Jacob Bannon

Jacob Bannon

Bannon in 2008
Background information
Born (1976-10-15) October 15, 1976
Boston, United States
Genres Metalcore, mathcore, hardcore punk, ambient
Instruments Vocals, guitar, bass
Years active 1990—present
Labels Deathwish Inc.
Associated acts Converge, Supermachiner, Irons
Website www.jacobbannon.com

Jacob Bannon (born October 15, 1976[1]) is the vocalist, lyricist, and graphic artist for the American hardcore punk band Converge. He is also the founder and owner of the label Deathwish Inc. Additionally, Bannon is a visual artist and has created many visual works for the independent music community.

Bannon was also the founding member of Supermachiner, who released one album entitled Rise of the Great Machine. He has also released solo recordings under the names "J. Bannon" and "Wear Your Wounds".

Life

Bannon in 2005.

Bannon attended college at The Art Institute of Boston, earning a Bachelors In Fine Arts for design in 1998, and subsequently taught the subject on a college level for a brief time.[2] After working a variety of freelance design jobs around Boston, he began working as a freelance artist and designer.[3]

He is vegetarian[4] and straight edge. From 2005 to 2008, he has been nominated for the title of "World's Sexiest Vegetarian" by Peta2.[5] He is concerned with the greyhound-racing industry,[4] and is a dog owner, having owned rescued greyhounds, pitbulls, among others.[6]

Bannon is also a mixed martial arts fan,[6] and accordingly Deathwish Inc. has sponsored some MMA fighters.[7]

Bannon is known for his extensive tattoos. He received his first tattoo at the age of 15, which has subsequently been covered by other tattoos. He has been tattooed by Darren Brass, among many other artists.[8]

In 2013, Bannon was the subject of a short documentary directed by Ian MacFarland entitled "Rungs in a Ladder." In the documentary, Bannon reflected on important moments in his life and his motivation as an artist.[9]

Businesses

Deathwish Inc.

Main article: Deathwish Inc.

In early 2001, he founded the Deathwish Inc. record label with his best friend Tre McCarthy.

Deathwish is one of those labels that deserve to be the biggest indie label on the planet. They not only put out interesting acts, but they go through painstaking efforts with every aspect of each release from artwork to recording to the band’s branding. These efforts definitely do not go unnoticed to their many die-hard fans, but it is disheartening to see bands/labels with less than 10 percent of the integrity that Deathwish has continue to outsell them. It gives me comfort that these are things that Jacob and Tre do not concern themselves with as they continue to put out powerful and beautiful releases.[10]
— Virgil Dickerson, IndieHQ

Diamonds & Rust

Bannon co-owns a home décor and antique store with his wife in Beverly, Massachusetts called Diamonds & Rust, which offers, "a variety of new/vintage industrial and mid-century furniture and lighting, textiles, art, and other collectibles and accessories."[11]

Music

Bannon has been active in the hardcore punk music scene since 1990, when at the age of 14 he co-founded Converge. He has been in two musical sideprojects, Supermachiner and Irons, released solo material, and contributed guest vocals to numerous other hardcore bands.

Converge

Main article: Converge (band)
Bannon in 2004.

Bannon is one of the founding members of Converge, who formed in the winter of 1990 when he was only fourteen years old. After several demos, the band released their first record on Earthmaker Records, entitled Halo in a Haystack (1994). The band then released three records on Equal Vision Records, Petitioning the Empty Sky (1998), When Forever Comes Crashing (1998), and Jane Doe (2001). The band has worked with Hydra Head Records and Relapse Records, among others, for EPs and split albums. For the release of You Fail Me (2004), No Heroes (2006) and Axe to Fall (2009), the band switched to Epitaph Records. Since the move, the band has released vinyl versions of their Epitaph albums and re-released older albums on Bannon's Deathwish Inc. record label. See also: Converge discography

Bannon is the lead vocalist and lyricist for Converge, and contributes the art and design for their album covers and sleeves, apparel, and other merchandise. In an interview with the Miami New Times, when discussing his vocal work on the album Axe to Fall, Bannon described his vocals:

I'm a bit of a one-trick pony, because I'm a traditional abrasive vocalist, and there are only certain things I feel comfortable with. I try to stay within the limitations that I have physically. Like, I never wanna be one of those vocalists that Auto-Tune themselves to hell -- that's the worst thing.[12]

In 2012, Converge released "All We Love We Leave Behind" on Epitaph Records.

