Interview with Bonginator
Le Jeudi 17 Août, je me suis rendu au Traxide pour assister à la performance de Bonginator qui était de passage dans la métropole pour la promotion de son dernier effort intitulé The Intergalactic Gorebong Deathpot disponible sur Bandcamp. Le groupe se donnait en spectacle en compagnie de Primal Horde, Zero State et Greed (Mexique).
Originaire du Massachusetts dans l’État de Boston, Bonginator est une formation qui donne dans un Death Metal avec des touches de Slam, Doom, Stoner, Hardcore et de Thrash. Une salade corsée qui possède ce qu’il faut pour attirer l’attention des amateurs de musique Metal les plus forcené du domaine. Avec un seul album devant eux, ils nous démontrent leur volonté d’exister en se lançant dans une tournée qui leur permet de parcourir les États-Unis et le Canada. Personnellement, j’ai connu et découvert Bonginator en regardant Tik Tok, ou le chanteur Erik Thorstenn donne des conseils au sujet des groupes en tournée. Lors de leur dernier passage, le groupe à partager la scène avec XPlicit Noïze au légendaires Foufounes Électriques. C’est en me rendant au Traxide que j’ai pris connaissance du fait que Bonginator serait en sol montréalais prochainement. En voyant comment les conseils du chanteur avaient du sens, il me vint l’idée de leur donner un entrevu lors de leur passage à Montréal. C’est ainsi que j’ai pris la latitude de contacter Erik pour lui demander s’il était intéressé par une entrevue et il a répondu positivement à ma proposition. Donc, voici un compte rendu de ladite entrevue.
Mais avant d’aller plus loin, faisons une rétrospective de leurs travaux en tant que formation Métal. Tout d’abord, voyons quels sont les albums appartenant à la discographie du groupe :
2022 – Bonginator – Bonginator (Démo) Contient 3 pièces originales.
2022 – Bonginator – The 1986 Doink City Massacre (EP) Contient 6 pièces originales.
2023 – Chopped 2 Pieces (Single).
2023 – Bonginator – The Intergalactic Gorebong Deathpot (LP) Continent 12 pièces originales (Dont la pièce Chopped 2 Pieces).
Entrevue avec Bonginator
- How did Bonginator start in the first place & Who is the instigator of the project ?
Réponse : Erik Thorstenn – I was making some Death Metal demos with some new Death Metal songs that I was working on, and I knew I had to start a new band for it. And the other guy’s I kinda already knew from the area, as they were playing in bands. It was pretty easy and pretty quick yeah.
- When was the band created ?
Réponse : Erik Thorstenn – Everything started like in november 2021, but we released our first demo in january of 2022. And we tracked everything from january 1st
- Were you planning on doing a Slam Death Metal band when you started Bonginator ?
Réponse : Erik Thorstenn – Yeah, definitely, I was like I wanted to really just make Death Metal. I started out with the vision of wanting to make Death Metal and combine it with 80’s Synth wave.
- How came the name ?
Réponse : Erik Thorstenn – The name came after I wrote all of the stories, like Bonginator. That’s a cool word.
- When you write the lyrics, how do you process your writing ? Do you write the lyrics once the music is created, or do you write the words before the music ?
Réponse : Erik Thorstenn –
- I’ve seen that you shared the stage with Skeletal Remains, how was the experience of sharing stage with this band ?
Réponse : Erik Thorstenn – It was really really good. I got to see and talk to all of them, it was really sick. It was a show with : Mortuous, and Left To Die and our good friends in Scab Hag, they’re from Cincinnati, it was a good night and it was really fun.
- Is there any band you would like to share the stage with in the years to come ?
Réponse : Erik Thorstenn – Any of modern Death Metal like stars right now Saying to Say Goodbye, 200 Stab Wounds, Body Box. Cannibal Corpse it’s kinda a dream, like you know shoot for the moon kinda thing. There’s other bands we like, like 10 To The Chest, Snuffed On Sight, Peeling Flesh, there’s a lot of cool bands in Death Metal.
- What would be the ideal tour for Bonginator ?
Réponse : Erik Thorstenn – I would say definitely 200 Stab Wounds, Fulchy, and Bonginator and maybe Frozen Souls.
- I discovered Bonginator’s existence by scrolling on Tik Tok, and found that you were giving good advice to the bands that wanted to go on tour. How did the idea come to you, to do this kind of advice for bands on the TikTok page ?
Réponse : Erik Thorstenn – I was seeing a lot of what Matt Bacon was doing, and I really liked his advice. And I thought you know like there’s a couple things that I’ve learned, just you know by doing tours by myself that you know I really wished someone had told me you know some years ago. I figured I could provide some advice to bands that are at my level on how to start out and book some shows.
- According to you, what is the importance of the web in the pursuit of Bonginator’s goal ?
Réponse : Erik Thorstenn – Oh, it’s super important man, and I think it’s really important, cause we reach a lot of young kids and I think that is super important nowadays. Cause there’s a lot of young kids that are into Death Metal and you know, we’re really tapping into that. Like whatever they like, you know they’re like in high school and Death Metal is a cool thing to get into right now and that’s sick. So I think that’s really cool and I have to thank Tik Tok and Instagram for all of that. It’s really good. And I think a lot of bands avoid it because that’s not cool, but that’s how you reach the new audience.
- How did you proceed to set your tour ?
Réponse : Erik Thorstenn – For this one, I actually booked through Zack Murray from Sewer Pool Productions and Gland. He helped me for all the Canada dates. But usually when I go, when I’m booking a tour, it starts out like we’re getting an offer to get on a festival or something or like a cool show, and we just build like to have a trip to get there and back for a week or so.
- But when you do this usually in the States, do you do it with another band or do you just go on your own ?
Réponse : Erik Thorstenn – Yeah, we usually try to do it with another band. We got a lot of friends that could join us on the road.
- Do you have any funny moments that happened during the tour to share with us ?
Réponse : Erik Thorstenn – Yeah, so one time, we were in Florida, our drummer Joseph got really wasted. When we came back to the Hotel room, we found him asleep on the counter of a sink with his head in the sink. We still don’t know how he got up there. I don’t know, it’s always so much fun being on the road with these guy’s. And everyday is interesting. There’s no dull moments for sure.
- Do you have any words for any bands that start in the business and want to engage in touring ?
Réponse : Erik Thorstenn – I think, when you’re at a show. Whenever you go to a show you should just try to just meet and talk to as many fuckin’ people you can. And if you want to get on shows, you have to go to shows. And it’s really important that you give to your scene what you want to get out of your scene. So if you go to shows, and you mosh at those shows, you throw down and support the bands, they’ll do that to your band in return.
- What can we expect from Bonginator before the end of the year ? Is there any other tour coming ?
Réponse : Erik Thorstenn – We have a new single in the works, that I don’t know when it’s gonna come out. But we’ve been playing it in our shows and people really fuckin’ like it. We’re working with a lot of really cool people right now and I think that the next year for Bonginator is gonna be like the real fuckin’ deal you know ?!
- What’s the name of the last album and who did you work with ?
Réponse : Erik Thorstenn – The last album was the Intergalactic Gorebong Deathpot and I’ve recorded it and mixed it and everything. My friend Sean McCormack from the band Frog Mallet mastered it.
Bandcamp : https://bonginator.bandcamp.com/
YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK1J5kEh2gIJbUMXAhMEt9g
Spotify : https://open.spotify.com/intl-fr/artist/0nYqH22K19D3MUPFeomPIP?si=ntuywQ0wRvmUJJ7hy7xMlg&nd=1
