The Rocket Summer have recently dropped his eighth full-length album, Shadowkasters, and we had a chance to talk to project mastermind Bryce Avary about the new record. In the interview, Bryce Avary shares how he became a musician, how The Rocket Summer was formed, the inside scoop on the new album, the new song “M4U,” and many more things. Have a look at the interesting conversation below:
Can you please share how your musical journey began?
I grew up in Football, Texas, an indie kid. I loved country music too but always felt a bit an outsider. So, records and instruments became my best friends pretty early. In Texas, the middle school band was very strict that no one could join the band after 7th grade. But it was in 7th grade that I started playing drums at my friend’s house on his kit, so I begged the district, and they said no; rules are rules. But upon further relentless persistence, they made an exception to let me join in 8th grade, but I was put in the concert band.
A couple months in, Dallas Fort Worth had an All-Region Band tryout where all the musicians at every school in the region tried out to make the all-star band to perform one concert. I had only been in the band for two months, and everyone else had been in the band for two years and two months, so I thought it was crazy for me to try out, but I was encouraged to by my instructors, so I did, and ended up getting first chair in the region. So, at that moment, I knew this was it.
What were the challenges that you faced early in your career? How did you overcome them?
I think probably some of the biggest challenges were what one might expect the challenges would be of having your music start hitting locally on the radio as a 16-, 17-year-old child. The lovers and the haters were all there letting you know, and so I found myself starting to retreat really early in my life which was kind of unhealthy. Luckily, I just kept returning to the songs and the instruments, and they kept producing little lives in the form of songs. I would take them on the road and keep my head down, only really paying attention to the people inside of the rooms. And that became a bit of a family and a buffer to the outside noise.
When was The Rocket Summer formed? How did you come up with the name?
I made my first CD to tape in 1999, and originally it was simply under my name. I had played all of the instruments on it, and when I went to the CD manufacturing plant, at the last second, I decided I wanted it to be less about someone and more about something. I was reading a book, and “Rocket Summer” was mentioned, and I threw a “The” in front of it and changed the name to that. I didn’t realize it would become the rest of my life, but I’ve made peace with that decision mostly, haha.
How would you define your genre? Who are your influences?
It’s too hard to really define it at this point. SHADOWKASTERS and Zoetic are me exhaling from the industrial/trip-hop chambers of my heart, whereas some of the earlier albums were me exhaling from the piano and punk parts of my heart. It’s a mercurial ride to be a fan of this. I quite appreciate my fans riding this multicolored wave with me.
How long did it take to finish SHADOWKASTERS? Any favorite tracks from the album?
I made the record over the pandemic, and it was essentially entirely finished and mixed by fall of 2021, with the exception of “Off The Hinge,” which I recorded summer of 2022. It was the longest I’ve ever sat with an album before it came out because I originally was planning on using the songs as soundtracks of short films I was making, and I went through months of negotiations with other labels before deciding to simply keep releasing under my label Aviate Records, a great reminder of why I started the company.
I suppose the time paused is OK, though, in hindsight. Twenty-twenty-one and 2022 were still a time where we were all crawling out of COVID stuff, so I was fine to avoid all of the protocols for touring that were still in place and just wait until it was back to normal. It’s so peculiar now; it’s as if none of that era happened, and yet it was this all-consuming mess for a couple of years. I’m OK to never talk about it again and just get back to what I do, which is sing songs collectively each and every night with a bunch of beautiful people. I’m just so grateful to be back. This is where I am truly me.
What is the theme of the new song “M4U?” How was your experience of making the music video?
I made the video with a lot of great people. But, speaking of COVID, I finally contracted it late 2022 when we made the video, so I set up a camera and filmed all my parts myself in my studio, Sound Cirque. Nikki Parks did a great job editing with her team!
Watch the music video of ‘M4U” on YouTube:
How different is “M4U” from your other single “Stuck Inside Your Light”?
I released “M4U,” “Sing At The Top,” and “Stuck Inside Your Light” before the album. I wanted to show different themes of the album prior to releasing the whole thing in the era of releasing singles prior to the album. “Sing At The Top” has more of this upbeat dance punk element. “M4U” is more groovy/industrial. “Stuck Inside Your Light” is moody and dramatic and sounds like taking flight.
You have written, performed, produced, mixed, and mastered “M4U” by yourself; how challenging was it? How content are you with the outcome?
I have historically handled all the duties on the majority of all Rocket albums, but only in the last few did I start physically mixing them. I am very proud of the mix on the new album! I love mixing records. It’s its own art that I’ve been quietly honing for about a decade now. I’d love to mix a record of a band I love. For a minute, I was brought on by a big mix engineer firm for representation after hearing my production mix work, but ultimately, I keep just wanting to sing the songs and get back on a stage, haha. I’m trying to find the balance!
Is “M4U” meant for anyone in particular? Would you like to share more about it?
This was the first riff I wrote that began the SK journey, so, to me, it made sense to kick off the album this way. It sets the tone of this sonically dark and ominous but bright and shiny groove album that is SK. The song’s unique grit and a groove feels appropriate as the “Hello, this is SK, now get in the car” track. Lyrically, it’s about feeling a sense of belonging somewhere else, sometimes feeling a sense of not belonging to this planet, but someone or something is what makes this world feel like home. I wrote it from the voice of one person to another, but to me, it was also a metaphor about longing for a dream realized, for a release, a reprieve.
What are your future plans? Would you like to collaborate with anyone in the future?
Collaboration and touring sound like my love language. So, I hope for all of these things!
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Photo courtesy of The Rocket Summer
