+Kyle Donaldson that's exactly what makes her cool. she doesn't prejudice her musical choices and form biased predisposed opinion just because of something as meaningless as age..
+Kyle Donaldson i mean, i get what you're saying though, too. it was surprising at first and unconventional to the social norm lol. the status-quo's social norm was already worthless anyway though. and i think that's a big influence to this entire video and why it was made.
+idontimagineyouandi I think she appreciates it because she's a well educated and experienced musician, she can literally hear the merit in it. Part of the reason the the average person off the street hates this music is because they are instantly deterred by the vocals. On top of that they've usually spent their life listening to commercial radio stations, which feature all the musical construct of a nursery rhyme. However if you sat the musically inept in front of Kurt (or any similar instrument player) to watch him play I'm certain they'd be impressed
I hate to be stereotypical, but I have to honestly say that if I saw this lady in passing, I would've never expected that she actually understood the accomplishments of Converge. But she does. And that's so fucking awesome I don't even know what to say.
+Spencer Vik As a former Berklee student, I can definitely confirm that Boston and Berklee are extremely diverse places. Awesome school. Converge is also superb.
it is pretty sweet when stuff like that happens. my old high school economics teacher used to listen to cannibal corpse and had dead kennedys posters on his classroom wall, and he looked like an old banker lol
This is what a real artist looks like. No bullshit "image" that's being kept up, no pretentiousness or pride, just a person who really loves the art he makes and likes to talk about it and share with others. He's well-spoken, sincere and helpful and has a real grasp on what makes his art tick. Great stuff.
"image" is bullshit. You can know it's bullshit and still enjoy it. You could call music bullshit. No more of this "bullshit" bullshit. Except for bulls. Bulls still need to shit.
That is easily the coolest/hippest older lady in this type of setting I have ever seen. She did a great job of knowing the subject AND guiding the discourse.
Susan rules. Just went to a Berklee conference this summer and talked about hardcore and metalcore with her for quite a bit. You'd never assume a woman like her would be a huge aggressive music fan, but she definitely is haha
This was awesome, I'm not a massive Converge fan (I certainly like Jane Doe) and I found this really insightful. Kurt seems like a real humble, intelligent and down to earth guy and hearing him and the producer discuss the events preceding and during the creation of this awesome album was very interesting. I also liked the host lady as she seemed informed and enthusiastic about this masterclass as well as very nice in general. Its a rarity to get such a well constructed view into a piece of work such as this. Awesome!!
I love the juxtaposition between the gushing and sweet introduction from Susan, and then the righteous fury of Concubine. For the uninitiated, it must have been a bit of surprise!
Kurt Ballou looks like a cool dad. Like the type of dad that would catch you smoking weed but wouldn't rat you out to your mom, but just talk to you about how he got weed back in his youth.
do yall know that's Susan Rogers aka PRINCE's main/personal engineer for many many years. on countless Prince songs, it was just him and her recording them. shes a legend
Fantastic. Seriously, I'm so happy this was available I love finding that the artists I appreciate are thoughtful people too and not celebritards. I sat transfixed through the entire recording. Thanks again.
I love how she's praising the shit out of them like they fed an entire third world country in the beginning and the whole time they're just like "uuuuhhhhh yeah we like it or wutever i guess."
Very cool to see this! These guys, Meshuggah, Dillinger Escape Plan, Opeth...all amazing bands who are still cranking out consistently good records every few years or so...and always evolving. They aren't the only ones but they're definitely among the most prominent.
wtf I was here at this conference, asked a question relating to the album he did with agorophobic nosebleed, And some stylistic questions and he said 'thats actually a great question!' etc etc wtf BERKLEE EDITED ME OUT WTF
Dude you guys don’t even realize that the lady in the video is Susan Rogers who was Prince’s engineer during the Purple Reign. She is a legend in her own right and the fact that she appreciates Converge makes me love her even more. What a hero.
