Don’t be fooled by the pointy leather boots. As bassist Paul will excitedly tell you, the pair were a bargain. Just $2 from a thrift store near the band’s hometown, Lake Bolac.

Despite their luminous name, The Exploders are no rock stars and posing isn’t their thing. This duo – highschool friends TJ Allender and Paul Doery – are about as precious as their local, the Lake Bolac pub, and the colourful characters it houses.

These guys grew up in a place where music meant watching your mother spin vinyl while vacuuming the lounge room (“I’m still emotionally scarred,” jokes TJ) and collections were built over regular calls to the ‘local’ Ballarat record store. Tracking down old Cream or Hendrix albums was no spur of the moment decision. “We had to ask them to order them in,” the boys explain.

But The Exploders are unapologetic about living beyond the city limits. To be frank, the rat race cum café latte lifestyle has nothing on the country they know. Their debut, self-titled album and their followup Easy & The Sun were recorded for the most part in an old shearer’s quarters using a couple hundred bucks worth of equipment, one tattered lounge and a few broken windows.