E-Mail This Article to a Friend Not easily labeled Converge moves to Epitaph, Mission of Burma signs with Matador, and more

Converge go to Epitaph

Last week, the new year started with a bang for Boston punk fans when local hardcore legends Converge signed with Epitaph, which is perhaps the most storied indie label of them all. Converge frontman Jacob Bannon celebrated with a rare day off from the Salem office of his own indie label, Deathwish, Inc. By the time you read this, he’ll be on tour with Converge in Europe, but when I catch him on the phone, he’s hanging out with Hatebreed’s Sean Martin and 100 Demons’ Pete Morcey at Brass City Tattoo in Waterbury, Connecticut. At Epitaph, Bannon says, "They actually understand us artistically, and that’s pretty much all we could ever ask for as a band." The group plan to head into the studio this spring to record their third proper full-length, You Fail Me.

Five years ago, the Converge-Epitaph connection would have made little sense: the pop-punk powerhouse was definitely not known for signing extreme hardcore bands. But now that the label regularly releases music by everyone from underground hip-hopper Atmosphere to emo luminaries Hot Water Music to smash-and-grab avant-punks the Locust, it seems like the perfect match. And Bannon, an omnivorous listener who says he’s been buying Epitaph’s albums for years, caught an inside glimpse of the operation back when it was still on the cusp of its Offspring-led breakthrough. He was in LA playing roadie for Boston punks Daltonic, whose frontman, Skott Wade, had spent time on the road with the Epitaph group Down by Law. "We were fortunate enough to stay with [Down by Law frontman] Dave Smalley out there and go to the Epitaph offices. This is 10 years ago, when I was like 16 years old. I saw what was going on then, and I was thoroughly impressed. I still am to this day — how they’ve grown into the community without just taking their commercial success and running with it. It’s a really commendable thing to do, and it doesn’t happen very often."

Converge recently reared their heads in a place far more unfathomable than Epitaph when the video for "Fault and Fracture," from 2001’s explosive Jane Doe (Equal Vision), started getting airplay on MTV2’s Headbangers Ball. Directed by Zachary Merck (Dropkick Murphys, Shadows Fall), it’s a cataclysmic soundstage performance accompanied by a gory zombie-girl narrative. "The fact that MTV is supporting stuff and actually paying attention — I mean, who would have thought? It’s fantastic. They’ve become more comfortable with us. We haven’t compromised anything. The larger community has a thirst for music that’s sincere. Music that’s real, as opposed to manufactured or overproduced."

The Epitaph signing marks the end of Converge’s fruitful seven-year relationship with Equal Vision, the venerable upstate New York label that’s currently reaching new heights of commercial success with Coheed and Cambria. Contacted for comment on this story, Equal Vision responded with a cryptic, one-line statement: "Converge is currently under contract with Equal Vision Records." Still, Bannon insists the deal is done. "Our relationship with them [Equal Vision] has been a turbulent one. It hasn’t been a mean relationship or anything like that. We’ve grown in one direction and they’ve grown in another. At this point, they’re concentrating on more accessible rock stuff, and we’re looking for a more diverse place. Although there have been really supportive people there, it hasn’t been supportive from an artistic standpoint. We’re thankful for the effort they’ve put forth."

— Sean Richardson

Burma go to Matador

The reunion that was never to be has evolved into a record deal. Mission of Burma, who initially existed from 1978 to 1983 and, after years of speculation, began performing reunion shows in 2001, have signed a deal with indie label Matador Records. The as-yet-untitled album — their first studio album in 22 years — is scheduled for release this coming May. The band have been recording and mixing the album at Q-Division studios; it’s engineered by Bob Weston with production assistance by Rick Harte, who produced the original Burma recordings for his Ace of Hearts label.

Matador’s indie æsthetic is a logical fit for Burma — the label released the original recordings of Pavement and Liz Phair and has been home to Guided by Voices. Matador was also the label for Burma drummer Peter Prescott’s ’90s band, Kustomized. But Burma also have a long-time link with Matador founder Gerard Cosloy. "We used to get him into Burma concerts when he was 15 — sneak him in the back way," recalls guitarist Roger Miller over the phone. At the time, Cosloy was Boston-based and producing the punk-rock ’zine Conflict. The ’zine, and Cosloy, had a reputation for a caustic gonzo style. "They were always just savage," Miller says, laughing. "Gerard would trash me sometimes. And I would always appreciate it because I knew he liked me. But he would trash something with such vim. It was quite inspiring."

As of my conversation with Miller, all the recording for the new album had been completed, with only some final mastering and sequencing remaining. "The way the album came to be was that at the very first shows we did, we all decided we’d have one new song. To me, that was crucial. If we were just going to haul out the old warhorses, then to me it would be a fun way to make money, but that’s it." Miller, who’d been touring and playing piano with Alloy Orchestra, unearthed a 10-year old song. "I didn’t have time to get back into the guitar frame of mind." But the first "official" shows (there had been "secret" warm-up shows at Lilli’s) — at the Paradise and Avalon and New York’s Irving Plaza — all featured new songs by each band member. As the reunion shows multiplied, so did the new songs.

