We are Brock Ginther. What's up?

Explodepants Music was started in Chillicothe, Ohio in 2005, but moved over to Boston in late 2007 because college is a thing. It is now based in Somerville, MA. Its primary function is releasing music made by Brock Ginther and his band, Royal Blood.

For the curious:

I started this label back in high school to release my first album, Loose Lipped Trees and a Trip Down the River. I made a couple hundred CD's and sold 'em to my peers out of the trunk of my car. The album was received relatively well, but the best part was discovering how good the whole album-making process felt: really, really good. I remember a period of time where every American History class was spent sketching out different song orders, meticulously arranging them and playing through the new order in my head. That kinda stuff consumed me. As goofy and dramatic as it sounds, I realized then that I'd have no choice but to keep making albums until I was physically incapable of doing so. Curse'd.

In the spring of 2007, I spent a lot of time and money on The Compass is a Liar. By this time, I was really comfortable with my basement as a recording space and with all of the gear I was using, so I was able to do a lot of stuff texturally that I hadn't been able to pull off before. I was really proud of the album, but I kinda sorta forgot to tell anyone about it. Hundreds of copies sat shrink-wrapped in a cardboard box in my room. It was a little discouraging, but once I headed to college I was able to give them away to people that really seemed to dig it. Quite a few copies remain in my room -- want one?

College made things weird. I didn't really have a recording space anymore -- I had to haul all my microphones, instruments, cables, and headphones around the residence hall until I found an empty common room to set up in. In addition to this, my brain was going through a lot of weird stuff -- falling apart, reconfiguring itself, spinning in different directions. As a result, I think, everything I was recording was fragmented and disjointed. A bit dark, too.

Things continued this way for a few years, songs slowly accumulating until about 80 homeless songs sat stagnant on my hard drive. Being an album guy, it really bugged me that these songs were just sitting around, unattached to something bigger. I was always sketching out a new release with these dudes in the tracklist, in various configurations. An EP almost happened, but I kept waiting around for better songs to materialize.

Finally, in 2010, I was siezed by the manic need to release, release, release. BAM! The Great Purge went down. I also started the Benefits of Home Recording collection for releasing songs that I'm proud of but don't really fit anywhere. It's usually bundled with the Great Purge, but you can download it for free here.

Royal Blood:

Right now, Explodepants Music is primarily concerned with Royal Blood, my band with Michael Brierley and Erik Magnus.