The Summer Set

The Summer Set is an American pop rock band from Scottsdale, Arizona formed in 2007. The band currently consists of lead vocalist Brian Dales, guitarists Josh Montgomery and John Gomez, bass guitarist Stephen Gomez, and percussionist Jess Bowen. Formerly signed to The Militia Group in 2008 and to Razor & Tie from 2009–11, they are currently signed to Fearless Records and have released four full-length studio albums: Love Like This (2009), Everything's Fine (2011), Legendary (2013), Stories For Monday (2016) and four extended plays. The band has toured with other acts such as The Cab, We Are the In Crowd, Mayday Parade, Sleeping with Sirens, All Time Low, The Downtown Fiction, Action Item, among several others.

Despite reportedly breaking up in 2015, the band released their fourth studio album, Stories for Monday, on April 1, 2016 through Fearless Records.

Formation and the early years
The Summer Set formed in 2007 when Jess Bowen and brothers John and Stephen Gomez started writing and performing with Brian Logan Dales. Josh Montgomery later joined the band in 2008.

Prior to the formation of The Summer Set, Jess, John, and Stephen played in a band called Last Call for Camden with Kennedy Brock (The Maine (band)) and guitarist Weston Michl. Last Call for Camden released one album entitled Keep Your Feet On the Ground before disbanding.

The Summer Set self-released their first EP Love the Love You Have in November 2007.

The band signed a record deal with The Militia Group in April 2008. The band then recorded their EP entitled …In Color. The EP was released on iTunes on June 24, 2008 and was reviewed on several music websites.

The Summer Set also recorded a pop punk cover of Usher's hit song " Love in This Club" later that year. The song was released for download on their Buzznet page.

In December 2008, the band released their third EP Meet Me on the Left Coast, which featured two new tracks and a cover of "Love in This Club" as an iTunes bonus track.

The Summer Set's debut full-length album Love Like This was released on October 13, 2009.

The band appeared on the Punk Goes Classic Rock album released on April 27, 2010 by Fearless Records, covering "I Wanna Rock and Roll All Nite" by Kiss.

On July 6, 2010, they released an expanded version of their debut album Love Like This titled Love Like Swift, which featured five live Taylor Swift cover songs (recorded at The Hoodwink at the 2010 Bamboozle Festival).

That summer, The Summer Set played the entire Warped Tour 2010 on the Glamour Kills Stage. Later in the year, they also played on the Dirty Work Tour with All Time Low, Yellowcard, and Hey Monday

On the April 5, 2011 episode of Dancing with the Stars, actress Chelsea Kane and partner Mark Ballas danced a Cha-Cha-Cha set to The Summer Set's "Chelsea". In a behind-the-scenes package shown prior to the dance, Kane revealed that the song was written for her by Brian Dales, whom she was dating at the time.

Everything's Fine
Everything's Fine is The Summer Set's second full-length album, released on July 19, 2011 through Razor & Tie.

The group wrote with Paul Doucette of Matchbox 20 and Mike Daly of Whiskeytown in Nashville. They recorded the album with producer John Fields. “He pushed us hard and he brought so much out of us,” said Brian Logan Dales. “We had some early demos that sounded like our last record, but when we were done, everything sounded so new and different.”

Everything’s Fine presented a departure from The Summer Set’s previous sound, at times featuring slower tempos and solemn themes. “The title is a bit sarcastic,” admits Gomez. “Our first record was just one emotion. Everything’s Fine is yin and yang. We’ve had some ups and downs recently, some breakups, some general trials and tribulations. This is a record that says 'we’re young, but growing up and experiencing new things.'"

On May 6, the band launched a crowd-sourced lyric video for "Someone Like You." The video featured live video of the band taken by fans during the Dirty Work Tour with All Time Low.

On June 6, The Summer Set launched a poll asking fans to pick the next song to be revealed from the forthcoming album. Song choices included "Thick as Thieves", "Back to Start" and "When We Were Young." After one week of voting, "When We Were Young" was revealed as the winner.

Legendary
In 2012, the band members rented a house together, where they wrote songs and began forming the album that would become Legendary. This style of communal living and writing was unique to the band and had a distinct influence on the direction of the songs. The band has stated that their time in the house inspired much of the lyrical content and sparked the general fun-loving energy of the album.