They talk about how when they made this album they were young and were mostly going off instinct, as in they didn't have concepts in mind going in and it was just a result of them playing together. That's what really blows my mind about art. When I listen to something like Jane Doe, I have trouble believing that this just sort of... happened (as opposed to being meticulously planned out with a vision in mind). It's the kind of thing that makes me (sort of) believe in some sort of higher spirit or some sort of subconscious we all share - a muse essentially. How can an album that affects me so profoundly just have been shat out by some guys jamming together? I guess what I'm talking about is the phenomenon with art where the audience finds all sorts of intricacies, nuances and power that the artist never even intended, or rather didn't plan out.
+Ginger Fitzgerald Totally agree with you. And this is where I feel like musicians or content creator really underestimate sometimes the power of art that is being given to them. I find myself relating some situations of my life to certain songs and just feel like "wow, these guys must have written this song for me. I mean just for me. Cause nobody around understands how much the lyrics speak to me" But funny as it is, when you ask the artist about it, sometimes it was purposely done cause a lot of bands write about previous experiences whereas some just tell you they never even had that intention of causing such an impact on people.
Could not agree more and there is some comfort in reading this and knowing someone else "gets it", so to speak. I often say albums like this are "handed down from the gods". Lol...
This so awesome. I might of finished college if I would have been able to take classes on Converge, Botch and Dillinger albums : ) Thanks for sharing this Kurt I love stuff like this.
Love the talking point that is brought up around 1:04:00. First few times I had heard Converge, I just did not understand it, found the vocals off putting, etc. Growing up in New England I heard a lot about the band and how great they were. Over the course of a couple of weeks I just had to sit down and listen to all of the stuff I could find. Finally something clicked, while listening to Homewrecker and I have never loved a band more. Can't wait for the next release.
That's friggin awesome I'd love have these guys as guest speakers at my school. Recently been getting into their music and they're some seriously talented dudes. On a side note, Ellard looks identical to Toby Flenderson from the side
....need to see the rest of the video please......By the way, this is an awesome interview and discussion, really appreciate this and thank you for uploading this. :)
Would be interesting to take a song like JANE DOE and arrange it for an orchestra and choir and hear what the similarities are, like for example adapt the guitars and bass for Strings and Trumpets etc, have Jakes screams be done by a male choir and the "singing" parts by a female choir" etc.
"The mass music-buying public...they need stuff that's pretty dumb, and I think in a lot of cases educated musicians are too intelligent to sell records...you can't dumb yourselves down..."
I hate to be stereotypical but I wouldn't have ever expected this lady to even know what Converge is. You can't ever know till ya know. I especially love that she wasn't an awkward mom about it!! she was cool as heck!!!
![Mastodon - The Making of Emperor of Sand [Full Documentary]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/lj4cbYAWUqg/mqdefault.jpg)
If I randomly pulled up to this soccer-mom-looking lady listening to Jane Doe in her car at a stop light, I'd probably lose my mind.
+Kyle Donaldson that's exactly what makes her cool. she doesn't prejudice her musical choices and form biased predisposed opinion just because of something as meaningless as age..
+Kyle Donaldson i mean, i get what you're saying though, too. it was surprising at first and unconventional to the social norm lol. the status-quo's social norm was already worthless anyway though. and i think that's a big influence to this entire video and why it was made.
+idontimagineyouandi I think she appreciates it because she's a well educated and experienced musician, she can literally hear the merit in it. Part of the reason the the average person off the street hates this music is because they are instantly deterred by the vocals. On top of that they've usually spent their life listening to commercial radio stations, which feature all the musical construct of a nursery rhyme. However if you sat the musically inept in front of Kurt (or any similar instrument player) to watch him play I'm certain they'd be impressed
@Kyle
i just died laughing at your comment.
I mean, keep in mind the album came out in 2001, too.
I hate to be stereotypical, but I have to honestly say that if I saw this lady in passing, I would've never expected that she actually understood the accomplishments of Converge. But she does. And that's so fucking awesome I don't even know what to say.
