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Converge plays chaotic music of the times
By Noah Greene
Collegian Reviewer
Converge
is not about fashion. Converge is not about shock value, rebellion
or commercial success. Converge is about true artistic expression:
honesty. Relentlessly heavy guitars, fractured transitions,
blast beats and the often incoherent snarling of vocalist Jake
Bannon might seem like so much directionless chaos. But
therein lies the beauty. To discover the heart in all the turmoil
of their sound, it has to wash over you, fill every pore, drown
the world and swallow you in a tidal wave of sonic emotion.
Over a decade of endless touring,
four full-lengths, a DVD and more than a dozen EPs has earned
this band a ravenous following. But such recognition is not
the goal for Converge. Even the widespread success of their
latest work, Jane Doe, was anything but an intended goal. As
Bannon told me in a recent interview, "[Jane Doe] is probably
the least accessible record we have ever done. It's completely
harsh and it doesn't really let up. We don't care because we
don't peddle our music, we play honest music."
If their performance that night
at the Shelter, a dingy rock club in a seedy, downtown Detroit
basement was any indication, these are words Converge intends
to live and die by. After a brutal set played to a voracious
crowd of several hundred that eventually spilled onto the stage
to rush the band and swell over the drum kit, Bannon declined
any interview until every kid had a chance to approach him and
ask any questions on their mind. Finally, forty minutes after
the music ended, tired and shirtless, his body a mural of tattoo
art from throat to knuckles, Bannon followed me to a cluster
of chairs at the back of the room. Despite a looming drive to
Chicago that very night Bannon gave me his unwavering attention.
This day-in, day-out dedication
seems the culmination of their purpose as a band: to perform
with utmost sincerity. It runs deeper than just simply putting
on a good show.
"Whether it's punk rock or
just 100 percent emotion," he explained, "it's using
our music as an artistic outlet. The battle for us is really
one of honesty. We live our lives, we play our music and that's
how we record the pain and anguish that we go through. You take
today, where you have a few hundred kids in a room and they're
singing a song that illustrates a moment in my life. Maybe that
seems strange. The hope is that somehow they're attaining something
positive from that. That's the responsibility that I feel I
have: to be honest with them and honest with myself."
Discovering a balance for the
focus of that honesty, to himself and to his listeners is another
battle entirely. Speaking words that project a personal reaction
into something that conveys relevance to complete strangers,
while still maintaining sincerity requires nothing short of
wholehearted integrity. In listening to the records, in conversing
with Bannon and ultimately in attending the shows, I think I've
caught a glimpse of how, for Converge, that balance is attained.
The band closed their set with
a track from Jane Doe entitled "The Broken Vow." It's
a song about heartbreak, about letdown and rejection; lines
that clearly address specific experience in Bannon's life. Yet,
embedded in these references are words relevant to all humanity;
every man, woman or child who's ever felt rejected, ever been
deceived:
Those nights we had and the trust we lost
the sleep that fled me and the heart I lost
It all reminds me just how callous
and heartless the true cowards are
And I write this for the loveless…
Seeing the faces surrounding me,
kids with stories and wounds untold, relating to Converge's
passion and message, made me realize the success of their endeavor.
Nothing seems more honest, more devoid of pretense.
Converge won't likely attain success
status by commercial standards. They may never leave the exclusive
community of punk and hardcore, playing shows to a few hundred
kids in smoky dives. But that's never been their vision. To
remain personal, approachable, has always been their conscious
choice.
When I asked his opinion on the
success of independent artists who soften their approach to
gain mainstream popularity, Bannon replied, "I think a
lot of them question their ethical values and their responsibility
to their audience."
For Converge that responsibility
is the honest expression of emotion, and right now, that's found
in violently chaotic music.
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The
hard and painful image adorning the cover of Converge's latest
album is indicative of the violent music they play.
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