Early years and the name Bokassa (2013–2017) Jørn Kaarstad, Lars Erik Andreassen and Olav Dowkes had their first rehearsal in Trondheim in 2013, in a war bunker turned into a rehearsal place. Kaarstad and Andreassen knew each other from work; and Andreassen and Dowkes had met before at a party at which they played together in a Eurovision cover band. The band is named after the former dictator of the Central African Republic Jean-Bédel
Bokassa. In 2019 Kaarstad said: “''we sing about a lot of the atrocities in the world and we felt that Bokassa was a fitting name. In the West you've heard about a lot of dictators, but we tend to forget the other places in the world. That's why we chose Bokassa, because that is an atrocity that happened that not many people know about
.” Kaarstad also explained that people sometimes think they are called bokkasse (bookcase in Norwegian), which “sounds like an indie band''”. In another interview he shared some of the alternative names that they considered for the band, including Mother Trucker. Bokassa's first album “Divide and Conquer”, released in 2017, was well received in Norway and earned Bokassa some recognition in their home country. Norwegian rock celebrity
Kristopher Schau declared it was the best Norwegian record of the year.
Lars Ulrich's endorsement and tour with Metallica (2018–2019) In early 2018 Metallica's drummer
Lars Ulrich declared on his Beats 1 radio show "It's Electric!" that Bokassa was his “
favorite new band”.
"These guys are f***ing insanely cool” he said, “I heard most of the first record and all the songs are f***ing way next level." Speaking about the music video for
"No Control," Ulrich continued: ''"There's a super cool ... black and white video of them sitting in a bar drinking beer. It's like a one-shot, and all their friends come up behind them and help them sing the song and take their beer from them. I know it doesn't sound like much of a concept but it works really well, it's really cool."'' A month later, Bokassa received an email from Metallica's management inviting the band to meet with Lars Ulrich in Oslo where Metallica was playing in May 2018. They accepted the invitation and met with Ulrich. In June 2018, Metallica's management called Jørn Kaarstad to offer Bokassa a supporting spot in Metallica's upcoming 2019 European stadium tour
WorldWired. Kaarstad, thinking it was a scam call, declined the call. He then received a long text from Metallica's management, and realized then that the call was legitimate and not a scam. Kaarstad called them back. He then called his bandmates Olav Dowkes and Bård Linga to share the news. The band accepted the offer. The band celebrated the news in Kaarstad's flat but received strict instructions to not share the news with anyone. They kept the news to themselves for three months. Two days before the official announcement, someone in Spain drove a truck on which the artwork for the tour was displayed, featuring Metallica, Bokassa and the Swedish band
Ghost. Some people took pictures of the truck and posted them on social media, tagging Bokassa and asking for confirmation that this was real. In a 2019 interview, Kaarstad expressed his relief that it was not his bandmates or himself who had spilled the beans, and that it had been very hard to keep the news secret. On 24 September 2018 Metallica announced that Bokassa would be one of their supports for the summer of 2019, together with Ghost. Between 1 May 2019 (Lisbon) and 25 August 2019 (Mannheim), Bokassa played in 25 venues across Europe opening for Metallica. The tour immensely increased the band's visibility and popularity. Five years later, in a 2024 interview, Jørn Kaarstad admitted: “Lars Ulrich basically made our career.” On off days, in between the dates with Metallica, Bokassa played their own headline concerts in clubs.
Crimson Riders (2019) On 21 June 2019, Bokassa released their second album
Crimson Riders, which was very well received. Fermor-Worrell from Distorted Sound rated the record as 10/10 and wrote in his review: “
Crimson Riders isn’t merely just Divide & Conquer 2.0 – it’s a monumental step-up in quality from an already promising band, putting forward a concise yet entirely enjoyable collection of huge, arena-ready anthems.” Sam Law from Kerrang! Wrote: “
Picking up where 2017 debut Divide & Conquer left off, this riotous second LP feels like the perfect escalation.” In the fall of that year, they toured the album in Europe and the UK (Riffs, Hooks, Breakdowns and Freedom tour) with 23 dates.
Molotov Rocktail (2020–2023) In 2020 Bokassa were set to play at Domination Festival in Mexico, Headbangers Holiday in Croatia,
Bukta Open Air Festival, Malakoff Rock Festival, Alta live,
Pstereo Festival, Bygdalarm, Månefestival,
Norway Rock, as well as in clubs in Norway. However, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, they only played at
Eurosonics in Groningen (Netherlands) and at the Odal MicroRock Festival in Norway. They also played several dates in Norway before the March lockdown. In 2021 Bokassa released Molotov Rocktail. The record immediately went to number 18 on the Norwegian chart, their highest spot to date. It received good reviews, with Jani L. from Tuonela Magazine writing: “
The new album is an endearingly old-fashioned, cohesive tightrope act of punk singalongs and highly contagious stoner grooves”. Rich Hobson from Metal Hammer placed the album in his best albums of 2021 list (number 9). However, the COVID-19 pandemic prevented them from fully touring the album. That year they only played a few restricted shows in Norway. They also went on a UK Headline tour and played in London, Manchester, Southampton, Glasgow, Cardiff and Wolverhampton. In 2022, they played in Europe and the UK in (co)-headline shows, at festivals such as Paaspop,
Download, Tons of Rock,
Hellfest,
Wacken Open Air, Rockfest, and Full Metal Holiday; and as supports for
Judas Priest,
Baroness, and
Mastodon. In 2023 they supported
Zebrahead and
Therapy?, played at several German and Norwegian festivals, at the
Rockwave festival in Greece, and at the Full Metal Cruise.
All Out of Dreams (2024–present) In 2024 they released their fourth album All Out of Dreams with Indie Recordings. The album was recorded, mixed and mastered by Tue Madsen in Antfarm Studio in Denmark in June 2022. For the first time, Bokassa have guest artists on the album: Lou Koller from
Sick of it All and Aaron Beam from
Red Fang. All Out of Dreams was critically acclaimed as “
fantastic” (Kerrang!). In his review for Distorted Sound, Tim Bolitho-Jones wrote: “
even in the grimmer moments, All Out Of Dreams is a delight.” In the spring of 2024, just after the release of All Out of Dreams they toured Norway, playing 15 concerts. That year they played at several festivals, including
Greenfield Festival in Switzerland,
Resurrection Fest in Spain, Tons of Rock and Soroyrocken in Norway,
Wacken,
Elbriot, Reload and Summer Breeze in Germany, and Full Metal Holiday in Mallorca. They also played as supports of
Red Fang (Berlin),
Life of Agony (Kiel and Düsseldorf) and
Ignite (Hannover). In the Fall of 2024, they toured Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands, with 11 dates altogether. Finally in November 2024, they played in the Norwegian towns of Sogndal and Florø. In 2025 they continued touring the album, starting with a performance at Nida Rock Festival in Norway in February, followed by three dates in Norway in March (Trondheim, Notodden, and Mandal). After playing at the Full Metal Mayrhofen Festival in Austria in April, they announced they would be supporting
Clutch's Europe tour in the Fall of 2025, with 19 dates across Europe and the UK. Still in April, they went on a UK tour with 8 dates. That tour was their first Headline Tour in the UK since 2021. At the end of April they returned to Germany to play at the Mosh N' May Metal Festival in Schapen. == Musical style, influences and live performances ==