Converge Recent News

CONVERGE ON RYAN'S ROCK SHOW THIS WEEK!

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:04:00 -0700

Monday, April 28, 2008 - "People, as open minded as they claim to be about music usually aren't. They project what they want you to be... and if you deviate from that you're a sellout," exclaims CONVERGE bassist Nate Newton.

Newton of CONVERGE comes on RYAN'S ROCK SHOW this week to discuss the past decade of the band, the changes in the music industry, and dealing with closed-minded fans.

RYAN'S ROCK SHOW'S program featuring CONVERGE is available for stream and download at www.ryansrockshow.com.

RYAN'S ROCK SHOW is a weekly radio program featuring the cream of the crop of innovative bands and artists. As an alternative to mainstream corporate radio, RYAN'S ROCK SHOW provides listeners with interviews of today's pioneers, as well as showcases new music that pushes the envelope of the music industry.

CONVERGE: Lambs For Lions Tour 2K8

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:01:00 -0800

Converge will be hitting the road next month with The Red Chord, Genghis Tron on the Lambs For Lions Tour 2K8. Make sure to check for dates near you below.

No Heroes, out now!

Lambs For Lions Tour 2K8 Dates:

(w/ Neurosis and Special guests)
02/16: Seattle, WA @ Neumo's
02/17: Seattle, WA @ Neumo's

(w/ The Red Chord, Baroness, Genghis Tron)
03/30: Worcester, MA @ The Palladium
04/01: NYC, NY @ The Blender Theatre @ Gramercy
04/02: Buffalo, NY @ Showplace Theatre
04/03: Cleveland, OH @ Peabody's Downunder
04/04: Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
04/05: Chicago, IL @ Reggies Rock Club
04/06: Chicago, IL @ Reggies Rock Club
04/07: Milwaukee, WI @ Richfield Chalet
04/08: Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock Social Club
04/09: Sioux Falls, SD @ Nutty's North
04/10: Iowa City, IA @ The Picador
04/11: Omaha, NE @ Sokol Underground
04/12: Lawrence, KS @ Bottleneck
04/13: Denver, CO @ Marquis Theatre
04/15: Boise, ID @ The Venue
04/16: Portland, OR @ Satyricon
04/18: Los Angeles, CA @ Knitting Factory
04/19: Pomona, CA @ Glasshouse
04/20: Tempe, AZ @ The Clubhouse Music Venue

(w/ The Red Chord, Coliseum, Genghis Tron)
04/22: Austin, TX @ Red 7
04/23: Dallas, TX @ The Door
04/24: Houston, TX @ Red Room @ Meridian
04/25: New Orleans, LA @ The High Ground
04/26: St. Petersburg, FL @ State Theatre
04/27: Orlando, FL @ The Social
05/01: Baltimore, MD @ Otto Bar
05/02: Pittsburgh, PA @ The School
05/03: Philadelphia, PA @ Starlight Ballroom

Review of Converge at the HOB Orlando

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 00:02:00 -0800

by Alicia Lyman

There were mixed reviews from many fans, fellow musicians, and industry folk about the set Converge was developing as I waited to meet their tour manager by the back stage entrance to House of Blues Orlando. From this perspective I could see the entire crowd, most of stage left, and most of the security guards throughout the venue a little confused as to why there wasn't more moshing. There were little sects throughout the sea of people that were chanting along, and pumping their fists to drummer Ben Koller's beat; but on the contrary, some were just standing there, wondering what was going on.

After their set I eventually got backstage to interview Ben and front-man Jacob Bannon. It was the second date on the 'Mastotour' and I asked how they felt about the show. Jacob said, 'It was a big stage, but you know a good vibe.' Ben added, 'It was definitely a concert at Disney World, so we were kind of out of our element. We would've rather played a show in Albany, New York at a dirt bar, but it was pretty fun.'

Click here mvwire.com to read more.

Converge to hit the road with Mastodon!

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 00:01:00 -0800

CONVERGE TAKES NO HEROES ON THE ROAD
Amid Weighty Praise, U.S. Tour with Mastodon Resumes January 26th

Converge "the iconic Boston-based pioneers of metalcore" will embark on the third leg of its U.S. trek in support of its recent Epitaph full length No Heroes on January 26th in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The four week East Coast trek will wrap in Norfolk, VA on February 18th.

