Bosse-de-Nage fans peed their pants when the experimental black-metal band recently booked a rare gig for next week’s Oblivion Access festival in Austin. While the four-piece originated about 15 years ago, their tour history only includes about 20 concerts total.
But while that number isn’t likely to grow too much, the band’s catalog is.
In an interview that is about as rare as a Bosse-de-Nage live performance, vocalist/lyricist Bryan Manning told New Noise on Monday night that the Flenser band is working on new material. Bosse-de-Nage are already putting the finishing touches on one composition, although Manning—who himself works for Flenser—wasn’t ready to disclose yet.
“We got a little sideways in the pandemic in terms of our schedule,” Manning tells New Noise. “But we’ve been practicing recently every other week or every few weeks.”
Better yet, Manning revealed that Bosse-de-Nage will debut their new song at OA when they perform on the night of Friday, June 16. While the band focused on playing selections from 2015’s All Fours and 2018’s Further Still in recent years, Bosse-de-Nage are taking a different tack for their special engagement at Oblivion.
“We decided we wanted to play a selection of songs from all our work—including (the) new song to debut,” Manning says. “We have something from all our albums on the setlist, at least one track from every album. Except the (2012 Deafheaven) split, which doesn’t count as an album.”
By our count, Bosse-de-Nage will play six songs at OA, as they have five studio albums and the new song. With their songs averaging roughly six minutes each, and Bosse-de-Nage only getting 40 or 45 minutes to play, the post-metal posse won’t have much time for banter, to say the least.
“it’s going to be fine,” Manning reassures.
He further noted that, psyched as he is for OA, the Bosse-de-Nage concert will have to be supremely special to rank as their best.
Manning says their performance at the Netherlands’ Roadburn Festival, the ultimate event for metal’s most erudite fans, currently ranks as Bosse-de-Nage’s number-one show of all time.
“That was easily the most exciting show we’ve ever played,” Manning says. “There was a big room of excited people. It was exhilarating… It feels like a reward for the work you’ve put in. Hopefully (Oblivion) turns out to be something like that.”
