Boston Death Metal outfit Bonginator are set to release their debut album entitled Intergalactic Gorebong of Deathpot on April 20th. Bonginator’s frontman Erik Thorssteen took the time to talk with Metal Express Radio about the band’s upcoming debut album, the formation of the band, the music scene in New England, and more. Check out the chat below!
Metal Express Radio: Boginator’s debut album entitled Intergalactic Gorebong of Deathpot is set to be released on April 20th, what can you tell fans about the upcoming release?
Thorstenn: If the fans have been liking what we’ve already put out then this album is going to absolutely blow them away. We took what was best about The 1986 Doink City Massacre and made it something totally incredible. We got more two-steps, more slams, more mosh riffs and more ridiculous lyrics. We even hired the same voiceover artist for the intro. It’s everything a Bonginator fan could hope for.
MER: How was it writing and recording a full album with the band for the first time?
Thorstenn: The recording process on this was super fun. I have always handled all the engineering, recording, mixing, etc. and this was by far my biggest project in a long time. The songs were all demoed and written on my own, but all the tracking is done as a band. It’s been sick working with these guys both on and off stage and I can’t wait to see what we do next.
MER: How did the formation of the band come about?
Thorstenn: The band started in late 2021 when my last band broke up. I was working on some death metal demos at the time and wanted to pursue death metal more. One day I came up with the story to 1986 Doink City Massacre and pretty soon I had the whole EP done. After that it was just about finding members to play the music, and I already knew Ron and Jake from our other bands at the time. I know pretty quickly that I wanted to get them on the next album so we started almost immediately on The Intergalactic Gorebong of Deathpot.
MER: What are some of the band’s influences to play music?
Thorstenn: It’s pretty easy to tell that some of our biggest influences are the current modern death metal bands sweeping the scene. 200SW, Bogg, Frozen Soul, Undeath, Creeping Death, etc. My favorite bands growing up were Deicide, Cannibal Corpse, Obituary, Possessed, and all those classic OSDM bands. The new death metal has this hardcore attitude though that is just so alluring to me. It has that groove and motion that makes people wanna dance and go hard in the pit while maintaining that sick death metal sound.
MER: What are your plans for the rest of 2023?
Thorstenn: We have this tour with Escuela Grind coming up and that’s super exciting for us. It’s our first big tour like this so we really don’t know what to expect. We have another EP demo’d put so we’ll probably get recording on that soon. We never stop working haha. I’m really hoping to get out to the west coast again this summer.
MER: Who do you hope to tour with and why?
Thorstenn: We’ve always wanted to tour with 200 Stab Wounds. We love those guys and I think it’d just be super fun. If you asked me a few months ago I’d say Escuela Grind, and that came true so who knows! Snuffed On Sight is another one we really want to run with. A tour with them and Bodybox would be insane I think.
MER: What are some of your favorite places to play live in New England?
Thorstenn: There’s a bunch of sick places out here to play. My buddy Rob’s got a spot he calls the Five/Nine that he’s built out of his basement. The New England scene has seriously grown to love that place. The Middle East is also a great spot to see locals or national bands. That’s in Cambridge. There’s also a huge DIY scene out here and it’s sick to see this scene really grow through that.
MER: How is the Metal scene throughout New England?
Thorstenn: I’m repping New England Death Metal all the time, as much as I possibly can. When Bonginator started playing shows I was getting introduced to a bunch of sick bands. I eventually put on a festival called “The New England Death Metal Fun Time Bonanza” and I think that really kickstarted some shit cuz I see these bands playing with each other now all the time. We’ve really curated something special here in New England and I’m super proud of it.
MER: What are your hopes for the band’s future?
Thorstenn: We just wanna keep growing! Tour as much as possible, put out more music, play some festivals, who knows? We just wanna keep doing this, whatever that means.
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