On April 30, 2013, The Summer Set released a music video for “Maybe Tonight.” This was the first video released in connection with Legendary.

In conjunction with the “Maybe Tonight” video and the band’s call to fans to “be legendary,” The Summer Set also created Half Moon Kids. HMK is a community forum created to share, discuss, encourage, and support the creative efforts of The Summer Set’s fans and their surrounding community.

As part of the HMK initiative, the band launched the Legendary Moments Campaign. During the campaign, The Summer Set helped various fans and their fellow band members achieve longstanding goals and dreams.

The Summer Set released their third full-length album Legendary on April 16, 2013 via Fearless Records. The lead single “Boomerang” was released in March and the accompanying music video was released in June. The second single is “Lightning in a Bottle.” The associated music video was released on April 8, 2014.

In 2013, The Summer Set were the winners of Macy’s iHeartRadio Rising Star competition. After the contest’s six million online votes were tallied, The Summer Set were announced 2013’s Rising Stars. As the winners, the band performed at the iHeartRadio Music Festival as well as Macy’s Glamorama events. At these events, they shared the stage with Sheryl Crow and The Backstreet Boys.

On November 28, 2013, The Summer Set were part of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Their performance of “Lightning in a Bottle” was featured on the television broadcast.

Stories for Monday
On January 21, 2016, the band announced that their fourth studio album, Stories for Monday would be released on April 1. They also released the first single from the album, "Figure Me Out." Two weeks later, they also released another single from the album, "Missin' You," and third track "Jean Jacket" on March 17, 2016. The band also released a music video for track "Wasted" on the same day as the album.

On April 4, 2016, The Summer Set played at a Bernie Sanders rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Tours
In 2009, the band opened up Alternative Press's AP Tour, hitting the road with bands such as The Cab, Never Shout Never, Hey Monday and Every Avenue. Following the AP Tour, the band headed out on the road with Cartel. In 2010, the band went on to play several festivals including The Bamboozle festival and the Vans Warped Tour. The band participated in the free OurZone Magazine Tour, which was seven dates in the UK during May 2011. They were also part of the Dirty Work Tour including All Time Low, Yellowcard and Hey Monday. The tour began in March 2011 and ran through May 2011, covering most of the US. In 2013, the Summer Set performed on the Vans Warped Tour 2013 on the Kia Forte Stage and Tilly's Stage.

In 2014, The Summer Set hit the road in the UK with Paradise Fears and William Beckett (Formerly The Academy Is.. frontman) on a string of dates after touring with We Are the In Crowd, Sleeping With Sirens and Mayday Parade in recent years in Europe. The Summer Set also completed an acoustic tour for Legendary in the United States. After Europe the band also participated in the Vans Warped Tour for the second year in a row.

The Summer Set traveled across the United States in the summer 2015 for twelve dates, performing acoustically on the "We like It Quiet Tour". The band are about to embark on the "Stories for Monday Tour" in both the UK and US in support of their new album.

Style
Love Like This has been described as alternative rock, emo-pop, pop, pop punk, and synthpop. Everything's Fine has been described as emo pop, pop, pop punk, pop rock, power pop, and reggae pop. Legendary has been described as country-pop, emo-pop, pop, and pop rock.

Band members

 * Current members
 * Brian Logan Dales - lead vocals (2007–present)
 * Jess Bowen – drums (2007–present)
 * John Gomez – lead guitar, piano, backing vocals (2007–present)
 * Josh Montgomery – rhythm guitar (2008–present)
 * Stephen James Gomez - bass guitar (2007–present)


 * Past members
 * Dillon Morris (2007)

Discography

 * Studio albums
 * Love Like This (Razor & Tie, October 13, 2009)
 * Everything's Fine (Razor & Tie, July 19, 2011)
 * Legendary (Fearless, April 16, 2013)
 * Stories for Monday (Fearless, April 1, 2016)


 * Extended plays
 * Love the Love You Have (self-released, November 30, 2007)
 * ...In Color (The Militia Group, June 24, 2008)
 * Meet Me on the Left Coast (The Militia Group, December 12, 2008)
 * What Money Can't Buy (self-released, November 28, 2011)