It's Your Time

"Our fanbase seems like the type that's always looking for a reason to be inspired, to be themselves and to do what they love, and I feel that really resonated.” Calling in from the tour bus during a stop in Philadelphia, Brian Dales is discussing Legendary, the third record from The Summer Set. More than ever before, the Arizona five-piece have looked to create musical moments that their fans can interact easily with, and thanks to songs such as Rescue and Maybe Tonight, they're hearing full voices like never before.

“These songs have really resonated with our fans as far as being on an inspiring level. I feel these songs really make our fans feel like they're alive. This is the most produced album we've ever made in the studio so there was always a little bit of a worry in translating the songs live, but I think the songwriting was so good that it ended up being so much more effortless. It's really great to be able to captivate people in a live setting and get them involved right out of the gate.”

Early records from The Summer Set were put together in typical fashion for a young band: one producer, one studio, five-to-six weeks. Legendary was different, with the group spending nine months making the album, working with many different producers in a variety of locations. “I think it makes it a very eclectic album,” remarks Dales, “I think there's something for everybody. It was fun to not really follow [the] rules we had set for ourselves in the past.”

In addition to pushing the creative envelope as far as how they work, The Summer Set also pushed their relationships with each other, moving in together when the album was in its infancy to work on demos as a band. Originally hesitant, Dales says now that Legendary wouldn't be what it is without that time shared.

“It got us off on the right foot. I don't think we got as much done in the house as we would have liked to but I'm very proud of our time [there] because it taught us about who we were, who we were becoming, and it set the album in the direction that I'm really happy it went in. It was such a crazy idea to me – to move into a house with the people I already spend ten months of the year with on the road, where normally on tour I like separating ourselves,” he adds. “But we survived two months in a house together and we came out the other end better people.”

And when you consider the band members are all still in their early-twenties, the possibilities for The Summer Set are endless. “Starting at seventeen, our first four or five years of a band was definitely music puberty – it was a growing time. But [now], it's all very exciting for us.”