The Rocket Summer | Main

The Rocket Summer is the solo work of young Bryce Avary - a project of which he has dedicated his life to for the past several years. The story of Avary and The Rocket Summer is one of hard work and progress, going about it slightly different than most. At the age of 15, Avary began playing solo shows anywhere he could. After a year or so, Avary developed a small fan base in his home of Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX and went on to record his first EP at the age of 18 on a shoe string budget, playing every instrument and producing it himself. The self-titled EP, released in March of 2000, was a striking contrast to Avary's acoustic shows; the songs were recorded as a huge arrangement of many different instruments. Soon, the EP became available at local record stores through consignment, causing the disc to end up in the hands of a local DJ at Dallas' leading alternative rock station, KDGE The Edge. Much to Avary's luck, the DJ immediately fell in love with it, and began playing tracks from the disc on his award winning show. The Rocket Summer was officially exposed to a bigger audience, and feature articles started to appear in local newspapers such as The Dallas Observer and the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram. Avary quickly realized that his project was something that needed to be all or nothing and started working profusely to make it a success. Every day, Avary put together press packs, using his CD as a calling card and sending it to any label he had ever heard of. Soon after, ‘zines all around the world were interviewing Avary, and articles on The Rocket Summer appeared in large independent magazines in the U.S. as well as "blurbs" in large industry magazines such as HITS. Later that year, The Rocket Summer became the most played/requested local act of the year in Dallas, and showed up 3rd in the year end overall countdown on the radio program where it all started. Avary showcased with a live band at 2003's SXSW in Austin, TX after only practicing together for a few weeks. Ever since, The Rocket Summer live show has become what one fan described as "breath taking, full of energy, and more fun than show's should be." Avary's live show is generally hard to top. While playing piano, guitar, and singing, somehow Avary even manages to incorporate things such as the 'moonwalk' into the show. Most importantly, Avary's motives are to connect with his fans, and bring happiness and fun into the cities he plays, doing whatever it takes to get The Rocket Summer to the masses. For almost a year, Bryce practically locked himself in a room working on perfecting not only new music, but also himself as an artist. Because waiting on labels was taking too long, Avary put matters into his own hands and put together a $15,000 recording budget for a new album. For six and a half weeks, Avary moved to Kansas where he recorded the new full length album, Calendar Days. Avary again not only wrote all of the music, but played every instrument, and produced the album. He even ended up sleeping nights in the isolation booths to save money. Completing the album, Bryce again shopped it around to many different labels, finally deciding that The Militia Group was the right home. Calendar Days was slated for a February '04 release, and Bryce geared up and hit the road, where he plans to be for a very long time. Catch The Rocket Summer on a tour near you.