Converge (29/10/2012)
The 59th Sound chats with Converge, who have just released their new LP, All We Love We Leave Behind.
Hey, how's it going?
Hey. I'm well thanks. How are you?
Pretty good thanks. I heard you were in an accident the other night. Is everyone alright?
Yeah, we're all fine.
What happened?
We were driving up through the mountains and there was a truck that had had an accident and we had to stop short but we ended up hitting black ice and spinning out. We got the front bumper stuck on a jersey barrier. No one was hurt, which was lucky. We just had to sit on the highway for a while while we waited for help.
At least no one was hurt.
Yeah, I'm thankful for that.
So, for those that don't know your band, how did you get started?
Well we started when Jake (Jacob Bannon, vocals) and I were in high school. Jake was in a cover band that did hardcore and metal covers and he asked me to play with them just for the one show but we ended up writing some originals and changed the band name to Converge sometime in 91. We were basically just some kids mucking around, I learnt to play the guitar and yeah, we just never broke up (laughs) and yeah over the next 10 years or so we learnt how to play our instruments, coz when we started Jake was 14, I was 17 and had only been playing guitar for a year so those first few years was tough. We were learning how to play our instruments, learning how to write songs. Trying to work out the sort of songs we wanted to write wasn't easy either. If you listen to really early Converge it's pretty embarrassing I guess but it's also kinda interesting to hear what led to our development now. It really took about 10 years for us to find a sound we liked, and even a lineup we liked.
Yeah you haven't had a lineup change in over 10 years which is impressive.
Yeah the four of us now have been together since about 99, we were a 5 piece until 2001. So what's that11 years? 11 years we've had the lineup now for but in that 11 years we've done the most touring and had some of the most significant releases that we've done.
So how would you say the music industry has changed in the 20-odd years you've been a band?
Umm it's certainly changed a lot but it's tough to look at it because we've been growing and changing as it has. My ability to tell what the differences are influenced by what things were like back then. For starters I was 17 years old when we started, I'm now 38 so it's quite different but I'm not gonna be one of those guys who claims the industry was better back then but it was definitely different. It was more a local scene type of thing. There was a lot less access to music too so people didn't necessarily listen to the “best” music they listened to whatever was available to them or whatever came through their town. When we first started we didn't think it'd be possible to make as many records as we have, or tour as much as we have and I don't mean for us as people I mean for us as a band because of the sort of music we liked and played. So yeah basically it's interesting how quickly things change.
You guys have just released your 8th studio album “All We Love We Leave Behind,” where did that title come from?
Well it's the title of one of the songs. It's kinda like a thank you to the loved ones that we have in our lives who are willing to tolerate our self-indulgence of going out on the road and leaving them behind. You know they have to take care of all the family stuff like the home up-keep or paying the bills or whatever. When you have a domestic partner you are suddenly asking them to take on a lot of other responsibilities on top of the fact of you not being around. So yeah, it's really just a thank you to those people.
The album was pretty much all recorded and mixed by you in your studio. What was that like?
It's just normal for me. Recording is my day job so it's just an extension of my day job that I put a little bit more of myself into.
Would you say it is easier or harder to record your own band?
I guess it's easier in some ways and harder in others. I definitely put a lot of extra pressure on myself which I may not if it's another band, not that I don't put myself 100% into everything I do (laughs) but of course I care the most about Converge. I remember when we first started recording when I was at the helm and the rest of the guys had to get used to me kinda being in charge I guess but now it's totally normal for us. It's where we practise so it's kinda just an extension of the song-writing process for us to be writing and recording in the same space.
You've just kicked off a tour in America, how's that going?
It's great! We're about two weeks into the tour with Torche and Kvelertak and everyone is getting along well, the shows are really good and people are coming out which is always good.
You planning on coming down to Australia soon?
Yeah we're working on something. Hopefully we'll be there early next year.
Yeah hopefully it all pans out. I've never actually seen you guys live so what can I expect from a Converge show?
Uhh a lot of sweaty people getting weird together (laughs)
(laughs) I see, sounds fun! So who would you say are your biggest influences?