Supermachiner

Main article: Supermachiner

Supermachiner, a collaboration between Bannon and Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou alongside their friend Ryan Parker, released Rise of the Great Machine in 2000. Unlike the heavier music of Converge, much of Supermachiner is ambient.[13] A 30 track discography, Rust, was released in 2009.[14]

Solo

After Converge had completed their 2001 album Jane Doe, Bannon started writing and recording solo material under the name Dear Lover. A number of releases were lined up that never saw the light of day. A song "Grant Me the Strength" was made available for download on Converge's website.[13]

In 2008, Bannon has released a 7" EP of solo material on Deathwish Inc., entitled The Blood of Thine Enemies, under the name J. Bannon. The EP contains one song on the A-side, while the B-side is etched, part of the "impressive" package design which included a silkscreened folded cardboard cover/sleeve.[15] The music "is a pulsing ambient piece. Miles away from his front man duties in Converge, Jacob uses only a clean delivery here, genuinely singing the chorus."[16]

Irons

Irons is a musical collaboration between Bannon, Dwid Hellion (of Integrity) and visual artist Stephen Kasner. They are self described as a "collective effort to create apocalyptic, non-linear music from a primal fine art based mindset."[17] A split 12" LP with Pulling Teeth was released on Deathwish Inc.[18]

Wear Your Wounds

Initially planning on releasing solo music under his name only, in 2012 Bannon began using the Wear Your Wounds name for these projects. This allowing others to collaborate and work with him on future projects. In January 2013 a split 7" EP between Wear Your Wounds and Revelator, who is Ben Chisholm guitarist for Chelsea Wolfe was released.

Guest vocals

Bannon has recorded guest vocals for bands such as 108, Cave In, Some Girls, Give Up the Ghost, Ramallah, and Pulling Teeth.[19]

Art

Bannon's art and design career predominately involves doing design work for hardcore punk bands and releasing limited edition art prints. He has stated that his art and design work pays his bills.[10] Since 1997, he has produced art for dozens of bands.[20] Work for these bands has involved packaging, poster, web, apparel, and logo design.[21] Some of his design work has been credited to his art company Atomic! ID.[22] He designed a shirt for the online boutique of Hatebreed's Jamey Jasta, Hatewear.[23] He also is responsible for the art direction, and often the design work, for all the releases on his Deathwish Inc. record label.[24]

His work has been described as "heavily textured with a kinetic energy and unsettling feel".[24] Tim Lambesis of As I Lay Dying praised Bannon's work on their Shadows Are Security album art and stated that it "is probably the biggest selling record that Jake has ever done artwork for ... [even though] his ethic and his whole approach to art isn’t really about sales and numbers."[25] Bannon's style has been influential; as one magazine article put it, he "is often credited with inventing the so-called skull with wings aesthetic that became so popular in the punk underground and mixed martial arts scenes that today knockoffs are available in stores like Target and Marshalls."[26]

In 2004, Bannon released a series of 4 "museum-quality" giclée prints, with a run limited to 100.[27] He has worked with Burlesque Design to have limited series screenprints produced of some of his artwork, including two limited edition Converge tour posters and limited prints based on the album artwork for the Converge albums Jane Doe, No Heroes, and Axe to Fall.[28] The Jane Doe cover art was featured on the cover of the sixth issue of Beautiful/Decay Magazine, which also contained an interview with Bannon.[29] He also designed a limited-edition cover for the May/June 2005 issue of Punk Planet, which was their third Art & Design themed issue.[30]

On August 15, 2004, he participated in Strhess Fest in Cleveland.[31] In February 2008, he participated in the Public Domain group art show,[32] and October 2008, his artwork was featured in a Halloween themed group show entitled Horror Business, both held at Tradition in Los Angeles.[33][34] In October 2010, Bannon had work in the Scream With Me show at 111 Minna Gallery in San Francisco, which featured the artwork of selected musicians and tattoo artists.[35][36]

List of bands for whom Bannon has designed

Bannon has worked on art and design for dozens of bands, including:[20]

