ISUA are an onslaught for the sight and senses.
Sonically, ISUA have been bringing their own brand of doom to stages around the country, with crushing, fuzzed out guitar tones forming the foundation of their sound. We spoke to guitarist for ISUA Dharma about what inspires her, and how she achieves her sounds on record and on stage.
Dharma, thanks for taking the time! Can you speak a bit to your sonic influences?
I’m always up for a gear chat! My influences are all over the place which may be one of the reasons people often find it difficult to categorise what we are doing. I’d say it’s mostly a blend of sludge, post-metal, and doom?
With my other band sitting more within the heavy-psych and stoner-doom realm, ISUA was formed as more of an aggressive outlet where I didn’t necessarily have a solid idea of how I wanted us to sound, but more of how I wanted it to feel, allowing for more sonic fluidity. Two of my favourite bands are Bongripper and Amenra, both who express and provide a space for the listener to experience the feeling I was going for, but in very different ways.
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Can you give us a rundown of your current guitar rig?
I use a couple of guitars and have a soft spot for the older Japanese guitars, but the longest stint has been with a Gibson SG Special with Matt Pike (High on Fire) signature Lace Sensor Dragonauts pickups. My current main guitar is a ’76 Yamaha SL500, running stock pickups which I believe are Super Distortion clones. My pride and joy is another vintage Japanese guitar, an early 70’s El Maya EL1300, also running a stock pair of vintage DiMarzio Super2 pickups.
My board consists of the usual tuner and volume pedals, EHX Soul Food (a transparent OD), Black Arts Toneworks Pharaoh Supreme, ProCo RAT, Boss DD-7 (Delay), Earthquaker Devices Dispatch Master (Delay & Reverb), MXR Phase 90, and a Mr. Black Supermoon (Reverb). This has stayed pretty consistent for me since the beginning of ISUA. I’ve tried different pedal combinations but I always come back to this board.
Lastly, and arguably most importantly: amps. If I’m running one single guitar stack I’ll usually be running my pedalboard into an 80’s Laney 100W AOR Pro-Tube Lead, which is essentially a hot-rodded (Marshall) JCM800. It’s versatile, thick, heavy, crisp, and loud as hell.
Those who are into sludge and doom will likely know this amp with it featuring on cult albums such as Sleep’s Holy Mountain and Dopesmoker. I run it with the bass boost always on.
Do you find yourself reaching for the same gear for both live and recording?
Our aim on record is to translate our live sound as best as we can. For this reason, our album Abandoned, and the most recent unreleased tracks have all been recorded live using the same gear as a foundational tone. We will bring out a bunch of assorted gear to fill in any gaps to better facilitate that feeling and energy of experiencing our live shows. A couple of favourites I’ve used on record for colouring are the Blackhawk Valkyrie Drive V4 and The Demon from Fuzzrocious.
In your own words – what makes the ultimate doom guitar tone?
I listen to a broad spectrum of doom and there’s so much variation that makes this difficult to answer. To me, achieving a doom guitar tone starts with the riff itself. You can be using all the hyper-fuzz pedals and Orange amps but if the riffs aren’t hitting, then forget about it.
It’s about experimenting and finding the right guitar tone to communicate your intended feel, and to suit your writing. What works for one doom band, may not work for another. I write mostly on an acoustic so I am not reliant on the guitar tone controlling the writing process, and although my gear has stayed relatively consistent, my tone has had to evolve with our songwriting and I’ve had to clean it up a fair bit to work in a full band context.
Can you tell us a bit about your first guitar and what led you to the guitar/s you’re currently playing?
I started on some cheap acoustic that probably cost no more than $50. When I was around 16, I borrowed a Samick Les Paul and received a white Epiphone Les Paul for my birthday. These went into my first pedal, a Boss HM2, and to a Behringer V-Tone. I didn’t have a whole lot of money or stability so it wasn’t until around ten years later that I bought a TV Silver Epiphone SG400 Pro. This then led to purchasing the Gibson SG that has since had multiple headstock breaks and repairs, hence picking up the Yamaha SL500 I mentioned earlier. Just walking into Music Swop Shop has resulted in a few other purchases, including another 70’s Japanese Maya SG bass – I love these. I have a whole story about the El Maya EL1300 which is too long to write, but feel free to ask me about it if you see me at a show if I haven’t told you about it already!
What’s the one piece of gear you can’t live without?
Gear staples for me are the Black Arts Toneworks Pharaoh Supreme and a tube amp. Within reason, if I had this pedal on hand I’d be pretty comfortable in being able to achieve something close to my main tone. It has so many tone shaping options, six diode settings, stacks well with other pedals, and has not left my board since I purchased it. With my other band being based interstate I’ve always had versatility and flexibility in mind when it comes to my guitar gear and tone as I’d usually be playing through whatever rigs are available on the night. I’ve been considering a Quilter amp for this reason so if anybody has one for sale, let me know!
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