Many bands have undergone some crazy and bizarre experiences while on stage, in the recording studio or traveling on the road. But can any band attest to experiencing Mount St. Helens suddenly erupt while filming a music video at the foot of it?

Viva Voce can.

“It’s actually pretty strange, because the lyrics of “Center of the Universe” — they’re lines about lava and stuff like that,” says Kevin Robinson, of the indie rock band Viva Voce. “So when we were outside shooting the video [and] someone said that the volcano erupted, I kind of thought they were joking. We ran up on the overpass, and sure enough it’s like a seven-mile explosion. It was really bizarre.”

The weirdest and undoubtedly the coolest part of that experience is that Viva Voce got it captured in its video, Robinson says.

During an interview in a parking lot, Robinson admits to being a little bit groggy.

“You’ll have to excuse me — we’ve been coasting on very few hours of sleep the last couple of days,” he says, “but I’ll do my best.”

His weariness comes from the whirlwind of touring he and his bandmate and wife Anita Robinson have gone through. Viva Voce has hit up all the major markets including New York City and Atlanta, he says.

Before beginning this tour, the pair got a jump start performing in Europe for a week. They’re planning on heading back overseas after the current U.S. tour ends to do another month there, Robinson says.

“It’s getting to the point where I can’t even remember what it’s like not being on tour,” he says.

Portland, Ore.-based Viva Voce is touring in support of its latest album, “The Heat Can Melt Your Brain.” Known for their constant experimentation, Kevin and Anita love to try out new objects when writing songs.

Not only do they play with an abundance of instruments on the self-produced “The Heat Can Melt Your Brain,” Viva Voce tests out kazoos, saws, vibraslaps, ratchets and sirens.

“We experiment with stuff — put amps in the oven, hang microphones from the ceiling — just do all kinds of stuff,” Robinson says, “Sometimes it works, and sometimes it’s a total disaster.”

As odd as it may sound, Robinson says putting amplifiers in the kitchen stove has proven to work well.

“It kind of creates a plate reverb,” he says. Also, it makes it sound like there is what he calls a “metally kind of echo.”

“There are really big and nice and fancy expensive reverb units which we didn’t have access to, so we kind of made, like, a poor man’s plate reverb chamber and put it in the oven, and it worked and it sounds really good,” he says.

Robinson says he and Anita put on a pretty stimulating show, so don’t expect a chilled, laid-back evening.

“[It’s] a very loud rocking one,” he says.

Who: Viva Voce

Where: M-Shop, Memorial Union

When: 9 p.m. Saturday

Cost: $6 students, $8 public