Summerbruise aren’t a band you stumble upon so much as one you grow with. Since 2015, Mike Newman (he/him) and Stanli Fryman (she/her) have been carving out a self-aware corner of emo. Starting as a two-piece, they later slowly evolved into a five-piece capable of something bigger, louder, and even more emotionally gut-wrenching. Their new record, Infinity Guise, set for release September 19, doesn’t just mark a new step. It is the payoff of a decade of trial, memes, heartbreak, and relentless persistence.
When Summerbruise first started, it was just Mike and Stanli locked into a duo setup that left no room for mistakes. “With Stanli on drums and backup vocals, my guitar ran through both the guitar and bass amps, meaning one mistake felt catastrophic. Performing as a two-piece was intense, like playing a championship game,” Mike remembers. Even as late as 2020, they were still doing two-piece tours. Touring with just two people was cheap and easy, but as the band grew, they made the conscious decision to fully retire the original recipe and stop worrying about making songs playable as a duo.
The trade-off? With more schedules to juggle, more mouths to feed, and more moving parts to coordinate, the energy of collaboration unlocked a richness the duo format never could. “It’s amazing. When it’s just a two-piece, Stanli plays the drums and does her backup vocals, but then I’m responsible for everything else. My guitar runs through both the guitar amp and the bass amp, so if I make a mistake, it sounds like the whole band funked up because the whole band is just me,” Mike explains. With five minds bouncing ideas around instead of two, the songs became bigger, brighter, and gained more depth. “Now I can really cut loose and engage with the crowd. There’s so much less pressure on me performance-wise,” he says. And that payoff is pure magic.
The evolution of Summerbruise into a full band was gradual. Mike initially treated it like a solo project, with Stanli as a “permanent fill-in” until 2019, when he officially made her a bandmate. “Stanli was just so amazing at what she did, and so amazing to tour with. I probably just needed help, and it wasn’t fair to her not to make it official. That was when we decided: there are two people in this band, officially,” he recalls.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mike and Stanli realized that the material for The View Never Changes couldn’t work as a two-piece. This led to the addition of Cora Kunda and John Parkison in 2020. Mitch Gulish joined in 2023, solidifying the current five-piece lineup. “Logistically, honestly, it’s amazing. It is like … when it’s just a two-piece, the pressure is immense. Now with the full band, it’s a different kind of fun,” Mike says.
There’s also a moment of pure devotion. For the first time, Mike wrote a love song, “Rusev Day (Say Hi To Kate),” for his wife, Kate, that is unmistakably hers. “She always gave me shit for writing songs that started out about her but then shifted into being about touring or crowds,” he laughs. “This time, we put her actual name in it. Everybody in the band knows her so well that we snuck in little things she’d love, and it was just really fun. I adore my wife, and I’m really happy with how the song came out.”
Even the business side of the band carries the same mixture of sincerity and instinct. Earlier this year, Summerbruise signed with SideOneDummy, a move that wasn’t the result of a calculated strategy or viral moment. It happened because of pure, undeniable vibes. “Haha, unfortunately, got to hand it to Carpool, that’s our—they’re like our best friends, but we have a long-standing fake beef. They suggested to SideOneDummy a couple of years ago after they met Phil at Fest,” Mike recalls. Phil, a longtime industry figure and a trusted ear for good bands, wasn’t just scouting talent; he was scouting people.
Months later, when Summerbruise finally played their first LA show, Phil came along with a few friends. “He intentionally had us sit at a table with just him and his friends for, like, 20 minutes. Then he asked his friends what they thought of us when he wasn’t around. That’s when I realized, he really cares about working with good people.” For the band, it felt surreal. “All of this was for SideOne. It really felt too good to be true to work with somebody like Phil; he’s just awesome.”
The signing also underscored the importance of perseverance. “If you just do the thing forever, are good to everyone, and don’t leave a trail of bad opinions, eventually so many people want to see you succeed. Something eventually comes up, and it can’t just be a function of time,” Mike explains. It wasn’t about blowing up overnight. It was the quiet accumulation of effort, integrity, and consistency that finally paid off.
Mike’s sense of humor and self-awareness were evident from the very beginning, particularly in his approach to the band’s place in emo culture. “I don’t mind when people call us an emo band. I don’t mind when people say that’s not real emo because I agree, but I don’t care. From the gate, self-identifying as fake emo just answers any questions about how I feel about our genre,” he says.
And that’s what makes Infinity Guise shine. It isn’t about chasing the zeitgeist. It’s about doing the work, weathering the complications, and finding beauty in the mess. Summerbruise isn’t just making records anymore. They’re building longevity in a genre that devours itself. And maybe that’s the most punk thing they’ve done yet.
Infinity Guise is set to release on September 19th. Follow Summerbruise on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for future updates.
Photo credit: Nat Breeden
