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Biography
Infobox musical artist | name = Converge| image = Converge f4287375.jpg| caption = Converge at 2007's Eurockéennes (seen from left to right: Jacob Bannon, Nate Newton, and Kurt Ballou).| image_size =| background = group_or_band| origin = Salem, Massachusetts , United States| genre = Metalcore , mathcore , hardcore punk | years_active = 1990–present| label = Epitaph Records|Epitaph , Deathwish Inc. , Hydra Head Records|Hydra Head , Relapse Records|Relapse , Equal Vision Records|Equal Vision | associated_acts = Jesuit (band)|Jesuit , Cave In , Mother Love Bone , Doomriders , Texas Hippie Coalition , Bane (band)|Bane , United Nations (band)|United Nations , The Huguenots, Acid Tiger, All pigs must die (band)|All Pigs Must Die | website = http://www.convergecult.com/ www.convergecult.com| current_members = Jacob Bannon Kurt Ballou Nate Newton (musician)|Nate Newton Ben Koller | past_members = Aaron Dalbec Jon DiGiorgio Damon Bellorado Stephen Brodsky Jeff Feinburg Erik Ralston Converge is an American band from Salem, Massachusetts|Salem , Massachusetts . Playing a blend of hardcore punk cite web|url= http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx? mode=Article& newsitemID=101520|title=INTEGRITY Returns With New Music, Lineup, And Tour|publisher=BlabberMouth http://www.metro.co.uk/metrolife/article.html? in_article_id=216468& in_page_id=206& in_a_source= and Heavy metal music|metal since 1990, http://www.convergecult.com/ Converge FAQ. Convergecult.com . Retrieved on 13 may, 2008. http://www.mywire.com/pubs/BassPlayer/2005/03/01/1581061? extID=10051cite news| url= http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html? res=9C07E3DF1E39F934A25756C0A9649C8B63 | work=The New York Times | title=Pop And Jazz Guide | date=2002-05-17 | accessdate=2010-04-30 Converge has helped to define many of the elements of the metalcore genre. http://darwin.citysearch.com.au/music/viewContent/1119945819575/1137459488275 CitySearch, 2006 http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/generalarticlesynopsfullart.aspx? csid1=123& csid2=844& fid1=32314cite web|url= http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx? mode=Article& newsitemID=100042|title=CONVERGE: New Video Interview Available|publisher=BlabberMouth
Description
The group's musical style consists of complex guitar work and polyrhythmic drumming, as well as frequent use of unorthodox time signatures, leading some to describe the band as mathcore .cite web | url = http://www.rockdetector.com/artist/usa/boston/converge| title = Converge biography | publisher= Rockdetector.com | accessdate = 2007-08-23Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBotcite web | url = http://media.www.dailyorange.com/media/storage/paper522/news/2009/04/07/Decibel/Sum-Of.The.Score.Mathcore.A.Genre.Of.Music.That.Requires.Heavy.Concentration.Pu-3700037.shtml| title = Sum of the Score |quote= Mathcore, a genre of music that requires heavy concentration, puts a new spin on hardcore music| publisher=The Daily Orange| accessdate = 2009-04-07 http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/converge-no-heroes/ http://decibelmagazine.com/Content.aspx? ncid=103066 Dead link|date=April 2011|bot=none http://issuu.com/amsterdamweekly/docs/amsterdamweekly_issue26_3_july2 This is best exemplified on their album Jane Doe (album)|Jane Doe . While using hardcore punk as the framework for most of their songs, they also play slower tempo songs, like "Jane Doe", "Hell to Pay", "You Fail Me", "In Her Shadow", "Grim Heart/Black Rose", "Cruel Bloom", "Ten Cents", and "Wretched World."
Guitarist Kurt Ballou described Converge's first album as "a bunch of hardcore kids playing leftover Slayer riffs". Since then Converge have branched out to explore more complex musical experimentation.
History
Converge was formed in the winter of 1990 by Jacob Bannon and Kurt Ballou . They started by playing covers of hardcore punk , punk rock and heavy metal music|heavy metal songs, being self-confessed "hardcore kids with left-over Slayer riffs". The band soon graduated to playing live performances in 1991, after recording some demos on a Multitrack recording|4-track recorder and eventually releasing full lengths including When Forever Comes Crashing and splits with bands like Agoraphobic Nosebleed .
In recent years, Converge have enjoyed relatively high levels of popularity. Their popularity began to rise with the release of their breakthrough album, Jane Doe (album)|Jane Doe , the album that was named the #1 album on Sputnikmusic's "Top 100 Albums of the Decade". During the recording of Jane Doe , long time member Aaron Dalbec who was also handling his then-side project Bane (band)|Bane , was asked to leave the group. This resulted in a four man line-up that is still intact today. Aaron Burgess of Revolver (magazine)|Revolver locates Jane Doe as marking a break in the group's style:cquote|Converge fans generally fall into two camps: those who worship everything leading up to 2001's Jane Doe , and those who swear by that album and the two that followed. Indeed, Jane Doe marks the point at which Converge graduated from noisy, thrash-influenced hardcore kids to hardcore-influenced noise-thrash titans ...Aaron Burgess, Axe to Fall review, Revolver , December 2009, p. 85.
Their records have gradually become more expensively and extensively produced, having moved from the independent label Equal Vision Records to the much larger independent punk label Epitaph Records while handling special releases on Bannon's record label, Deathwish Inc. with their latest albums You Fail Me and No Heroes .
