devil and I'm OK, Ipecac Recordings

With Sumac">Sumac (band)">Sumac

The Deal, Profound LoreWhat One Becomes, Thrill JockeyBefore You I Appear EP, Thrill JockeyAmerican Dollar Bill – Keep Facing Sideways, You're Too Hideous to Look at Face On with Keiji Haino, Thrill JockeyLove in Shadow, Thrill JockeyEven for Just the Briefest Moment Keep Charging This "Expiation" Plug in to Making It Slightly Better with Keiji Haino, TrostMay You Be Held, Thrill JockeyInto This Juvenile Apocalypse Our Golden Blood to Pour Let Us Never with Keiji Haino, Thrill JockeyThe Healer The Film with Moor Mother, Thrill Jockey

With Summer of Seventeen

  • ''Summer of Seventeen''

With Tashi Dorji

Turn!Turn!Turn, Sige

With Thalassa

Bonds of Prosperity, Sige

With Twilight

Monument to Time End, Southern Lord Records

With Unionsuit

As a guest contributor

Artwork

Turner's artwork tends toward the abstract or surreal, often depicting strange or fantastic landscapes and structures. His work on album covers, concert posters, and other music-related graphics is distinct from typical work in heavy metal or rock graphic design. In part, this may be because of the way that Turner views his objectives in creating designs, which he has discussed on his blog in response to criticism of the clarity of text on one of his concert posters:
I also generally reject the idea that posters and album sleeves and T-shirts have to be marketing tools with overly obvious type/graphics, as opposed to more artistically oriented pieces that invoke the true spirit of the music they are intended to represent. if the bands being represented aren't writing 3 minute pop songs with inane choruses that beat the listener into submission, why should the representative graphics serve that purpose? i like to think the audience that follows these bands isn't the type of audience that requires overly simplified/commercial imagery and type in order to draw their attention to the "product". it is precisely the type of corporate design mentality as exemplified by the statement above that i have striven to avoid with what i do in the realm of music related graphics. we're not trying to sell our music to wal-mart shoppers, so if you expect our graphic personality to fall in line with what you were taught in design school about corporate branding and "truly effective" type and illustration techniques you shall be continually disappointed. clean type has its time and place, but this poster which is meant to showcase the personality of our label and by extension the show itself isn't it. music related design can be art simply beyond the idea of selling something...

In 2008, Turner's artwork was featured in a FIFTY24SF Gallery group show entitled Catalyst.
Turner has created album covers and liner note artwork for a variety of artists and bands, many of whom are signed to Hydra Head Records or Tortuga Recordings.