Ahead of their trip Down Under for WARPED TOUR AU, THE SUMMER SET’s vocalist, BRIAN DALES, took time out of his hectic schedule to speak with ASHLEE KELLEHEAR about touring, Australia and near death experiences.
The Summer Set has been quite busy lately. You guys have released an album here in August, did Warped in the US, you’ve just wrapped up the UK tour with Sleeping With Sirens, you’ve just now started touring with 3OH3!. And after that is all said and done, you’re then coming to Australia for Warped! That’s a pretty hectic schedule and this has literally all been in the last six months! For those of us who might not be so lucky as to live the life of a touring artist, can you give us an insight in to what the experience is like?
We’ve been touring for eight or nine months out of every year, for most of the last five years, which is really crazy! Now, it’s just become so routine and now I know more about life on-tour than I do about life off-tour. I remember last Summer we had a couple of months off and we all moved in to a house together and it was harder actually being a domestic human being, buying groceries, than it is for me just to be in a different city every day. But, it’s just really crazy ‘cause we’ve been doing a lot more flying around, going to different places. Like going to the UK, flying right back and doing a tour in the US where we jump right on to a bus and then we fly straight to Australia! In between Warped and Sleeping With Sirens, we played just a couple of really bizarre shows like fashion shows for Macey’s in the US to the ‘I Heart Radio’ festival in Vegas. So, this year has been unlike any other as far as touring goes for us.
So you guys have been to Australia previously for Soundwave Festival last year. What were some of your highlights from that experience?
What’s so cool about Soundwave is that we got to play a show in every city but also have a day off in every city! So, we really took full advantage. In Brisbane we went to a zoo and we got to pet Kangaroos and Koalas, in Sydney we took a boat out on Darling Harbour and just went on a boat ride for the day, which was incredible! We got to explore Melbourne! In 2009, I actually went on vacation to Australia with my mum for her birthday and got to go to The Australian Open. And in Perth I almost drowned in the ocean body boarding, so as far as I’m concerned I’ve done everything I can think of in Australia and I can’t wait to do it all over again!
I guess you just answered my second question which was ‘are there things in particular you’re excited to experience again, or try for the first time, when you visit us in November/December?’ but considering you almost drowned in Perth, I think you’re topping the list!
Yeah, well I could go without drowning in Perth this time around, or almost drowning, so to speak. I got a little too greedy and carried away with the whole body boarding, and all of a sudden I was way too far away from shore. I’m a pretty good swimmer and I knew to swim parallel to the shore and just let the current take you but in a moment of panic like that where your feet aren’t touching the bottom and you realise how far away you are, you’re not really using your head and I was swimming as hard as I could, straight forward, to the point where I was too exhausted to swim anymore and then a 14 year old kid on a surfboard came by and rescued me and I lost my dignity in Perth! So, I’m hoping to get it back!
That’s awesome! I didn’t actually visit the beach when I was over in California this year but is swimming in the ocean over there a bit different than it is to here? Considering you nearly died, it sounds a bit more hectic over here!
Yeah, in the US it really just depends on the day but those waves in Perth that day in February were quite unlike anything I’ve ever seen but luckily there were a lot of people on the beach! California for most of the year, at least where I live is not usually that wild except for really bright and early in the morning. I’ve been to Hawaii and the waves there were pretty crazy too but Perth, that was the craziest day I’ve ever had on the water.
Well, maybe just stay away from the water this time because we would like to see you play!
Yeah, that was very deceiving about Perth!
Warped Tour in the US is quite an event (I visited earlier this year) and I was so surprised at just how unreal it is. It really is unlike anything we have over here. Can you give us an idea of what a typical day on Warped was like for you guys?