+Spencer Vik As a former Berklee student, I can definitely confirm that Boston and Berklee are extremely diverse places. Awesome school. Converge is also superb.
+Cosmic Monkey Sounds
Also from Boston (Converge)
Spencer Vik she is one down as broad
it is pretty sweet when stuff like that happens. my old high school economics teacher used to listen to cannibal corpse and had dead kennedys posters on his classroom wall, and he looked like an old banker lol
Would've been great if when concubine started playing, the camera panned over to the chairs and a pit had already formed
lmao
Fuckin a
Writer/Producer/Director
This interviewer is one of the sweetest women I've ever seen!
This is what a real artist looks like. No bullshit "image" that's being kept up, no pretentiousness or pride, just a person who really loves the art he makes and likes to talk about it and share with others. He's well-spoken, sincere and helpful and has a real grasp on what makes his art tick. Great stuff.
"image" is bullshit. You can know it's bullshit and still enjoy it. You could call music bullshit. No more of this "bullshit" bullshit. Except for bulls. Bulls still need to shit.
That is easily the coolest/hippest older lady in this type of setting I have ever seen. She did a great job of knowing the subject AND guiding the discourse.
Susan rules. Just went to a Berklee conference this summer and talked about hardcore and metalcore with her for quite a bit. You'd never assume a woman like her would be a huge aggressive music fan, but she definitely is haha
Ironically, the audio in this video desperately needs to be compressed.
+Leisure Muffin I just used my interface software to do so.
I suppose you could call it ironic.. if you are aware of the fact that this statement applies to 90% of RUclips videos.
I think they mixed it to heard with over ear headphones. I found that out when I tried to watch it with my dad and we couldn't hear jack haha
She's like Miss Mullins, the principal that fell in love with Jack Black in School of Rock.
tristin mears She so is hahahahaha
I love how the professor is trying so hard to contain herself while they play Concubine haha. I don't blame her though, it really does get you going
I loved that closeup of the kid tapping, and shaking his leg. That dude was about to jump out of his seat and start going nuts.
This exists
ShellacSoup Lord Quas + Converge album...
Grayson Mendenhall Music is vast. This is why we love it.
ShellacSoup This comment though.
this exists is a good channel
straight up
i wanna headbang to concubine with this lady. she is rad
This is simply magnificent.. I´ve dreamt about interviews like this one.. Thank you so much..
This was awesome, I'm not a massive Converge fan (I certainly like Jane Doe) and I found this really insightful. Kurt seems like a real humble, intelligent and down to earth guy and hearing him and the producer discuss the events preceding and during the creation of this awesome album was very interesting. I also liked the host lady as she seemed informed and enthusiastic about this masterclass as well as very nice in general. Its a rarity to get such a well constructed view into a piece of work such as this. Awesome!!
I love the juxtaposition between the gushing and sweet introduction from Susan, and then the righteous fury of Concubine. For the uninitiated, it must have been a bit of surprise!
whoever said distance and meaning first, was another legend.
haha true
Kurt Ballou looks like a cool dad. Like the type of dad that would catch you smoking weed but wouldn't rat you out to your mom, but just talk to you about how he got weed back in his youth.
Kenya Stew He a straight edge...
The dad I hope to be
do yall know that's Susan Rogers aka PRINCE's main/personal engineer for many many years. on countless Prince songs, it was just him and her recording them. shes a legend
Susan Rogers was Prince's engineer in the 80s
I want to hang out with Susan Rogers so badly! She is just such a delight
Fantastic.
Seriously, I'm so happy this was available I love finding that the artists I appreciate are thoughtful people too and not celebritards.
I sat transfixed through the entire recording. Thanks again.
I love how she's praising the shit out of them like they fed an entire third world country in the beginning and the whole time they're just like "uuuuhhhhh yeah we like it or wutever i guess."
+gerberho1 that's a bit fucked mate...
