Even in Brunswick, Maine, home of courteous drivers and friendly shop owners, kids need to get loud sometimes. Tomorrow night Teratoma, Bowdoin's only metal band, will perform new songs on campus for the first time this year. Newly-formed student band Mango Floss will open the show.
Founded by lead singer Andrew Sudano '10 and drummer Lauren Marshall '10 in 2007, Teratoma now includes guitarist Fred Cantu '12 and local musicians Jared Morneau on guitar and Steven Frost on bass.
The Brunswick band, which counts groups like In Flames, Slayer, Amon Amarth, Children of Bodom, Megadeth and Lamb of God as influences, takes its memorable name from a rare tumor that is capable of growing hair, teeth and limbs. Clearly, these musicians don't take themselves too seriously.
"We integrate more modern melodic death metal influences—a subgenre of death metal—with more traditional conceptions of death and thrash metal," said Sudano. "There are definitely hints of metalcore and black metal in there as well, but they're mostly just hints."
Sudano loves the genre and said he is bothered by people who inaccurately associate metal with certain ideologies.
"Most metal bands are singing about the same things that other bands sing about—social problems, relationships, inner struggles, conflict and turmoil—these are the things that prompt strong emotional responses and tend to be subjects lyricists in general write about," Sudano said. "The forms in which these themes manifest themselves in metal music are often geared toward the aesthetic of violent imagery...because maybe that's how these people are best able to express their feelings."
"Metal draws out the greatest emotional response when I'm listening to it, and I put more emotion into it than I would another genre of music. It enables me to express myself in a form that I'm comfortable with, that I love," Sudano added. "I also can't play an instrument, and those who have heard me sing anything other than metal can attest that I'm not really capable of singing anything other than metal."
Sudano said Teratoma has received mixed responses in the past, but he looks forward to performing in Chase Barn, which provides large space for both the musicians and the crowd to move around.
Saturday marks a major development in Teratoma's musical career. While in the past its set lists have been a half-hour long with half covers, Saturday's show will be an hour with only one cover. The group will also share several new songs.
To get the crowd ready for Teratoma, Mango Floss, consisting of Sarah Wood '10, Farhan Rahman '10 and Fhiwa Ndou '13, will play their first performance as a group.
"We play what I would tentatively call garage pop influenced by shoegaze—Ride & My Bloody Valentine—and, spiritually, by punk—The Clash," said Wood. "Farhan and I bonded over a love of The Clash and always talked about starting a band."
Mango Floss will play a half hour set of six or seven songs, two of which will be covers.
Teratoma and Mango Floss will perform tomorrow in Chase Barn from 9 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.