Praising the esteemed foursome, Alternative Press wrote, "Converge play like sadists forcing their gear through table saws". They've made it impossible for anyone else to eclipse them. Elsewhere, Decibel called No Heroes "their most balanced album yet" proclaiming, "Converge have fully returned to the aggressive sound they pioneered." And hard rock bible Kerrang! championed the group as "the perfect antidote" to "singalong, chirpy, radio-friendly rock."

"We don't really do lighthearted," frontman Jake Bannon says in a recent issue of the latter. "We're a different kind of animal. There's an energy and violent nature to these songs. We're always going to make that high volume, highly emotional music. It's hardcore metal, man."

Steeped in raw emotion, pure adrenaline and brute force, the follow up to 2004's You Fail Me was produced by Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou, who doubles as a producer and engineer, and counts explosive numbers like "Heartache", "Hellbound", "Grim Heart Black Rose" and "Trophy Scars" among its fourteen tracks. As inventive as they are discordant, the cult group (which also counts bassist Nate Newton and drummer Ben Koller) has been touted by All Music Guide as "one of the most original and innovative bands to emerge from the punk underground."
With most of the songs on No Heroes tracked in their entirety in just one or two takes, Converge has captured its ferocious, urgent sound undiluted. "What we do is very different than what's happening in the mainstream," Bannon says. "I think we're a weird amalgamation of stuff that doesn't really exist anymore that's somewhere between the thrash world, the hardcore world, the punk world and the alt-rock world. We just went and did our thing on this record rather than try to make a name for ourselves or dilute our approach." From Bannon's captivating artwork and introspective lyrics to Ballou's masterful production techniques, Converge's artistic vision has always separated the band from their peers, and No Heroes is no exception. "A lot of the bands that people consider to be our contemporaries don't share that attention to detail," Ballou admits. "With us, everything is carefully crafted and intentional, which is kind of ironic considering to a lot of people our music is just a wall of noise," he continues. "I think a lot of what exists now is just decoration and we're simply not decoration. "No Heroes, which dropped on October 24th via Epitaph, debuted at #1 on Billboard's Top New Artist (Heatseekers) survey.
Here are Converge's upcoming tour dates with Mastodon:

1/26/2007 Culture Room Ft. Lauderdale FL
1/27/2007 House of Blues Lake Buena Vista FL
1/28/2007 Jannus Landing St. Petersburg FL
1/30/2007 Beta Bar Tallahassee FL
1/31/2007 40 Watt Club Athens GA
2/1/2007 Blue Cats Knoxville TN
2/2/2007 Rocketown Nashville TN
2/3/2007 Pops Sauget IL
2/5/2007 First Avenue Minneapolis MN
2/7/2007 Orbit Room Grand Rapids MI
2/8/2007 Newport Music Hall Columbus OH
2/9/2007 Rex Theatre Pittsburgh PA
2/10/2007 Starland Ballroom Sayerville NJ
2/11/2007 Lupos Heartbreak Hotel Providence RI
2/13/2007 Crocodile Rock Allentown PA
2/14/2007 Water Street Music Hall Rochester NY
2/15/2007 Northern Lights Clifton Park NY
2/16/2007 Toads Place New Haven CT
2/17/2007 9:30 Club Washington DC
2/18/2007 The Norva Theater Norfolk VA

Converge: No Heroes - Best New Music on Pitchforkmedia.com!

Fri, 05 Jan 2007 00:01:00 -0800

If LCD Soundsystem's 45:33 is good Nike-sponsored running music, No Heroes is what boot-wearing non-joggers use at a punk-slapped punching bag to reach fighting weight. It's pretty amazing to think Converge has been around almost as long as some of you have been alive, especially considering this sixth full-length is packed with some of the most ferocious moments in the Boston quartet's 15-plus year history.

