Bryce Avary, vocalist, guitarist & pianist of The Rocket Summer
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The Rocket Summer
October 9th, 2008
Revolution, Ft. Lauderdale
Article by Julio D. Anta
Photos by Liana Minassian
Making his way off the modestly-sized tour bus he’s called home for the past few weeks, The Rocket Summer’s sole and permanent member Bryce Avary is en route to a student press conference and is seemingly pumped about tonight’s headlining show. He speaks of his current tour with California’s darling-band Phantom Planet and his excitement to begin work on the follow-up to 2007’s Do You Feel once this tour raps up.
A few hours later, with lights low and excitement high, Avary and company start their set with "Do You Feel" - the title track off his most recent offering - and begin a night of everything fans have come to expect from TRS, while giving a preview of what’s to come for first-timers.
Continuing with the aptly-titled "Colors" without moment’s rest, The Rocket Summer delivers layer upon layer of bright guitar and keyboard tones complemented by Avary’s always honest and heartfelt lyrics. He sings "Here with you, under these colors/ I’ll stay with you, there is no other," and the shrieks of teenage girls longing for the affection he shares with the one mentioned in this song can be heard from miles away.
The Rocket Summer delivers layer upon layer of bright guitar and keyboard tones complemented by Avary’s always honest and heartfelt lyrics
Seth Brewton guitarist of The Rocket Summer
Say what you will about The Rocket Summer and the pop songs that follow, but since the band’s inception Avary has always done a great job attracting male fans into the female infested pool of power-pop. Not to say his fan base is divided equally between the sexes - females still make up a large majority of his fans - but it says a lot to see males singing along to every line at a powerpop show now-a-days.
After the up-beat and heavily accented "Break It Out," Avary finally hit the first of only four non-Do You Feel tracks, "I’m Doing Everything (For You)." Introduced with acoustic guitars on tape but clean electrics live, the live feel of "I’m Doing Everything (For You)" is slightly off to fans circa-Hello, Good Friend era, but not even a thought to new fans who know a more guitar-driven TRS rather than the more keyboard driven songs of that era.
Going back into Do You Feel for an encore, the slow build-ups and sudden accents made "So, In This Hour…" one of the best musical moments of the night. Avary’s passionate vocals and the band’s intensity complemented the instrumentals and brought the end of his set to a calm for the final piano-led outro.
For someone like myself who’s seen The Rocket Summer play countless times, this show wasn’t anything extremely special. But like my first time watching the band live, I could hear and feel first-timers having the time of their lives. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The Rocket Summer is one the few bands everyone should see at least once in their lifetime.
Let us know what you think at outloud@outloud.com..
Alex Greenwald, lead vocalist of Phantom Planet
Bryce Avary, vocalist, guitarist & pianist of The Rocket Summer