Typical day on Warped is unlike any other touring show we’ve played. Luckily this was our second time doing it, so we were a little more used to it but you wake up around 9 in the morning, you don’t know what time you play that day until the day of and it rotates every single day so you could be waking up at 9 and finding out you’re playing first at 11:30 or playing last at 8 o’clock and so you never really know. So, a typical day, we find out what time we play and we usually do a meet ‘n’ greet at our tent or a different sponsors tent, we usually base that around what time we play and it’s a lot of walking around, it’s outside every single day and it’s all day and the heat! I feel like you spend a lot of time of Warped tour in line waiting to do things cause there are so many people waiting in line at catering, waiting in line at press.
This year on Warped there were a lot of different stages and it was so cool because there was such a diverse group of artists, I mean from extreme metal bands to the bands that were on the Spotify stage. Some of the bands I really loved were groups called Wall Paper and Five Knives and I loved checking them out every day, and what else was cool at Warped was, when the day is over there’s a BBQ, like a private BBQ for all the bands on the tour and their guests of the day, and some nights there was a Warped tour yoga class and I’d go do that with some of the guys from Tonight Alive and it was just really cool. Warped tour is kinda like this little circus camp that travels across the country for two and a half months and it’s definitely unlike anything I’ve ever done.
Yeah, it was quite an experience and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Date-wise, the Aussie version obviously isn’t as hectic as the US. Are you excited to experience a more chilled-out version of Warped tour and maybe have the opportunity while you’re here to experience the Australian culture?
Yeah, I’m definitely keen for a more chilled-out version of Warped. I don’t think I could do two really strenuous versions in one year so I’m excited for Australian Warped tour and we get to fly to each city, rather than taking a bus!
That will definitely take a bit off the sore bums on the way then, I guess.
YES!
Any bands on this lineup in particular that you’re keen to see for the first time or catch up with? I know you just said you mentioned that you did yoga with Tonight Alive, which I can totally picture, so yeah, anyone you’re keen to see?
Yeah, Tonight Alive, we’ve become pretty good friends with them. There was no one really on the lineup that I was looking forward to seeing for the first time but specifically, I grew up as a huge New Found Glory fan and I love watching them live so I think I’m gonna get my 13 year old teenager self out every day and watch NFG.
I think we’re the same! Just having that young pop/punk kid inside waiting to come out and play around. As for you guys, you dropped your latest album Legendary in August. Do you anticipate you’ll primarily be playing songs from this album or will you include earlier works?
Well, I think our set is only 30 minutes so I think the majority of our set will primarily be off Legendary and really, Legendary, it’s the only album we’ve properly released in Australia. We’ve had such an amazing response to the album so far and it’s really already proven itself as something fans would want to hear so I’m excited to see how the songs translate to the Australian crowds.
Excellent! Alrighty, Brian. To wrap things up…for people who haven’t seen you before and are interested in catching your sets in November and December, what can they expect from The Summer Set?
For people who’ve never seen us before, I like to think we put on a high energy show that is unlike any other. We get to play this show multiple days a week and I always keep in mind that the people are coming to these shows because it’s their one night a week where they can get away from work, get away from home, where they get to experience a fun show and meet new people and hang out with their friends and enjoy good music so I think I always keep that in mind every day and really make sure people feel like they’re having the best time they’ve ever had.
That’s so great because we haven’t had a Warped tour here since 2001…
I’ve heard!
So, we’re actually very keen to have it and hopefully make it a reoccurrence, because I feel like we’re missing out! Well, you know what, thank you so much for your time this morning, Brian. Thank you again, on behalf of Reverb Online and I hope you guys have safe travels until you get here and then really, really enjoy yourselves.
Well thank you, thank you so much for your time.
The Summer Set will be in Australia for the Vans Warped Tour 2013 – Friday 29th November, Brisbane, RNA Showgrounds; Saturday 30th November, Coffs Harbour Showground; Sunday 1st December, Sydney, Barangaroo; Friday 6th December, Canberra, Exhibition Park; Saturday 7th December, Melbourne, Birrarung Marr; Sunday 8th December, Adelaide, Ellis Park.