WeWantYouToStay has a starving person ever motivated you to dismember a loved one? Jane Doe has.
Imagine if the woman who mixed Prince's Purple Rain and many others is aknowledging you as a producer/engineer...
I enjoyed your comment, but this is my favorite band in the world and everything she said I also enjoyed.
Susan is awesome! Great interview, really good.
One of my favorite albums of all time. Permanently changed my taste in music.
Very cool to see this! These guys, Meshuggah, Dillinger Escape Plan, Opeth...all amazing bands who are still cranking out consistently good records every few years or so...and always evolving. They aren't the only ones but they're definitely among the most prominent.
that lady 70's psychedelic rock style headbanging to concubine was probably the funniest thing ive ever seen in my life
What a life.
She would be such a supportive and awesome mom.
Ben Koller is a beast. Shreds so hard and always has a smile on his face.
The fact that a middle-aged woman uses the phrase "true that" on a regular basis is just delightful.
susan rodgers did so great with the questions and introduction
Great interview done by interviewees who actually care about the material, good job and thank you
When some college professor calls one of my favorite albums ever a masterpiece, I listen.
Their professor is feeling it
I'm honestly happy this album is being looked at as an artist achievement because it certainly is
Kurt Ballou makes me think of Baloo the bear for some reason
E 李 Loong bc their names are the same?
E 李 Loong every time
He looks like a big bear with all that facial hair and his size.
Holy shit I will never unsee that
The bare necessities might be a great metallic hardcore song
Very insightful. Thank you so much for sharing!
wtf I was here at this conference, asked a question relating to the album he did with agorophobic nosebleed, And some stylistic questions and he said 'thats actually a great question!' etc etc wtf BERKLEE EDITED ME OUT WTF
They were like "DIMITRI? _That_ Dimitri? Cut specifically him the fuck out!"
Dude you guys don’t even realize that the lady in the video is Susan Rogers who was Prince’s engineer during the Purple Reign. She is a legend in her own right and the fact that she appreciates Converge makes me love her even more. What a hero.
Purple reign? Ave Caesar!
They talk about how when they made this album they were young and were mostly going off instinct, as in they didn't have concepts in mind going in and it was just a result of them playing together.
That's what really blows my mind about art. When I listen to something like Jane Doe, I have trouble believing that this just sort of... happened (as opposed to being meticulously planned out with a vision in mind). It's the kind of thing that makes me (sort of) believe in some sort of higher spirit or some sort of subconscious we all share - a muse essentially. How can an album that affects me so profoundly just have been shat out by some guys jamming together? I guess what I'm talking about is the phenomenon with art where the audience finds all sorts of intricacies, nuances and power that the artist never even intended, or rather didn't plan out.
+Ginger Fitzgerald Totally agree with you. And this is where I feel like musicians or content creator really underestimate sometimes the power of art that is being given to them. I find myself relating some situations of my life to certain songs and just feel like "wow, these guys must have written this song for me. I mean just for me. Cause nobody around understands how much the lyrics speak to me" But funny as it is, when you ask the artist about it, sometimes it was purposely done cause a lot of bands write about previous experiences whereas some just tell you they never even had that intention of causing such an impact on people.
You are so right, man
Could not agree more and there is some comfort in reading this and knowing someone else "gets it", so to speak. I often say albums like this are "handed down from the gods". Lol...
i really loved watching this lady praise one of my favorite records, and Jane Doe is brutal and beautiful.
Fuck yeah. Will always be my favorite hardcore/metal albums.
This so awesome. I might of finished college if I would have been able to take classes on Converge, Botch and Dillinger albums : )
Thanks for sharing this Kurt I love stuff like this.
this is so awesome. 2nd part please!
Love the talking point that is brought up around 1:04:00. First few times I had heard Converge, I just did not understand it, found the vocals off putting, etc. Growing up in New England I heard a lot about the band and how great they were. Over the course of a couple of weeks I just had to sit down and listen to all of the stuff I could find. Finally something clicked, while listening to Homewrecker and I have never loved a band more. Can't wait for the next release.
