Kurt Ballou On The Role Converge Played In Blending Metal and Hardcore
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- Опубліковано 19 лис 2018
- Kurt Ballou -- hardcore guitarist and veteran sound engineer -- talks to Unstoppable Recording Machine and Kerrang! about the role his band Converge played in fusing metal and hardcore into one genre now known as metalcore.
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One of the best guitarists ever. EVER.
Insanely talented.
Even just saying that doesn't give him the credit he deserves. He's an amazing guitar player, and a brilliant sound engineer. PLUS, he understands enough about electrical engineering to design pedals and other equipment.
Kurt looks like a college lecturer
who will teach you that chaos and melody can be coexist,
Funny you mention that. There’s actually a video of a professor inviting him to one of her lectures at Berklee to discuss the creation process of Jane Doe.
Living legend this chap ❤️
He gets major props as a producer but he's lowkey an amazing guitarist too. Seriously underrated guitarist and seems like such an intelligent and interesting guy. Total legend.
kurt > "Slayer are Slayer"
me > Takes notes*
Legend. Thank you Kurt for all your amazing work. 🤘🤘🤘
I grew up on this stuff. Converge is great.
Tbh I don’t think they’ve put out a single bad album. Sure, their stuff got more focused and brilliant in the 2000s, but even their earlier stuff is pretty cool. The Saddest Day is still one of the greatest songs
Love Kurt and love all of the stuff he's produced, some of the best music I have ever heard.
Acme shout out, fuck yeah. They were absolutely mindblowing
I think Kurt is being a bit hard on early Converge. Altho I agree Jane Doe is where they really became brilliant, I think some of their early shit is still pretty awesome and interesting metallic hardcore. I'll take Converge aping Slayer on The Saddest Day any day!
Absolutely agree.
Petitioning is an absolute flawless classic
@@JeffWiersma It was my first Converge album, and I still listen to it a lot. Both the remaster and original. And yeah, maybe they were mimicking Slayer riffs here and there, but that album sounds NOTHING like Slayer as a whole, nor does it sound like any other band really. That album and Botch's We Are The Romans are sort of like the template that bands like Every Time I Die, Norma Jean, The Chariot, and so many others were trying to do. But that style came from Deadguy, Converge, Botch, and maybe Coalesce fits there too.
@@drownthepoor also Overcast,
@@JeffWiersma Wow, I don't think I know that one, and I spent a lot of time figuring out where that particular sound came from.
I've tried listening to Starkweather and Rorschach, but not exactly my thing. I dig Cave-In though. I'll have to check out Overcast.
Kurt is the man! And fuck yeah, Rorschach were brilliant! I always thought Converge sounded like fans, but even perfected that sound via Ballous midas touch in the studio. Always a pleasure to hear him talk about music.
I have said it a thousand times. If you are around my age (47) you saw the collision course of metal and hardcore a mile away. When people say negative things about "metalcore" .... they are usually too young to even know anything about it.
one of my heros!!
I listen to very select tracks pre-JD, but I do appreciate it for revealing how much they've grown as musicians and the journey they've walked to finally developing their own sound.
"Our attempts at aping Slayer weren't cool". They fucking were to me, bro :*(
Love this man and his music
Mucho amor !
I find it very interesting that some people from the metal scene have never heard about Converge. I sometimes meet people who listen to bands like Napalm Death or Dying Fetus forever and never heard about Converge. Do you have the same experience or an idea why this is so?
Yeah I can see that..I think it’s bc they come from more of that death/grind background where as with someone like me I first got into death/grind but also had friends and found compilation albums that introduce me to bands like Zao/Dillinger escape plan so that’s why I ventured into for lack of a better word ‘metal core’ and found bands like Converge/Botch/Coalesce. At this point if you don’t know Converge I don’t know what to say haha
I didn't find out about them until I read an old Greg Puciato interview where he talked about them and said he liked them.
you'll often find diehard metal fans are a lot more close minded musically and just write often bands because they don't quite fit the metal template they know
This man got skinner.
I like how Kurt doesn't mince words when it comes to his view on 90's metallica hardcore. Some bands like Integrity and Hatebreed had their moments but overall I found that tough guy Earth Crisis-type stuff to be pretty cheesy and cringe(don't tell Finn McKenty)
RIP Phelps.
A C M E
kurt looks and speaks like he is on break between teaching third and fourth period calc