The early beginnings of Explosions in the Sky occurred in 1999, when three longtime friends from West Texas went to a pizza place in Austin, Texas, for a prearranged meeting with a young man from Illinois. The Illinoisan had just moved to Austin, and he put up a flyer that caught the interest of the others. They ate pizza and discussed movies and decided to meet the next day with their various instruments (two guitars, bass, and drums). Over the coming months they picked a band name, then picked a better band name, then wrote and recorded an album. That album, called How Strange, Innocence, was largely out of tune, but the band members didn't really notice at the time. They optimistically printed 300 copies, and gave most of them away. A friend of theirs sent a recording of one of their live shows to a record label in Baltimore, and that label offered to put out albums for the band. Three albums and hundreds of shows later, the band released their fifth album, Take Care, Take Care, Take Care, this past April.