These 14 right hooks are buff motherfuckers, rendered in various shades of blacks and blues and reds, but it's the opening tandem that really cooks. Shoving feedback and a heavy instrumental build out of the way, neck-tat sporting vocalist Jacob Bannon skewers a two-minute sermon on the opening track, "Heartache": "We are all falling down/ We are all falling/ Every word that you pray/ Makes another slave/ Every idol that you build/ Brings another plague." When the mathy mid-tempo returns, the song appropriately rams bass-first into "Hellhound", a one-minute rip-roar of in-the-red calisthenics. And then, well, it's gone, replaced by the equally taut "Sacrifice": "Hit the lights/ I've had enough/ Guilt to build a city/ Shame to fill a sea/ Reasons to give up and lose everything/ Regret to burn this body/ Filth to cut these hands/ Reasons to bury this and everything we have." Vengeance? It's only 58 seconds long. Its motto: "I'm built for war."

The blast radius of those first few pieces is brutal. The rest of the album slows down, but refuses to relent. Only doomy centerpiece "Grim Heart/Black Rose", with its melodic, anguished guest vocals by ex-Only Living Witness fellow Jonah Jenkins, offers a chance to catch your breath. The track's an epic (over nine minutes), its ending a long fade-out, turning down the volume in the room instead of cutting the power. Despite Sabbathian overtones, it manages to maintain the crushing equation when Bannon reemerges near the album's close: A few raps of the cymbal, heavier bass tones, guitar reps, drum hits, adequate build, and then his bloody voice: "Black rose/ Be my light/ In the darkness of nights/ Be my heart." You couldn't cut the tension with a Lifetime record.

There are Nation of Ulysses call-and-response hardcore anthems ("Trophy Scars", "Lonewolves") and lines that could inspire Blake Schwarzenbach to emo feats of strength: "Keep your scars on your sleeve/ And your heart in your hands." Fancy guitars are whittled into sharp-edged daggers. Nugget-sized explosions offer violently poetic sentiments: "I'll strike you down/ With rage and rapture." Eardrums and asses are kicked.

When You Fail Me was released two years ago, there was grumbling about its post-Jane Doe experimentation and misspelled love letters. Some sticking points were the "First Light" intro and the acoustically bent "In Her Shadow". Nowadays, instead of overstuffed, that older album sounds a bit thin. It's a comparative backward glance: Guitarist Kurt Ballou did an especially fine job recording No Heroes. It's huge. Musically, as if panning for gold, the band removed everything extraneous and came up with something richer.

Also surprising: No Heroes is the longer record of the two, even with fewer songs. But because the writing's strong, it speeds by. You see what I'm getting at? I'm a big fan of You Fail Me and the past work, but I'd venture to say this is the band's most fully realized, which (again) is amazing this far into their catalog. Score a victory for old guys with bad knees! Conceptually reminiscent of the way Orthrelm's OV rocked socks within a tight framework, No Heroes is one of the year's most musically cohesive ways to keep pulses beating rapidly.

-Brandon Stosuy, December 13, 2006
www.pitchforkmedia.com

Converge announces Japanese tour dates!

Thu, 21 Dec 2006 00:12:00 -0800

Hardcore is coming to Japan! In support of their second full-length album, No Heroes, Converge has just announced that they will head to Japan for a run of live performances! They will be supported by Planes Mistaken For Stars and local Japanese outfit, Envy!

Here are all of the confirmed dates, thus far:

March 10, 2007 Be-1 Fukuoka, Japan
March 11, 2007 Badlands Hiroshima, Japan
March 12, 2007 Club Quattro Shinsaibashi/Osaka, Japan
March 13, 2007 Club Quattro Nagoya, Japan
March 14, 2007 Club Quattro Shibuya/Tokyo, Japan
March 15, 2007 Macana Sendai, Japan
March 16, 2007 Club 251 Shimokitazawa/Tokyo, Japan

www.convergecult.com

Converge land "Album of the Year" honors from Exclaim! Magazine

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 00:12:00 -0800

The new brutal album by Converge, No Heroes, has taken the #1 position as "Metal/Hardcore" album of the year in the pages of Exclaim! Magazine. Exclaim! Magazine is Canada's largest free music oriented publication and Converge wishes to thank all the writers of this great magazine for giving our album this honor; it is appreciated.

Read the full album review at the link below:

www.exclaim.ca

Converge unveils �No Heroes� video!

Tue, 05 Dec 2006 00:12:00 -0800

Hardcore has very few bands as influential as Converge and their latest album, No Heroes, is just another example of the intensity and fury this band is capable of!

