Sumo is the debut studio album by Australian alternative rock band the Superjesus, which was issued on 1 February 1998. It was produced and mixed by Matt Serletic for East West Records/Warner Music Australia and peaked at number 2 on the ARIA Albums Chart. The album was re-issued in October 1998 as Sumo II, with an additional disc of live performances. At the 1998 ARIA Music Awards Sumo won the inaugural Best Rock Album category. It was also nominated for Best Group, Breakthrough Artist – Album and Chris Tennent and William Tennent were nominated for Best Cover Art.
To celebrate 20 years since its release, Sumo was re-released in August 2018, with bonus tracks and on vinyl for the first time. The Superjesus toured the album during the second half of 2018. Their debut five-track extended play, Eight Step Rail, was released in August 1996 via Aloha Records, In 2018, vocalist Sarah McLeod reflected, "we flew to Atlanta, Georgia to record our first full length record for our new label Warner. We chose Triclops Studios because that's where the Smashing Pumpkins recorded our favourite record, Siamese Dream. Once it was in the can, we came back to Australia and were asked to play at the [1997] ARIAs."
Both "I'm Stained" and "Shut My Eyes" were re-recorded for Sumo, with "Shut My Eyes" as a hidden track. McLeod and Tennent were dating prior to recording the album, Tennent was "writing songs which he recorded, complete with all the guitar parts, onto a tape" and McLeod "spent a considerable time familiarising herself with the songs. She was still writing lyrics on the plane bound for Atlanta." The Sumo Tour of Australia, with over 40 dates, occurred from mid-February to late April. They started the tour with an appearance on national youth radio Triple J's program Live at the Wireless in Sydney, where they recorded tracks live-in-the-studio.
Track listing
2018 20th Anniversary Edition
Personnel
Credits adapted from liner notes:
The Superjesus
- Paul Berryman – drums
- Sarah McLeod – vocals, guitar
- Stuart Rudd – bass guitar
- Chris Tennent – guitar, composer (strings)
Additional personnel
- Greg Archilla – mixing engineer
- Sophie Howarth – photography
- Stephen Marcussen – mastering engineer
- Brian Parker – assistant audio engineer
- Matt Serletic – record producer, mixing engineer, arranger, composer (strings)
- Chris Tennent, William Tennent – cover art
- Jeff Tomei – audio engineer
Charts
Weekly charts
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|+Weekly chart performance for Sumo
! Chart (1998)
! Peak<br/>position
|-
|}
Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+Year-end chart performance for Sumo
! scope="col"| Chart (1998)
! scope="col"| Rank
|-
! scope="row"| Australian Albums (ARIA)
| 37
|}
Certifications
Release history
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|+Release history and formats for Sumo
!scope="col"|Country
!scope="col"|Date
!scope="col"|Format
!scope="col"|Label
!scope="col"|Catalogue
|-
!scope="row"| Australia
| 1 February 1998
| CD
| East West Records/Warner Music Australia
| 3984204522
|-
!scope="row"| Australia
| 17 August 2018
| LP
| Warner Music Group
| 5419700293
|-
!scope="row"| Australia
| 17 August 2018
| CD
| Warner Music Group
| 5419700727
|}