Lake Bolac band The Exploders reform for Kennedys Creek festival

Written by Matt Neal in the Warrnambool Standard 23rd October 2014 - ©Copyright Warrnambool Standard

IT’S been 10 years of ups, downs and rocking good times for Lake Bolac band The Exploders.
It’s certainly a decade worth celebrating, which is why the band is back together for their first shows in two years, including the headline spot on this weekend’s Kennedys Creek Music Festival. Bassist Paul Doery is no stranger to the small but much-loved event tucked away in the Otways — he’s played every year at the festival in various line-ups, including Brother James, Singing For Humans and Ancient Slate. But he’s particularly excited about getting to play the festival with The Exploders. Doery, frontman and fellow Lake Bolac local TJ Allender, and their West Australian bandmates J Cortez and Malcolm Clark have been rehearsing at Allender’s Lake Bolac farmer’s cottage/recording studio, having not seen each other since those last shows two years ago.“We were all a little bit hyperactive seeing each other,” Doery laughed.“We hadn’t seen the WA boys in the flesh for two years so it was a little bit exciting — we were giggling like schoolgirls, talking rubbish.“And once we got over that, we plugged in and decided to have a jam — it was good to be back in the cottage together again.” The setlist The Exploders are preparing for their Kennedys Creek slot will touch on all four of their releases over the past decade, but particularly their self-titled debut — the album kickstarted their career in a big way.“A lot of stuff happened very quickly early on,” Doery said when asked to look back at their 10-year career.“We’d only been playing gigs for nine months or so or maybe a year when we got signed and released an album and started getting a bit of airplay.“We weren’t expecting all that — we were caught by surprise, we were caught off-guard.“These days bands are a lot more prepared and have goals set and work their way up.“With us, it was all just happening and we had to go with the flow and make the most while it was happening.”Extensive national tours, recording and playing in the US, and some big festival gigs followed, but somewhere along the way the bubble burst and The Exploders could go back to doing things at their own pace, which has meant an album and a tour in 2009, a few years off, then another album and a tour in 2012 and then a few more years off. “You always look back and think you could have done things differently, like being more organised and more aware,” Doery said. “We were completely green on the whole music thing.“A couple of better decisions with the ‘back office’ side of things, like management, would have helped more. “But playing-wise, we worked hard, played a lot of shows and had a lot of fun.” The fun is set to continue at the Kennedys Creek Music Festival on Saturday and Sunday, located in the grounds of the Kennedys Creek Hall.