Exploding Popes got their start in the summer of 2009 by Tom Gallello and Mash Blabbater from the remains of Crippled Past. One day while skipping gym class, Tom struck up a conversation with Mash Blabbater (great stage name) and they found that they had a lot of musical tastes in common. Tom played Mash an early Windows Movie Maker version of Zebras and Mash instantly heard the potential. A few weeks later Mash would be drumming in Tom’s basement and the rest, they say is history. Tom and Mash made videos for the songs Ride You, Fat Albert’s Revenge and Haast Eagle. They caught the ears of Mike Grippo and Zac Vanacoro who were in another high school band called Sit Back Cellar. In October of 2009, Mike and Zac joined Exploding Popes as lead guitarist and bassist respectively. They played a few gigs, recorded a lot of material and even placed second in a local battle of the bands. In the fall of 2010, Zac went to college which left the Exploding Popes without a bassist. Tom felt directionless, having put every egg he had in the basket of rock stardom. At his lowest point, he got shitfaced drunk off a bottle of cheap wine and recorded the revolutionary album Ascaris in one sitting. In the early winter of 2011, Josh Norberto joined The Exploding Popes on bass. This line up played local dive bars and even opened for a band that featured Shaq’s girlfriend at the time.

Exploding Popes would remain somewhat active until the spring of 2017 when Tom had to put all of his musical ambitions on hold to become a full time caregiver for his grandparents.