Internal chaos broke loose Jan. 31 as The Explosion unloaded its volatile set at the Lo-Fi Cafe.
After a mishap with the band’s van on the road almost made The Explosion miss their gig, Salt Lake City was lucky to be in the Boston-based punk-band’s company. Accompanied by Death by Stereo, New Transit Direction and No More Heroes, the Lo-Fi show was packed with mostly 12-year-olds who screamed with the enthusiasm of their respective soccer moms.
Now on Virgin Records, The Explosion recently released a new album, Black Tape.
“It hasn’t sold that many copies, but it sells a consistent amount every week, [so] as far as I’m concerned it’s a success,” said Explosion front-man Million Dollar Matt about his band’s recent releases.
Seen as an up-and-coming artist on Virgin, compared to the other more established artists on the label, The Explosion has the energy and attitude to gain a great deal more inter-label clout.
At the very second Death by Stereo’s guitars started playing, the crowd went berserk.
Death by Stereo’s hardcore political lyrics, combined with the band’s new harder, more metal-oriented sound, led frontman Efrem Schulz to jump off stage and pillage through the Lo-Fi crowd by slamming his head into the heads of concertgoers.
Using Death by Stereo’s equipment as opposed to setting up its own, The Explosion took stage Monday night with minimal crowd participation at the beginning of the set.
“You don’t want people to stand around and look bored,” said Million Dollar Matt. “It’s not easy on the ego.”
Ending their tour at Lo-Fi, The Explosion is about to embark on a two-month tour of Europe. Having only one previous tour through Europe, almost four years ago, Million Dollar Matt is hoping that this time his band will have more of an impact upon the trans-Atlantic scenes.