Solo discography

Selected art exhibitions

References

  1. ↑ artist website bio http://www.jacobbannon.com/history/ Retrieved October 14, 2011
  2. ↑ Childers, Oakland L. "Converge (singer Jacob Bannon)" May 1, 2002 Thrasher Retrieved March 5, 2009
  3. ↑ "History". jacobbannon.com. Retrieved 2008-08-08.
  4. 1 2 "Out There: Jake from Converge" 'Peta2. Retrieved March 5, 2009
  5. ↑ http://www.peta2.com/outthere/o-sexyveg05.asp http://www.peta2.com/outthere/o-sexyveg07.asp http://www.peta2.com/OUTTHERE/o-sexyveg06.asp http://www.peta2.com/outthere/o-sexyveg08_winners.asp
  6. 1 2 Arthurs, Jamie. "Interviews: Jacob Bannon" Sep 17, 2008. punkbands.com Retrieved March 30, 2009
  7. ↑ i.e. "Joe "J-Lau" Lauzon"
  8. ↑ "Scratch interview with Jacob Bannon of Converge" September 13, 2004 Epitaph Records. Retrieved March 29, 2009.
  9. ↑ "Rungs in a Ladders: Jacob Bannon | Documentary heaven.". January 25, 2013. Retrieved September 22, 2014.
  10. 1 2 "Interview with Jacob Bannon of Deathwish Records" June 6th, 2007 IndieHQ. Retrieved March 29, 2008
  11. ↑ Gitter, Mike (December 17, 2012). "Converge Singer Jacob Bannon on Art, Rob Halford + Running Deathwish Inc.". Noisecreep. Townsquare Media. Retrieved March 24, 2015.
  12. ↑ Castillo, Arielle. "Q&A With Converge, Playing With Mastodon and Dethklok November 8" October 20, 2009. Miami New Times blogs.miaminewtimes.com Retrieved November 2, 2009
  13. 1 2 Jaschke, Magnus (May 2003). "Interview - Dear Lover". Retrieved 2008-05-02.
  14. ↑ Supermachiner "Rust" DWI88 Deathwish Inc. Retrieved April 16, 2010
  15. ↑ "J. Bannon: The Blood of Thine Enemies" March 19th, 2008. scenepointblank Retrieved March 29, 2009.
  16. ↑ "Crustcake Reviews: J. Bannon - The Blood of Thine Enemies" June 27, 2009. Crustcake. Retrieved March 29, 2009.
  17. ↑ "Irons" deathwishinc.com Retrieved March 29, 2009
  18. ↑ "an interview w/ Jacob Bannon of Converge" February 25, 2009 brookylnvegan.com Retrieved March 29, 2009
  19. ↑ "Sound" jacobbannon.com Retrieved March 8, 2009
  20. 1 2 "Sight" jacobbannon.com Retrieved March 29, 2009
  21. ↑ Of note, he designed logos for Iodine Recordings Deathwish Inc., Malfunction Records, Tree Of Woe Label, and Undecided Entertainment.
  22. ↑ "Interviews: Converge" Oct 14, 2004 punkbands.com Retrieved March 29, 2009.
  23. ↑ "Jake Bannon Signature Hatewear Shirt" February 2, 2009 Hatewearinc.com Retrieved March 6, 2009
  24. 1 2 "Jacob Bannon" May/June 2005 Punk Planet Issue 64.
  25. ↑ Myk "AS I LAY DYING" Under the Volcano Fanzine. Issue 87. Retrieved March 29, 2009
  26. ↑ Louangvilay, Romey. "Jacob Bannon: Distance and Meaning" July 30th, 2009 FIGHT! Magazine Retrieved July 30, 2009.
  27. ↑ http://www.smother.net/music-news/items/521/Jacob_Bannon_Prints_Available.php
    http://omgposters.com/2007/03/15/jacob-bannon-fine-art-prints/
  28. ↑ "Jacob Bannon" tagged posts OMGPosters.com Retrieved March 5, 2009
  29. ↑ Beautiful/Decay Magazine. (2004) Issue F. Retrieved June 29, 2009.
  30. ↑ "Vinyl, MP3s, Band Posters, T-shirts, Turntables, and more". Insound.com. Retrieved 2012-01-15.
  31. ↑ "Gallery" 2004 Strhessfest Retrieved March 6, 2009
  32. ↑ "Muziek | Myspace Music". Imeem.com. 2011-12-08. Retrieved 2012-01-15.
  33. ↑ "The Art of J. Bannon Featured In Gallery Show" January 31, 2008. Late Night Wallflower. Retrieved March 5, 2009
  34. ↑ "Horror Business Group Show" October 15, 2008. Juxtapoz. Retrieved March 5, 2009.
  35. ↑ "Scream With Me" October 6, 2010. 111 Minna Gallery. Retrieved February 24, 2011
  36. ↑ Other artists featured in the Scream With Me group show included Matt Skiba, Jason Cruz, Chad VanGaalen, Tim Fite, John Dwyer, Dan Smith, and Michael Beinhorn.

External links

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