Converge released Axe to Fall on October 20, 2009. It was leaked on the internet prior to its planned release; Shaun Hand of Metal Sucks has been identified as the source of the leak, which occurred on October 4, 2009.cite web| date=October 6, 2009| publisher = Metal Sucks| url= http://www.metalsucks.net/2009/10/06/regarding-the-leak-of-converges-axe-to-fall/#more-22011 |title=Regarding the leak of Converge's Axe to Fall
The album received several positive reviews prior to its release, including 10/10 from Decibel Magazine , and was hailed as the band's best work since Jane Doe (album)|Jane Doe . Pitchfork Media writer Cosmo Lee gave the album a rating of 8.5/10 and hailed Converge as "this generation's Black Flag (band)|Black Flag ."cite web| last=Lee| first=Cosmo| date=October 29, 2009| url= http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13625-axe-to-fall/ |title=Converge > Axe to Fall
Recently, Jane Doe (album)|Jane Doe was inducted into the Rock Sound 's Hall of Fame . http://www.rocksound.tv/news/article/converges-jane-doe-inducted-into-rock-sound-hall-of-fame It has been confirmed via studio pictures and posts on Converge's official Twitter page that they have begun recording demos for their new release. http://notpopular.com/2011/02/03/converge-demoing-new-material/ The recording culminated in a Converge / Dropdead|split record with Dropdead .
On January 1, 2012, Converge announced that they had completed writing for their upcoming eighth studio album http://www.theprp.com/2012/01/01/news/converge-finishing-up-writing-new-album/, tentatively titled All We Love We Leave Behind cite journal| last = Rod| first = Smith| date = February 2012| title = The Top 25 Most Anticipated Albums of Two Thousand Twelve| journal = Decibel (magazine)|Decibel | issue = 88| pages = 40| publisher = Red Flag Media Inc.| location = Philadelphia| issn = 1557-2137. The following day, Kurt Ballou announced plans via his Facebook page to begin recording with the band in January 2012.
Influences
Converge's influences range from hardcore punk bands, such as Black Flag (band)|Black Flag , The Accused (band)|The Accused , and Born Against ; http://www.convergecult.com/ Converge FAQ Convergecult.com . Retrieved on 13 may, 2008. metal bands like Black Sabbath , Godflesh , Slayer ,cite web |url= http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/interviews/interviews/converge_the_best_way_to_learn_is_just_start_doing_it.html |accessdate=2008-05-27 |title=Converge: 'The Best Way To Learn Is Just Start Doing It' |last=Ramirez |first=Carlos |date=2008-02-19 |work=UltimateGuitar.com |quote=I learned to play guitar by listening to Slayer, Suicidal Tendencies, and Metallica and Entombed (band)|Entombed ; and proto- mathcore bands Starkweather (band)|Starkweather and Rorschach (band)|Rorschach . Jacob Bannon has also discussed an appreciation for and inspiration from grindcore on Earache Records , post-hardcore on Dischord Records , thrash metal , such as Suicidal Tendencies , Vio-lence , and Death Angel , and post-punk groups, such as Depeche Mode and The Cure .The groups listed in this sentence are taken from an interview with Jacob Bannon from Smother Magazine. http://www.smother.net/interviews/converge.php Access date: 14 June 2008.
Side projects
Outside Converge, singer Jacob Bannon and guitarist Kurt Ballou have composed stark, ambient music under the moniker Supermachiner , with Daltonic bass player Ryan Parker. Ballou has participated in an array of other lesser-known bands, such as Blue/Green Heart with drummer Ben Koller. Bannon also records under his own name, releasing solo records.
In late 2005, Ben Koller briefly drummed for Cave In . He also drums in Acid Tiger, United Nations (band)|United Nations and All Pigs Must Die (band)|All Pigs Must Die . Ben Koller got his start in the punk and metal scene by playing drums for bands such as FORCEFEDGLASS.
Bassist Nate Newton (musician)|Nate Newton also plays guitar in Old Man Gloom and Doomriders . Nate formerly played in Jesuit with future Dillinger Escape Plan guitarist Brian Benoit.
Aaron Dalbec, former guitarist, and Damon Bellorado, former drummer, created a side project in 1995 called "Gateway", later renamed Bane (band)|Bane .
Members
;Current
Jacob Bannon – singer|vocals , lyrics , visuals
Kurt Ballou – electric guitar|guitar , vocals, bass guitar, keyboards, theremin
Nate Newton (musician)|Nate Newton – bass guitar, vocals
Ben Koller - drums
;Former
Aaron Dalbec – guitar (1994–2001), now in Bane (band)|Bane
John DiGiorgio – drums (1999) was in The End Of The Universe and SarahCarter and the Pretty Ponies
Damon Bellorado – drums (1991–1999) formerly of 500 Knives
Stephen Brodsky – bass guitar (1997–1998), now in Cave In
http://www.deafsparrow.com/kurt-ballow-interview.htm Interview with Kurt Ballou
Converge DEFAULTSORT:Converge Category:American metalcore musical groups Category:Hardcore punk groups from Massachusetts Category:Heavy metal musical groups from Massachusetts Category:Musical groups established in 1990 Category:Epitaph Records artists Category:Equal Vision Records artists
