Converge Converge is an American
metalcore band formed in the winter of 1990 by vocalist Jacob Bannon and guitarist
Kurt Ballou, they were later joined by bassist Jeff Feinburg, and drummer Damon Bellorado. They started by playing covers of
hardcore punk,
punk rock and
heavy metal songs. The band soon graduated to playing live performances in 1991, after recording some demos on a
4-track recorder. Converge have enjoyed a relatively high level of recognition. Their popularity began to rise with the release of a breakthrough album
Jane Doe. Converge's records have gradually become more elaborate and expensive to produce. This progression began with their move from a small independent label (
Equal Vision Records) to a considerably larger one (
Epitaph Records). Special releases have traditionally been handled by Bannon's record label,
Deathwish Inc. Wear Your Wounds After Supermachiner released
Rise of the Great Machine and after Converge had completed recording
Jane Doe, Bannon started writing and recording solo material under the name Dear Lover. Although a number of releases were lined up none of them saw the light of day except a demo version of one track "Grant Me the Strength" which was made available for download on Converge's website in January 2003. The track was supposed to be part of an EP titled
The Blood of Thine Enemies, In January 2005, Dear Lover recordings were said to have been in the editing and mixing process, and it was believed there would be multiple releases of Dear Lover recordings which included the
Wear Your Wounds double album throughout the year, Bannon released the song under the name J.Bannon. Bannon stated the song was never intended to be part of an album, only to be a stand-alone piece. it was the first time Bannon released anything under then name Wear Your Wounds. On January 15, 2013, a digital single was released under the name Wear Your Wounds titled "The Migration". The long-awaited
Wear Your Wounds album, now titled to the abbreviation
WYW was finally set on release on April 7, 2017, and was released by Deathwish. The album has multiple guest musicians such as Kurt Ballou, Mike McKenzie, Chris Maggio, and Sean Martin. The single "Goodbye Old Friend" was released on January 13, 2017. On March 3, 2017, the non-album single "Arthritic Heart", physical copies were available with New Noise Magazine. Wear Your Wounds' live debut was on April 22 at the
Roadburn festival in Tilburg, the Netherlands. The Wear Your Wounds live band has been described as a supergroup with Bannon on piano, bass and vocal duties, guitarists Mike McKenzie (of
The Red Chord) Adam McGrath (of
Cave In), Sean Martin (of
Hatebreed) and drummer Chris Maggio (of
Trap Them). Bannon has said, "[a] lot of them are guys that contributed on the record. We're going to be a three-guitar band and I'll be playing bass sort of intermittently with a lot of the stuff, because there is bass on the record but not all over the place. It's basically a bunch of friends that were available and want to play this sort of music, have fun and explore this world that I started on my own."
Additional projects and contributions Supermachiner (1994–2000) Supermachiner was an
experimental rock project formed in 1994 by Jacob Bannon and Ryan Parker. Supermachiner originally began as a collection of 4 track recordings by Bannon and Parker, recorded in 1994. The project remained nameless and dormant for a number of years. With the help and inspiration of his good friend Ryan Parker, they casually brought the project back to life in the winter of 1998. With his input, they developed collective song ideas into the
Rise of the Great Machine album, released through
Undecided Records. However, Bannon continued to write music that was sonically different from Converge, which was later released as solo material many years later. Urtica's full-length album,
The Oblivion Sessions, was scheduled for release via Undecided Records in the summer of 2001, but was abandoned. Bannon was also commissioned by Undecided Films to compose and record a new score for the 1922 film
Nosferatu in 2003.
Irons (2007–2011) Irons is a musical collaboration between Jacob Bannon,
Dwid Hellion and
Stephen Kasner.
Blood from the Soul (2020–present) In 2020, Bannon joined the
industrial metal supergroup Blood from the Soul, which started out as a collaboration between
Shane Embury and
Sick of It All vocalist
Lou Koller. The line-up of the band also features drummer
Dirk Verbeuren and
Nasum bassist Jesper Liveröd. The band released the album,
DSM-5, in 2020 on Deathwish, Inc. Bannon has handled the vocals and visuals on this record.
Umbra Vitae (2020–present) In 2020, Bannon formed the
death metal group
Umbra Vitae with members of
Twitching Tongues,
The Red Chord and
Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats. The band released its debut album,
Shadow of Life in the same year. == Visual art ==