Interview with The Rocket Summer
We were able to catch up with Bryce Avary, the mastermind behind The Rocket Summer, at the Denver date of the Life Will Write the Words tour. Bryce has been putting out music for 12 years now and just released his 5th album, Life Will Write the Words, in June. To celebrate releasing the album on his own he set out on a 24 date full US tour. Check out our interview below, and be sure to pick up his album on iTunes!
What are you most excited about to be touring again?
“Just, getting to get out all this pent up energy and anxiety and drama that has been built up over the past year and a half of making this record and trying to get it out. And it’s awesome hearing people sing along, and an it’s an explosion of excitement every night!”
What is your favorite track on your new album?
“I don’t have a favorite track on it because I wrote them all, but I don’t know maybe ‘Soldiers’ right now. Maybe just because I’m trying to make my life a little more simplistic, trying to simplify it. So I gravitate towards things that are simple, and that has a really simple arrangement to it and I like that. But I know I will never actually do a whole record like that because that would just make things too hard on myself.”
How long have you been playing music?
“I’ve been playing music pretty much my whole life; I started playing guitar when I was like 12 years old. So yeah, a long time!”
How have you stayed relevant after all those years of music and touring?
“I don’t know I mean I think that’s kind of a question I don’t think about too often, but I certainly probably should as the days go by and the years go by and you kind of go ‘Oh yeah’ . You kind of have to be hyped a little bit to reach the masses that don’t really follow what you are doing really closely, like your hard core fans do. And you know for me it’s always been writing from my heart and trying to put on a great show and just really connecting with our fans that have absolutely carried this thing through the highs and the lows of the behind the scenes life of it all. I’m really blessed to have the fans that I do, and I kind of credit them for everything.”
Was there ever a time where you doubted that music was the right choice for you?
“No, never.”
Who are some of your biggest inspirations?
“I’m just inspired by people that are authentic, that go against the grain and do what they’re called to do even though it might have been hard to get there and it might have been kind of a weird look, and people might have not taken them seriously. It just inspires me when people are who they are supposed to be and make the right decisions and the integrous decisions when perhaps it’s not the popular thing to do. There’s plenty of people like that and they’re generally the ones become great leaders, you know, Abraham Lincoln.”
What’s your favorite song to play live?
“My favorite song to play live I think, I don’t know, I really enjoy playing ‘So, in this Hour’ just because of the crowd interaction.”
What was the fan response to your live album?
“I think they liked it, especially because we gave it away for free. That was just kind of a, like I said earlier going back to how important the fans are, I know it sounds cliché but that really is what’s carried this thing, and so when we recorded that album we were thinking about releasing it as a record for real to buy but I just thought this would be a good was to just thank the fans for carrying this. Most people really got into it, and I think it got a lot more people out to our shows because I think people who had never seen it kind of caught a glimpse of the energy at the shows. Even though that was an acoustic record and I don’t really ever do those tours ever. The energy in the crowd was there, and it’s made this tour kind of cool. I can’t but wonder if people are coming out for the first time, and maybe that record got them interested. So it’s a win-win for everybody!”
When you tour what is your favorite city to play in?
“Well, you know I’m not just saying this, I love Denver. I know that sounds funny but Denver has always been one of the top places. I love Chicago, and last night we played in Salt Lake City. I don’t know what it is about that place, I don’t know why but people really dig this band in Salt Lake City. It’s always just; it’s like Christmas getting to play there!”
What is the one thing you need to have in your bus while on tour?
“I think, you know, I’m totally full of the hokey cliché answers right now, but maybe that just means my life is kind of hokey. But I’d have to say my bible, because life can get really intense on the road, and just never stopping and always making decisions and always not really eating or sleeping. There are fires to put out on a daily basis, like literal ones and just in life, and putting out a record on your own. It’s kind of nice to be able to go and, even if it’s in the gnarly bathroom, just sitting in there for a few minutes and opening The Word and reading it and know that there’s someone that’s in control that I can find refuge in through it all.”
Ideally in five years where do you see yourself?
“Ideally, I’ll be playing music still and that I will continue to do this. I don’t know, I’m really big on living day by day these days. I’m really big on planning, and way too ahead of myself to the point where it’s a fault. Like I will plan so hard a year in advance, and when I get to that year mark of what I was planning for and I’m at that moment, I’m already thinking about the next year and then things start falling through the cracks at that moment and so that’s been a learning experience for me. And with this album, and releasing it this way, so I’m really trying to just take it day by day, for the first time in my life.”
What do you like to do when you are not playing music?
“Well, when I’m home, which is pretty rare, I like to ride my Vespa. I like to play with my dog, who I just adore and is one of my best friends. And I like to eat. I don’t eat very much on tour, I think I’ve lost like 13 pounds on this tour but it’s muscle which sucks. But yeah, I like to eat.”
What does your writing process look like?
“There’s really no one way of going about it, I’ve done it so many different ways. Generally though, without going into all the different ways that I do it, I’d say the category that wins the most is just me sitting at a piano, or with a guitar, and just kind of strumming chords and coming up with ideas and just kind of singing melodies along. And it’s like out of nowhere, a line will just come out and I’ll actually sing a line as if the chord was telling me to say something. It’s a really spiritual thing, writing, for me and so generally I can’t explain it and when I can’t explain it I find that’s good because I feel like there is some kind of guidance going on. Like for example this last record, I was just sitting there one day and started jamming on the piano and I started singing ‘Life will write the words’ and I didn’t even know what that meant, and now my album is called ‘Life Will Write The Words’.”
What is your favorite flavor of Capri-Sun?
“Ooooh, man it’s been awhile since I’ve had a plethora of choices of Capri-Sun to know which one is my favorite. But I can taste it in my mouth while I think about this, maybe the kiwi-strawberry, that one’s pretty good!”
Is there anything else you would like to say to your fans, or new potential fans?
“Thank you guys, and check out the new record and come out to a show! And high fives!”
Interview Done By: Alie, Ellie, and Katy