Starting out on their first tour to include the Midwest, two Georgia bands found themselves running for their lives in the middle of Virginia last Tuesday.

Band members of The Good Ship and The Lovers found themselves running away in a dead sprint, only seconds before a massive explosion devoured their RV.

No one was hurt, but their instruments, personal belongings and their home for the next three weeks was destroyed. The bands were stranded on the side of the highway until a state patrol picked them up, with one member in his socks and another with her hair singed from the flames.

“I think we were all having mixed emotions,” says Carolyn Berk, songwriter and singer for The Lovers. “It was a funny mix of wanting to be thankful to be alive, but at the same time dealing with the frustration of losing all your things, and equipment.”

The explosion was a result of a wheel that broke loose from its axle, knocking the propane tank from the camper’s stove unit outside. The tank erupted, causing the whole camper to explode into a giant fireball, Berk says.

Back on the road with a rental van and brand new equipment, they haven’t missed a beat.

The bands from Athens, Ga., will stop at the Boheme on Wednesday as part of their tour. The Lovers will headline the show, while The Good Ship opens for the night. Playing between the two Georgia bands will be Ankeny-based Ephriam Zenh.

Jim Schloemer, who books bands for the Boheme, says The Lovers and The Good Ship are both self-professed indie rock bands while Ephriam Zenh is more of a “straight-ahead rock ‘n’ roll band.”

Answering questions as to the popularity of these Georgia bands, both on Orange Twin Records, and the rapid word of mouth spreading about their talent, Schloemer describes their music.

“The Lovers and The Good Ship are both unbelievably beautiful and melodic,” Schloemer says. “The Lovers are very layered — ‘orchestrated’ is becoming a very significant term to describe them. You can almost picture the band backed by a symphony when you listen to the record.”

The Good Ship is comparable, which isn’t surprising with four core members in each group, three-fourths of each band joins the other on stage at some time.

“The songs are very emotional, sometimes somber, but ultimately uplifting,” Schloemer says. “Most songs are piano and/or acoustic guitar-driven. It’s very stripped-down, feel-good music.”

The Lovers have been together for three years, and The Good Ship for two, but Berk feels that they have already evolved immensely.

“It’s a different sound, I’m really happy with it,” Berk says. “For sure we do not rock out at all. We’re pretty — we play pretty. Our line-up of band members has changed many times over the years, and we have guest performers join us frequently, which gives us a little different sound each time.”

Berk says she used to be really obsessed with the word “lovers,” and the idea of it. They used to get a lot of flak for their name, she says, and thought a couple of times about changing it, but that’s changed and they’re happy they stuck with it.

“It’s kind of a loaded word,” Berk says. “‘Lovers’ is a hard title to carry, but that’s OK because we sort of like taking that on.”

Schloemer believes the bands song-writing ability is their strongest asset.

“They have that ability to massage your soul with their music,” Schloemer says. “There’s no rough edge, no abrasive qualities. The music just seeps into you.”