"Because of all these songs being brought in, at some point it was like, ‘You know, we have seven new songs now; that’s close to an album, isn’t it?’ It took a lot of hemming and hawing on everybody’s part. I believe that I was the main instigator just because I kept writing songs. I’m a pain in the ass like that. If I’m going to be in the band, I’m going to write, and if I’m not going to write, then I don’t want to be in the band." Miller estimates that the new album will include seven songs by himself, three by Prescott, and five by bassist Clint Conley (author of the band’s most-covered singles, "That’s When I Reach for My Revolver" and "Academy Fight Song"). There are also a couple of older songs that he won’t name, only to say that "at least one of them is pretty obscure."

Since they re-formed, Miller estimates that the band (whose line-up also includes Weston in the role of sound man and tape manipulator previously held by Martin Swope) have played 18 or 19 shows. He quotes the magazine the Big Takeover: " ‘Mission of Burma has wisely executed the slowest tour in history.’ It took us 18 months to do 14 dates — what most bands would do in one month."

Miller cites a "slightly different approach in the newer songs, but not much different." The biggest change since the band’s first time around has been in tempos. Fans who have been to all the shows — "acute fans" — have said that "the main difference is that we play about two percent slower than we used to. So it’s just a tiny bit slower, and because of that, all the hooks and the changes are clearer. I’ve listened to some live recordings from ’82, this show we did at MIT, and it’s like, ‘God, no wonder nobody got this!’ We’re blurring over all these really complicated changes, and everybody was wondering, ‘Do these guys even know what they’re doing?’ " Comparing tapes of the 1982 and 2002 shows, Miller decided that the minuscule difference in tempos was enough to make the band sound better today than it did then. "And I think our singing has overall gotten better. I listen to Vs., and almost not a single song on the album Vs. has any melody. I mean, like ‘Fun World,’ which is one of my favorite songs, is just me ranting." He cackles. "And now most of my songs actually have melodies. I suppose we’ve gotten conservative in our mature state."

And what about the state of Miller’s tinnitus, which ended the band in its first incarnation and led him to stick exclusively to piano for several years? At this point, he says his ears are ringing a little more than they were two years ago, but he’s willing to write the damage off as an "occupational hazard." In the meantime, he performs with his guitar amp off to one side, instead of directly behind him, and the stage monitors aimed at Conley. Prescott, meanwhile, plays behind a plexiglass shield. And Miller continues to wear the "ridiculous" firing-range headphones that he began wearing toward the end of Burma’s first career. "It just amazes me to no end that people take me seriously when I’m on stage wearing those. I’d as soon my ears weren’t ringing, but on the other hand, I weighed this — how much are we accomplishing for ourselves and for other people who want to hear us? And I think, well, my ears are ringing more, but I’m used to it, and unless my ears start distorting or I start hearing voices, then I’m just going to roll with it.

"The funny thing is, when we started in 2000 and we did those first shows, I told everybody, ‘I don’t want to be involved in any interviews, I only want to do a 10-song set, maybe 12 songs, and then we’ve just got to stop.’ And then it snowballed so totally out of control that I reneged on every one of my statements. . . .You know, just too much fun."

— Jon Garelick

Either/Orchestra go to Ethiopia

As your read this, Boston’s Either/Orchestra is playing at the Ethiopian International Music Festival in Addis Ababa. According to a press release from the band, they’re the first American large jazz ensemble to play in Ethiopia since the Duke Ellington Orchestra in 1973. The event, which is now in its third year, is produced by the Alliance Ethio-Française and runs through January 24. This is the first time the festival has expanded to include music other than Ethiopian. The E/Os will play free concerts for students and the public, perform, teach, and study at the Yared School of Music. And on January 19, they’ll visit Kampala, Uganda, where they will play a concert at the National Theater.

E/O leader Russ Gershon was first introduced to Ethiopian music by his friend Morphine frontguy Mark Sandman, who gave him a copy of the cassette compilation Ethiopian Groove: The Golden ’70s. In 2000, the band released More Beautiful Than Death (Accurate), which included arrangements of three Ethiopian tunes known collectively as "The Ethiopian Suite."

Gershon cites the African polyrhythms that make Ethiopian music particularly well-suited to jazz, as well as the harmonic possibilities suggested by the music’s use of certain pentatonic scales. Fans of the band are most likely to recall the sinuous modal melodic lines that wended their way through "The Ethiopian Suite." Gershon also cites the saxophone style of Ethiopian pop bands as an inspiration.

After the release of More Beautiful Than Death, the French producer of Ethiopian Groove, Francis Falceto, contacted Gershon. What’s more, Gershon began getting calls from DC-based expatriate Ethiopian musicians who heard the CD on the radio, including composers of the tunes on the album. The response, he says, was "positive and supportive," and several of the musicians asked whether they might play with the band.

Gershon is hoping that the Either/Orchestra’s visit to this politically and economically ravaged country will be "a very positive piece of diplomacy." Sponsors of the trip include the Fund for US Artists at International Festivals and Exhibitions, a public-private partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts, the US Department of State, and the Rockefeller Foundation, with additional support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

— Jon Garelick