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The Summer Set
About
The
Summer
Set
On their latest full-length, Legendary, The Summer Set are issuing a simple, yet essential call to fans: Be legendary. As a sonic challenge to aim high and never back down, the 12 tracks that comprise Legendary aim to provide hope and inspiration, even if it’s just to forget your problems and have some fun for awhile.
The Summer Set’s singer Brian Dales says the core concept behind the new record evolved into a metaphor for the singer’s own personal state of affairs, as well as the mantra The Summer Set hopes to inspire their listeners with.
“It’s about wanting to be legendary to yourself and to somebody, and learning to love yourself and therefore finding someone to share that with. It’s about being the best you can possibly be: being legendary,” says Dales. “It dawned on me that I was sitting there, sulking over things that were over, and I needed to move on from it and be a better me. It all started right there.”
The Summer Set—which also includes drummer Jess Bowen, guitarists John Gomez and Josh Montgomery, and bassist Stephen Gomez—was formed in Scottsdale, Ariz. in 2007, when Bowen and the brothers Gomez (all previously members of Last Call for Camden) recruited Dales and issued the self-released EP Love The Love You Have that fall. By spring, the band had landed a deal with The Militia Group, leading to the June 2008 EP In Color, followed by a third EP, Meet Me on the Left Coast, in December. It wasn’t until signing with Razor & Tie in 2009 that the band began work on a proper full-length debut, and in October 2009 it finally arrived as Love Like This. The Summer Set issued their final releases with Razor & Tie with July 2011’s Everything’s Fine and November 2011’s What Money Can’t Buy EP, before signing a new contract with Fearless Records, which will release Legendary. During the last six years the band has traveled the world playing countless shows, including runs on the 2009 Alternative Press Tour, 2010 Vans Warped Tour, 2011’s red-hot Dirty Work Tour with All Time Low and Yellowcard, the annual Bamboozle Festival in New Jersey, and extensive international dates in places like Australia, Brazil, Japan, the Philippines and Europe.
Leading up to this latest record, the band moved into a house in Tempe, Ariz. to write, after spending many months on the road. Both a recharging and rejuvenation period as well as a creative retreat, the experience gave rise to the overall fun, lighthearted vibe of the new album, and the members contributed more as a unit than ever before, with even Stephen Gomez producing the bonus tracks to the album. The record builds upon The Summer Set’s past releases, fusing the energy of Love Like This with the more mature songwriting on Everything’s Fine.
“It’s one of the best experiences we’ve ever had as a band, because it was the first time we were home, off the road, seeing our friends again, living our lives and having fun, and that energy inspired us, kicked us back into gear,” Dales says. “We’re very excited to release this record. I think this is the proudest batch of songs we’ve ever had. We wanted to go into this like we’re a brand new band, and figure out what our best new sound is.”
For the band, finding that new sound has had a lot to do with personal development, catching them at a particularly free-wheeling stage in life. After coming home from tour and having recently ended a relationship, Dales says he found himself desperately seeking a new direction, and found the answer by throwing himself headlong into his new life. It’s the journey through life that drives Legendary.
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