15 years after their last visit in Greece, legendary CONVERGE return to deliver their chaotic music and shake the entire place.
Energy, adrenaline and madness are synonymous with their concerts ... get prepared for what's going to happen on Saturday 24th of June @ Gagarin 205 Live Music Space.
Bassist Nate Newton answers our questions on their latest piece of art “Bloodmoon: I” and gives a taste of what's to come.
Read below our nice chat.
Rockoverdose: First of all, we would like to know if you ever felt we’d be celebrating 30 years of Converge 3 years ago, with people still craving new material. Did you see it coming or did it surprise yourselves too?
Nate Newton (Converge): It’s probably more shocking to us than it is to anyone else. We only ever just wanted to make music we like with our friends. We’re amazed by it all.
Rockoverdose: We would like to know the background behind “Bloodmoon: I”. Did you intend for it to be a collaboration from the beginning? Or did it take shape afterwards in its final form?
Nate Newton (Converge): Bloodmoon was initially just a live performance commissioned by Roadburn festival for converge to perform our slower moodier material. We felt it needed more instrumentation so we reached out to Stephen Brodsky, Ben Chisholm, and Chelsea Wolfe to see if they’d like to participate. The shows went so well that we all decided to write new music together.
RockOvedose: You chose to cooperate with Chelsea Wolfe, was it because of her undeniably strong presence and unique voice, or did you think she fit better than any candidate to your new material?
Nate Newton (Converge): The material was written after the lineup was solidified. Chelsea was always a part of this version of the band.
RockOvedose: Getting to work all together, do you believe more sides of each individual of you and her, came out during the recordings? Maybe something you didn’t know you have inside you until it was completed?
Nate Newton (Converge): I think it inspired creativity in all of us simply because we were working with different people.
RockOvedose: Did the recordings of “Bloodmoon: I” become somehow more special and liberating due to the global pandemic? Was it a way for you to escape this madness and turn all this negativity into positive creativity? Do you believe it would sound the same under different circumstances?
Nate Newton (Converge): It certainly gave us something to focus on and something to be hopeful about. I really don’t know if it would sound the same, but given the people involved… I have complete faith that I would have loved it regardless.
RockOvedose: How important is it for a band to have its own artist and its own producer? Is it a blessing and a curse sometimes combined? How did your arts get to evolve through Converge and any other part you got involved in?
Nate Newton (Converge): I can’t speak for other bands, but for converge it’s an inherent part of how we operate. I don’t think we could release those responsibilities to anyone else, simply because they are huge parts of why the band evolved the way it has.
RockOvedose: Obviously, the title of the latest work somehow gives away a possible continuation in the future. Is it something that might happen soon enough, and if so, will it be with Chelsea again on board?
Nate Newton (Converge): Yes. Once our schedules coincide we’d all like to work on more.
RockOvedose: How did the material of “Bloodmoon: I” work live, along with your older stuff? It’s certainly different, more than you’ve ever been in your career. Was it as a challenge for you on live performance as it was in studio?
Nate Newton (Converge): It’s very different, so we approached it live in a very different way. With that said… any older material we did while supporting the album with the blood mooon lineup was vastly changed from the way we did it originally. With Blood Moon the intention was to do something none of us had done before.
RockOvedose: We’re going to see you in Greece after 15 long years. What do you remember from your previous two visits, which, in the eyes of the fans witnessing them, have still remained as legendary, to say the least?
Nate Newton (Converge): I just remember complete energetic chaos! I can’t wait to come back. We’ve been waiting for a long time!
RockOvedose: We would like to thank you for decades of offer, being unique and filling each possible gap of your fans on many different aspects. What does the future hold for Converge and what other achievements would you like to fulfill that keep you motivated as a sum of different characters?
Nate Newton (Converge): I just want to keep making records with my friends. That’s the greatest thing i could hope for.
RockOvedose: Thank you deeply for your time.
For RockOvedose.gr,
Angelos Katsouras
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