It's tough to say. Because we've been a band for so long new Converge probably is influenced more by that that came before it than any outside influences. I was raised on early hardcore and Bay Area thrash. Of course things like Metallica, Megadeth, things like that as well. I watched MTV back in the day when it was good, I was always going to local shows, mostly hardcore ones. I was around for the second generation of Boston hardcore which was pretty influential on me. Then there were other bands that weren't quite metal or hardcore, like New York's Helmet and Quicksand and they'd come to Boston and play pretty regularly so all those kinda bands were the foundation for early Converge.
Are there any new bands that you are loving right now?
I don't really listen to music outside of touring and recording so the new bands that I love right now are the bands that I'm recording, bands like Baptists and Kvelertak are the new bands I'm loving right now.
Back to the live shows, what's your favourite song to play live?
I dunno. I don't really have a favourite anything to be honest I just enjoy the fact that I get to do this. My favourite thing is the fact I'm still playing in a band after 20 plus years, I don't live to play any one song, or any one show or anything like that I just enjoy still being able to do it.
Yeah absolutely. Converge have had a history of guest musicians on their albums, why did you decide not to have any for this new album?
We try not to do the same thing over and over again and the last record had a lot of guests on it and so did the one before it I think but more than that we never have a preconceived idea of what we want to do when we set out to make a new record we just wait to be inspired then we get together and start writing music and we let the songs that we are writing determine our direction and in the case of this album the songs all sounded self-contained. They just sounded like real Converge songs so we felt we didn't need to have any guests. Yeah I guess we could have got someone in for a guitar solo or some vocals but we didn't think it was necessary whereas on the last record, the last 2 songs in particular we really felt some outside influence was necessary for the song to pull together.
Are there any bands that you would love to tour with that you haven't as yet?
Yeah we'd really like to go out with Russian Circles sometime, we've done a few select shows with them but I'd love to do a full tour with them. I can't really think of any others right now.
One last question – when you get some time off what do you like to get up to?
Well I kinda never get time off to be honest but when I do I always like to be creative so I try to make projects for myself like building a guitar or making a bed frame, I really like to work with my hands. Plus it's a sense of accomplishment to look at these things after too, you know taking an idea and turing it into a physical reality. Same goes with song-writing but aside from that I like just hanging out with my girlfriend and my dogs and stuff.
We'll wrap it up there, thanks very much for your time.
No worries, bye.
Matt Barton
Hey, how's it going?
Hey. I'm well thanks. How are you?
Pretty good thanks. I heard you were in an accident the other night. Is everyone alright?
Yeah, we're all fine.
What happened?
We were driving up through the mountains and there was a truck that had had an accident and we had to stop short but we ended up hitting black ice and spinning out. We got the front bumper stuck on a jersey barrier. No one was hurt, which was lucky. We just had to sit on the highway for a while while we waited for help.
At least no one was hurt.
Yeah, I'm thankful for that.
So, for those that don't know your band, how did you get started?
Well we started when Jake (Jacob Bannon, vocals) and I were in high school. Jake was in a cover band that did hardcore and metal covers and he asked me to play with them just for the one show but we ended up writing some originals and changed the band name to Converge sometime in 91. We were basically just some kids mucking around, I learnt to play the guitar and yeah, we just never broke up (laughs) and yeah over the next 10 years or so we learnt how to play our instruments, coz when we started Jake was 14, I was 17 and had only been playing guitar for a year so those first few years was tough. We were learning how to play our instruments, learning how to write songs. Trying to work out the sort of songs we wanted to write wasn't easy either. If you listen to really early Converge it's pretty embarrassing I guess but it's also kinda interesting to hear what led to our development now. It really took about 10 years for us to find a sound we liked, and even a lineup we liked.
Yeah you haven't had a lineup change in over 10 years which is impressive.
Yeah the four of us now have been together since about 99, we were a 5 piece until 2001. So what's that11 years? 11 years we've had the lineup now for but in that 11 years we've done the most touring and had some of the most significant releases that we've done.
So how would you say the music industry has changed in the 20-odd years you've been a band?
Umm it's certainly changed a lot but it's tough to look at it because we've been growing and changing as it has. My ability to tell what the differences are influenced by what things were like back then. For starters I was 17 years old when we started, I'm now 38 so it's quite different but I'm not gonna be one of those guys who claims the industry was better back then but it was definitely different. It was more a local scene type of thing. There was a lot less access to music too so people didn't necessarily listen to the “best” music they listened to whatever was available to them or whatever came through their town. When we first started we didn't think it'd be possible to make as many records as we have, or tour as much as we have and I don't mean for us as people I mean for us as a band because of the sort of music we liked and played. So yeah basically it's interesting how quickly things change.