Took me awhile too
I was hoping for an academic analysis of the album itself. Though I appreciate the discussion on the production behind Jane doe
That's friggin awesome I'd love have these guys as guest speakers at my school. Recently been getting into their music and they're some seriously talented dudes.
On a side note, Ellard looks identical to Toby Flenderson from the side
....need to see the rest of the video please......By the way, this is an awesome interview and discussion, really appreciate this and thank you for uploading this. :)
Would be interesting to take a song like JANE DOE and arrange it for an orchestra and choir and hear what the similarities are, like for example adapt the guitars and bass for Strings and Trumpets etc, have Jakes screams be done by a male choir and the "singing" parts by a female choir" etc.
This is such an underrated comment. In also curious as to how it would be composed
Proof that real musicians keep an open mind to different forms of expression.
this lady knows whats up and that is frickin cool
"The mass music-buying public...they need stuff that's pretty dumb, and I think in a lot of cases educated musicians are too intelligent to sell records...you can't dumb yourselves down..."
I laughed every time she said "true that"
John Simmons true that !
what an insightful vid. album still shreds
what an energetic woman. Fun and inspiring to watch
damn i love her vibing/dancing along
This is awesome.
Awesome, but, where's the rest of this fascinating insight to this process, and such a phenomenal album?!
I'm gonna make an album like this I really hope some praises it like this women praises Jane doe
That lady was seconds away from picking up change and doing spin kicks
Really want Kurt Ballou and Jef Whitehead to make something together. I wanna be decimated by controlled chaos.
I hate to be stereotypical but I wouldn't have ever expected this lady to even know what Converge is. You can't ever know till ya know. I especially love that she wasn't an awkward mom about it!! she was cool as heck!!!
Jane Doe is my favourite agressive music album!!!
I now want to go to this college just for this kind of stuff.
....and to think some oaf in Nashville is making unfathomable amounts of money for writing "country girl shake it for me girl, shake it for free"
4:08 - 4:12 literally me every time I hear that drum riff
you need to fix the audio Please!!!
There needs to be a second part. :O I want to hear the answers to the questions very badly.
It’s funny that they mention All We Love We Leave Behind in passing - that album also ended up being a masterpiece
That lady is cool as fuck!
Will we get the 2nd part?
love this
This professor is fucking awesome
Also yeah p clear to anyone watching how great the "moderator" is but really she's astonishingly perf
Tom Segura looks really cool in this one
The Nice Hooves album is fucking great.
Ryan Allen dude. you are right.
Converge... musical advices from the underground.
Holy shit!! Kurt was a Biomedical Engineer? That's legit. I have a biomedical background myself, and work in cancer genetics.
Anyone else just love it when she says "true that"? lol
Awesome
I wish I could hear them talk more about "you fail me"; its their actual Magnum Opus imo.. :)
Nice Hooves ✊
goosebumps
Does the camera have fucking eyelids? Kept thinking my monitor was wigging out. Regardless, this video is gold.
She is cool as hell
Mr. Ballou do you mind boosting the audio up a little?
great interview but the audio levels are all over the place. almost impossible to listen to without headphones
Music school... can't do decent audio.
+JeffreyHexagon English school... can't do decent spelling.
Haha. Just kidding...
Opps! you got me
+JeffreyHexagon oops* keep tryin'
OOOOOOOOOPS
the lady reminds me of mrs mullins from school of rock
beautiful hour of info. that teacher is hxc af. i made it 48 minutes through the thing till i threw jane doe on.
True that.
All that polite headbanging struck me as funny.
This is awesome but why are there so many dropped frames?
Oh my god yes oh my god
Hey now, Smash is a sick album
oh no! why did it end?
is she the lady on the album cover?
where is the rest of this video?
Fuck yea Kurt Ballou!!!
true that...
"...Botch... we stuck it out"