Today, the band released the first video from their latest album and it�s for the crushing title track, �No Heroes�. Make sure to check it out because it�s one of their best to date!

Epitaph Videos Page

Converge cancels Philly and NY shows

Mon, 27 Nov 2006 00:11:00 -0800

Here is a statement straight from the band:

"After driving overnight to Poughkeepsie from Baltimore (and almost hitting hundreds of deer in the process...), we got word that "Rhythmden" festival has been cancelled due to "insurance" issues. Thanks to Subzero and On Broken Wings for getting the word out to us and other bands. We hope to be back in the Poughkeepsie NY area sometime in 2K7.

While we were typing the above information, Jake received a call about a death in his immediate family. So he can attend the funeral and be home to support his family, we are canceling Philadelphia and New York City shows of the tour."

www.convergecult.com

Converge announce No Heroes tour plans!

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 00:11:00 -0800

Converge � the iconic Boston-based pioneers of metalcore � will release its new full-length album No Heroes on October 24th through Epitaph. Already pulling in advance acclaim for the disc from the likes of Alternative Press, Decibel and Kerrang! and fresh off of a highly successful West Coast tour with Mastodon and the Bronx last month, the esteemed foursome will embark on the second leg of its U.S. trek on November 1st in Richmond, VA with labelmates Some Girls.

�Converge play like sadists forcing their gear through table saws,� writes Alternative Press, adding �they�ve made it impossible for anyone else to eclipse them.� Meanwhile, Decibel calls No Heroes �their most balanced album yet� proclaiming, �Converge have fully returned to the aggressive sound they pioneered.� And Kerrang! championed the group as �the perfect antidote� to �singalong, chirpy, radio-friendly rock.�

�We don�t really do lighthearted,� frontman Jake Bannon says in the latest issue of the latter. �We�re a different kind of animal. There�s an energy and violent nature to these songs. We�re always going to make that high volume, highly emotional music. It�s hardcore metal, man.�

Steeped in raw emotion, pure adrenaline and brute force, the follow up to 2004�s You Fail Me was produced by Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou � who doubles as a producer and engineer � and counts explosive numbers like �Heartache,� �Hellbound� �Grim Heart Black Rose� and �Trophy Scars� among its fourteen tracks. As inventive as they are discordant, the cult group � which also counts bassist Nate Newton and drummer Ben Koller � has been touted by All Music Guide as �one of the most original and innovative bands to emerge from the punk underground.�
With most of the songs on No Heroes tracked in their entirety in just one or two takes, Converge has captured its ferocious, urgent sound undiluted. �What we do is very different than what�s happening in the mainstream,� Bannon says. �I think we�re a weird amalgamation of stuff that doesn�t really exist anymore that�s somewhere between the thrash world, the hardcore world, the punk world and the alt-rock world. We just went and did our thing on this record rather than try to make a name for ourselves or dilute our approach.�
Here are Converge�s upcoming tour dates with Some Girls:

Nov 2, Guzmans, Harrisonburg VA
Nov 3, Soapbox Laundro-Lounge, Wilmington NC
Nov 4, New Brookland Tavern, West Columbia SC
Nov 5, Thee Imperial, Jacksonville FL
Nov 6, Respectable Street, West Palm Beach FL
Nov 7, Back Booth, Orlando FL
Nov 9, Cave 9, Birmingham AL
Nov 10, The High Ground, Metairie LA
Nov 11, Meridian, Houston TX
Nov 12, White Rabbit, San Antonio TX
Nov 13 , Emos, Austin TX
Nov 15, Masquerade, Atlanta GA
Nov 16, The Anchor, Nashville TN
Nov 17, Headliners, Louisville KY
Nov 18, Lawrenceville Moose, Pittsburgh PA
Nov 19 , The Furnace, Syracuse NY
Nov 20, Valentines, Albany NY
Nov 24 , School of Rock East, South Hackensack NJ
Nov 25 , Otto Bar, Baltimore MD
Nov 26, The Chance, Poughkeepsie NY
Nov 27 , Showplace Theatre, Buffalo NY
Nov 30 , Starlight Ballroom, Philadelphia PA
Dec 3, Club Lido, Revere MA