Explosions in the Sky@@http://www.explosionsinthesky.com/@@ will return to Eugene for the first time in nearly five years this Wednesday, bringing their instrumental, orchestral rock sound to the McDonald Theatre stage.@@http://www.songkick.com/concerts/11776028-explosions-in-the-sky-at-mcdonald-theatre-ga-events@@
“We’re looking forward to it, definitely,” Explosions in the Sky drummer Chris Hrasky said.@@http://www.theaquarian.com/2009/06/23/explosions-in-the-sky-interview-with-drummer-chris-hrasky/@@
Explosions in the Sky is an instrumental quartet from Austin, Texas, that features primarily drums and electric guitars and creates songs with drifting, layered melodies and emotional, complex instrumental narratives. They are widely considered a rock or post-rock band.
“Well, that’s kind of our whole thing, is to try to write songs that sort of have these narrative marks, where there’s rises, falls, there’s almost like different acts going on,“ @@what@@Hrasky said.
Consisting of Hrasky on drums, Munaf Rayani, Mark Smith and Michael James on electric guitar@@http://www.last.fm/music/Explosions+in+the+Sky/+wiki@@, the group works together on writing songs, building upon one person’s idea for a guitar or drum part until all four members are completely happy with the end product. Hrasky admits that the songs are not meant to tell one specific story but are instead made keeping a narrative in mind.
“It’s more to have that feeling of a narrative, of the sound of things changing and not ever knowing quite where something is going,” he said. “The songs are almost their own little soundtracks to imaginary movies or something that we’re here to make up.”
Formed in 1999 in Austin after finding each other via a flier posted in search of a band, Explosions in the Sky were signed to Temporary Residence Limited in 2000 @@http://handsometours.com/tours/explosions-in-the-sky/@@and have since become known for their enthusiastic and passionate live shows.
“It’s frustrating to watch bands who get up and play and almost look like they’re bored or not really trying very hard because, A, people are paying to see them and, B, anyone who gets to actually be in a band and might make a living out of it, they’re really lucky,” Hrasky said. “We don’t ever take that for granted, so when we play live we just try to put all of our energy into it … we try to work as hard as we can.”
Since its formation, the four-piece band has released six studio albums@@http://thepiratebay.se/torrent/4606798@@, toured consistently and worked extensively on the soundtrack for the 2004 film “Friday Night Lights.”@@http://www.explosionsinthesky.com/fnl.html@@ Their newest album, “Take Care, Take Care, Take Care,” was released in April 2011 and marks a slight change in the band’s sound.@@http://www.amazon.com/Take-Care/dp/B004QIUGOM@@
“For this record we wanted it to be much more layered and more of a studio record where we had a bunch of different things going on,” Hrasky said, explaining that their previous albums were made a little differently with their live show in mind.
Also unlike their previous albums, their newest full-length features small vocal parts made by the band members, including the “oh-ohs” and humming that can be found on their song “Trembling Hands.”@@http://stereogum.com/654141/explosions-in-the-sky-trembling-hands/mp3s/@@
“It wasn’t a sort of idea, like ‘Let’s throw everybody for a loop and put vocals on it.’ It was more, we just thought of it as just another instrument, or just another way to make a point,” said Hrasky, who explained that the band may or may not use vocals on their tracks in the future.
The group likely won’t start discussing ideas for a new album for another six months according to Hrasky, but will keep busy touring through the summer, playing in music festivals such as Coachella and Sasquatch Music Festival later this spring.@@http://www.jambase.com/Articles/57632/Explosions-In-The-Sky-Spring-U.S.-Tour-Dates@@
Explosions in the Sky are set to perform at the McDonald Theatre April 11 at 8 p.m. Tickets are available through all TicketsWest outlets and at the EMU ticket office for $20, or for $25 the day of the show.@@http://www.mcdonaldtheatre.com/event_info/explosions-inthe-sky.html@@