Getting Out Of Dodge & Into The Opera House

Chris Hrasky, drummer for Texan post-rock instrumental four-piece Explosions In The Sky, has an extra special reason for wanting to leave the United States and come to tour Australia (above and beyond wanting to play shows and be in our beautiful island nation). "I'm looking forward to getting out of the US for a little while so I can avoid watching its daily collapse," he laughs, but it is a laughter tinged with a touch of regret.

"We just want to say sorry for everything that's going on in America right now, hopefully it will all turn out ok, maybe! We'll see what happens, but good luck to us all, I guess. I've never seen anything like this here, the protests and the marches, so that encourages me that there are millions upon millions of people in this country that are just saying, 'Whoa! This is just not the country we want.' It's a crazy time, so we'll see what happens."

"I've never seen anything like this here, the protests and the marches, so that encourages me that there are millions upon millions of people in this country that are just saying, 'Whoa! This is just not the country we want.'"

Political turmoil in their home nation aside, the band have something truly unique to look forward to on their upcoming third tour of Australia: a very rare appearance for a rock/alternative act at the Sydney Opera House. "That's a pretty crazy one, when we saw that that was happening," he says. "That's the type of show you tell your parents about, 'Hey Mom and Dad, we're playing the Sydney Opera House!' One of the most famous buildings on the planet, it's iconic. That's pretty exciting."

Known for their highly theatrical sound and stunning visuals, the show, along with all of the other gigs they are playing around the nation, promises something pretty special for the Aussie punters coming along, however Hrasky downplays this just a little. "I hope so," he understates it, "we toured most of last year, so we feel really tight as a band right now, so hopefully things will go well. We actually haven't played live since November, so maybe we'll be a little rusty, but we're rehearsing and getting things going again."

The band have forged an incredible career for themselves, having formed way back in the late '90s and playing a style of music that is just about as far away from the mainstream as you can get. Hrasky is a little amazed by their success and their longevity himself. "Yeah, it's pretty remarkable," he admits, "it was certainly never our plan. It was a daydream for sure, we wanted to play music in Austin and have fun really and do something interesting, but the fact that this has lasted this long and this is our day job is amazing. We feel very lucky."

There seems to be no end in sight either. "Yeah, we're going to tour most of this year, and we might do a soundtrack next year. Then we might take our first break for a long time. But we all want to work on new music, and the plan is definitely to keep going as long as we still feel interested and excited about it."