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Converge
 For over 15 years, Boston's Converge have delivered ferocious and challenging hardcore music. They have deservedly achieved legendary status through their fierce independence and willingness to stretch musical boundaries.
Converge have maintained a largely stable line-up throughout their existence, something that guitarist and co-founder Kurt Ballou attributes to friendship and a common vision. "We have a sense of purpose to the music we play, we are like-minded people from similar musical backgrounds and we are friends. So long as those things are in tact, I see no need to break up the band."
Ballou adds that there remains no shortage of subjects at which to direct their unrelenting aggression. "I think it's a challenge for a lot of bands as they age to find inspiration once they get out of the 'teen angst' part of their lives. We've all grown up in situations where it was important to mind our surroundings and in continuing to do so, have found no lack of inspiration. The world can be a fucked up place and even in our own little microcosm of the world music scene there is more than enough inspiration."
Last year's brilliant 'No Heroes' has a more spontaneous, manic and intense feel than previous album 'You Fail Me'. I ask Ballou whether he felt this had anything to do with the former being written and recorded over a shorter timeframe. "It's a lot more exciting and gratifying to make a record quickly than it is to lament over it endlessly. That being said, we don't set out to make a record any particular way and we can be really happy with a record made either way. It mostly has to do with how the inspiration comes to us. On this new record, we were really driven and the songs came together quite quickly compared to all of our previous records. But I was able to spend much more time on 'No Heroes' engineering it properly than I was on 'You Fail Me'. I think had we spent more time recording 'You Fail Me', it would have turned out more cohesive. Those are still some of my favorite Converge songs."
Converge have played a big part in the steady increase in popularity and acceptance of hardcore and other forms of extreme music. Perhaps surprisingly, Ballou does not feel a sense of pride for inspiring other bands and helping to popularise his art. "Not really. I think more about how the bands I looked up to when I was younger never got any credit and how misunderstood and misdirected this music has become."
There are, however, plenty of new bands that do impress him. "Yeah, I like Genghis Tron, Gospel, Torche, Mind Eraser, Transistor Transistor, Pygmy Lush, Bloodhorse, Lords, Cursed, Deerhoof, XOSkeletons, Menomena, Municipal Waste, Animal Hospital, Weird War, Clouds, etc. Basically, I'm into substance-based music that is heartfelt, innovated, fun and not afraid to alienate certain listeners. I do not like stylish, flavor of the month music that conforms to a particular sound to reach critical, popular and financial success."
Most Converge releases are also put out on vinyl. As a vinyl tragic myself, I have to ask Ballou about the band's commitment to vinyl and their input into the artwork and packaging. "We all still have record players and listen to vinyl regularly. Vinyl has a certain quality that just works well for rock and punk rock. We all grew up listening mostly to 7"s so we're trying to keep vinyl alive. Also, the packaging is just so much better for vinyl and in these days where everyone just downloads his or her music, having a nice big package means so much more. Jake [Bannon, Converge vocalist] does all of our design work, so he's responsible for the vinyl packaging as well as the CDs and T-shirts."
Converge have built a reputation for frenzied live performances. Ballou provids some insight into what Australian audiences can look forward to. "We'll probably be sloppy and sweaty and rough around the edges, but that's who we are. We don't hide our faults. We love playing music and we'll be giving it a hundred percent. We'll be playing mostly new songs and, no, we're not your iPod, so don't ask for lots of old songs. We want to have fun. We hope you do too!"
That, I think, is a given.
Converge play at Fowler's Live on Fri 23 March 'No Heroes' is out now through Shock
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