Formed in 1998, Boston-based band The Explosion has been gaining recognition among fans of aggressive indie punk. The music business has finally taken notice, recently signing the band to Virgin Records. After releasing their latest EP, "Sick of Modern Art, " The Explosion went on tour with A.F.I. JustArts was able to chat with the band, made up of Matt Hocks (vocals), Dave Walsh (guitar), Damian Genuardi (bass), Sam Cave (guitar) and Andrew Black (drums), prior to their show at Avalon on Friday.

JustArts: What are your musical influences?

Hocks: Bands like the Clash. We all listen to a very diverse bunch of music. It's hard to answer that because there are so many obvious bands that you can name.

Black: In addition to the bands that you have the records for and listen to for years, it's amazing to see bands nowadays, like A.F.I. Watching their shows and interacting with them is enough inspiration.

JustArts: How would you describe the evolution of your sound from your earlier work to your most recent release?

Cave: These guys (Matt, Damien and Dave) had the band going for at least six months before I joined and we had all come from different bands. We hadn't really been part of a creative process, it was more like bands that had started in garages. This band is more like a family. It feels more like we are part of a process.

Hocks: As far as the evolution of the songs, we want to keep things from what was happening on the first EP to what's happening now. We want to have elements of aggressive music of course, but also you can't write the same song over and over again. I think that we have tried to explore our sound with some more up-tempo stuff and production quality all the while keeping with the ethic of aggressive music.

Genuardi: A lot of the same ideas are there that were there when we started, but just being together and playing together for a lot longer, sort of creates its own part of the potion, you know?

JustArts: What do you think distinguishes you from other bands in the punk genre?

Hocks: That's a hard question to answer because we write the songs we do, we don't consciously say, "ok, this song sounds similar to band X, we should or we should not have it. "

Genuardi: I think we bring something different, some different ideas, you know, just some different thoughts and different imagery to what's out there.

Walsh: With the newest record, there was kind of a theme throughout the record about the state of art these days. That is why we called it "Sick of Modern Art, " because two or three songs explore the state of modern expression. I don't know if many bands have done that so its kind of a departure of sorts from the material of other bands in the genre.

JustArts: What do you have to say to people who claim that you are selling out by signing to a major record label?

Hocks: In the independent world and the major world, record labels exist to put out records and to make money. The accountant at a major record label probably isn't as passionate as someone who is running their label out of a garage, but the fundamentals are the same. It's a move that we felt as a band we had to make. We are fine with that and if other people can't accept that, we are not going to try and defend ourselves because it's a fruitless battle.

Genuardi: I think it would be really disappointing if we tried to change our image or our sounds drastically to sell more records. I think that warrants more cries of sell-out. You know if we show up on stage with purple goatees and shiny shirts on, playing music that sounds like sublime, I think we would disappoint a lot of people.

Black: Our move to a major record label isn't completely our decision. The record industry has changed a lot over the past five years. People on major labels have started recognizing that there is this entire subculture of untapped music.

JustArts: What are some upcoming projects that you have in the works?

Hocks: We are working on a record right now, which I think is great. The songs are not only reflective of us, but America's decision to go to war. As soon as we get off this tour we will finish writing the record and try to find a producer that we want to work with.

Walsh: Another project that we have is a record label that we started, Tarantula Records, which we put out "Sick of Modern Art " on. There are several bands joining up with us and we put out their first records.