You guys have just released your 8th studio album “All We Love We Leave Behind,” where did that title come from?
Well it's the title of one of the songs. It's kinda like a thank you to the loved ones that we have in our lives who are willing to tolerate our self-indulgence of going out on the road and leaving them behind. You know they have to take care of all the family stuff like the home up-keep or paying the bills or whatever. When you have a domestic partner you are suddenly asking them to take on a lot of other responsibilities on top of the fact of you not being around. So yeah, it's really just a thank you to those people.
The album was pretty much all recorded and mixed by you in your studio. What was that like?
It's just normal for me. Recording is my day job so it's just an extension of my day job that I put a little bit more of myself into.
Would you say it is easier or harder to record your own band?
I guess it's easier in some ways and harder in others. I definitely put a lot of extra pressure on myself which I may not if it's another band, not that I don't put myself 100% into everything I do (laughs) but of course I care the most about Converge. I remember when we first started recording when I was at the helm and the rest of the guys had to get used to me kinda being in charge I guess but now it's totally normal for us. It's where we practise so it's kinda just an extension of the song-writing process for us to be writing and recording in the same space.
You've just kicked off a tour in America, how's that going?
It's great! We're about two weeks into the tour with Torche and Kvelertak and everyone is getting along well, the shows are really good and people are coming out which is always good.
You planning on coming down to Australia soon?
Yeah we're working on something. Hopefully we'll be there early next year.
Yeah hopefully it all pans out. I've never actually seen you guys live so what can I expect from a Converge show?
Uhh a lot of sweaty people getting weird together (laughs)
(laughs) I see, sounds fun! So who would you say are your biggest influences?
It's tough to say. Because we've been a band for so long new Converge probably is influenced more by that that came before it than any outside influences. I was raised on early hardcore and Bay Area thrash. Of course things like Metallica, Megadeth, things like that as well. I watched MTV back in the day when it was good, I was always going to local shows, mostly hardcore ones. I was around for the second generation of Boston hardcore which was pretty influential on me. Then there were other bands that weren't quite metal or hardcore, like New York's Helmet and Quicksand and they'd come to Boston and play pretty regularly so all those kinda bands were the foundation for early Converge.
Are there any new bands that you are loving right now?
I don't really listen to music outside of touring and recording so the new bands that I love right now are the bands that I'm recording, bands like Baptists and Kvelertak are the new bands I'm loving right now.
Back to the live shows, what's your favourite song to play live?
I dunno. I don't really have a favourite anything to be honest I just enjoy the fact that I get to do this. My favourite thing is the fact I'm still playing in a band after 20 plus years, I don't live to play any one song, or any one show or anything like that I just enjoy still being able to do it.
Yeah absolutely. Converge have had a history of guest musicians on their albums, why did you decide not to have any for this new album?
We try not to do the same thing over and over again and the last record had a lot of guests on it and so did the one before it I think but more than that we never have a preconceived idea of what we want to do when we set out to make a new record we just wait to be inspired then we get together and start writing music and we let the songs that we are writing determine our direction and in the case of this album the songs all sounded self-contained. They just sounded like real Converge songs so we felt we didn't need to have any guests. Yeah I guess we could have got someone in for a guitar solo or some vocals but we didn't think it was necessary whereas on the last record, the last 2 songs in particular we really felt some outside influence was necessary for the song to pull together.
Are there any bands that you would love to tour with that you haven't as yet?
Yeah we'd really like to go out with Russian Circles sometime, we've done a few select shows with them but I'd love to do a full tour with them. I can't really think of any others right now.
One last question – when you get some time off what do you like to get up to?
Well I kinda never get time off to be honest but when I do I always like to be creative so I try to make projects for myself like building a guitar or making a bed frame, I really like to work with my hands. Plus it's a sense of accomplishment to look at these things after too, you know taking an idea and turing it into a physical reality. Same goes with song-writing but aside from that I like just hanging out with my girlfriend and my dogs and stuff.
We'll wrap it up there, thanks very much for your time.
No worries, bye.
Matt Barton