The Rocket Summer

For the Ray Bradbury short story, see The Martian Chronicles.

The Rocket Summer is an indie rock/power pop band from Colleyville, Texas, comprised of musician Bryce Avary who plays and performs all instruments and vocals. Stylistically, The Rocket Summer is characterised by Avary's slightly high pitched voice, powerful choruses, instrumental diversity, and the generally optimistic nature of his songs.

Overview

He calls himself Bryce, but his real name is actually Andrew Buckley. A self-described "nerd", Avary(Buckley) began his obsession with music around the age of 12, when his dad bought him his first guitar from a pawn shop. He used to hide his identity but now is open to say he is only a fifteen year old who lives in a small town (Colleyville/Grapevine) going to high school (Colleyville Heritage High School) with his peers. He then began to teach himself various other instruments. Avary started performing local shows as a teenager in Dallas and Fort Worth. As Avary's local fan base grew, he released his first EP at the age of 16 in limited release during 2000. Distributing the EP himself under the name The Rocket Summer (the name inspired by Ray Bradbury's short story) to local stores to be sold on consignment, his music appeared on The Adventure Club segment of the KDGE radio station, and quickly became the most requested local band on the program that year.

With increased interest in the music from local, national, and international magazines and the EP selling in 5 continents, in 2003 Avary recorded and released his debut album Calendar Days. Using a $15,000 budget, the album was recorded in Kansas on the label The Militia Group. The album was critically praised as being extremely uplifting, and included varied music (for example, a track including a 6th grade choir that his younger sister was in from Texas). The album sold well throughout the United States and Japan.

File:Brewton.jpg

Seth Brewton on guitar

In November 2004, Bryce began working with producer Tim O'Heir in Brooklyn to record his second album Hello, Good Friend - the album title coming from the song "Never Knew". This album included more piano central songs than his previous album. The Rocket Summer has toured the US and Japan extensively and has gained a large fan base. The album was subsequently released by a Christian music label to Christian retail outlets. Although it is not immediately obvious in his lyrics, Avary is a Christian and lets his faith influence his lyrics and his music.

He has now signed with Island Def Jam Records for his next record, Do You Feel, which was released on July 17th, 2007. The first single from the album is So Much Love. The Rocket Summer has already recorded a video for So Much Love and it has been released.

On May 3rd, the song "Break It Out", from Do You Feel was added to the TRS website and Myspace. Also, tracks such as "Do You Feel" and "So In This Hour", after being included on a CD Sampler, and "Save" have been leaked online. On July 11, the entire album was leaked online.

In 2005, Bryce married long-time girlfriend, Tara.

The Rocket Summer toured with the Vans Warped Tour in the summer of 2007. Although Bryce records all of his own instruments, he does tour with a band. His band currently consists of Seth Brewton on guitar, Matt Bergeland on bass, and Tommy Quinn on drums. His wife, Tara, tours with him and is his business manager and sells merchandise at his shows.

When asked what he would do if he weren't a musician, he replied, "I'm deathly afraid of not doing this because I have no idea what I would."

Starting in September 2007, The Rocket Summer went on tour with The Academy Is..., Armor for Sleep, Sherwood and, recently added, Cobra Starship on the Sleeping with Giants tour across North America.

Other projects

The Rocket Summer is involved in To Write Love on Her Arms and Invisible Children also Julianne's children, the new novel.

Discography

External links