After what felt like forever, Bryce Avary (more commonly known as The Rocket Summer) released his second major-label full-length. We caught up with Bryce on Warped Tour to talk about the new album, tour, and more!
Introduce yourself and your role in the band.
My name is Bryce, I’m in The Rocket Summer and I play lots of instruments!
Tell a secret about yourself.
Um I don’t know…I feel like the things they would expect to know I don’t want them to know.
You released Of Men and Angels earlier this year, how has the fan reaction been?
Well I would say it’s pretty good. A lot of people really like it, it’s a different record…it’s a slightly more serious record I think…it’s just where I was when I was writing the record.
How long did it take to write and record?
Just took a couple months, but then it didn’t come out for another whole year. It was finished in March and it basically came out almost in March a year later so it’s pretty crazy.
Do you have a favorite song on it and does it have any special meaning?
I think my favorite song is probably Nothing Matters. I wrote that song and recorded it within like 24 hours. I wrote it because I had a really bad day and I walked outside the studio and there was this homeless guy and I immediately started crying and basically walked back in and wrote the song, the actual version that’s on the record. I just recorded it the very next day.
What’s your favorite moment on tour?
It’s always fun when you get to play like hometown shows…releasing a new record is a pretty cool moment, playing the secret release show in Dallas.
How has Warped been so far?
Warped’s been Warped. It’s been good, it’s been hot, it’s been trying at times, it’s been amazing at times some days. You wake up and you never know what time you’re playing, the bands don’t ever know so…some people don’t understand that, we don’t know what time we play, and we don’t decide, they just tell us. Sometimes you play like 15 minutes after doors, those kinds of days are kinda rough just cause you know 5,000 people are outside and are trying to get in but some days you play in front of 5,000 people and it’s really crazy. We’ve had a lot of really great shows, we just left Canada and we had some really great shows up there.
Have you done Warped before or is this your first?
We did Warped Tour in 2007, we did about a month of it.
What are your plans for after Warped?
We’re doing a headlining tour.
Can you say anything else about it?
I can’t say anything else.
Full US?
I don’t even know, it’s in like the baby stages. It’s in the like [pretends to talk on the phone] “Hey lets to a tour.” “Okay we’ll talk next week bye.” That’s where we’re at.
Do you have a ceiling you want to reach with your musical career?
Being kind of a short guy I’ve never really been able to reach any ceilings so I think that works well in my career too because it keeps my expectations low.
