Her Campus Point Park had the exclusive opportunity to sit down with some of the talent at the Pittsburgh tour date of Vans Warped Tour 2014, as well as to photograph the acts from the photo pits of the live sets! We got to discuss Brian Logan Dales of The Summer Set’s 3rd time on VWT, where he told us about song sharing, crazed fans in his favorite coffee shop, and how unpredictable the music industry can be:
Photo by Samantha Tarr
HC: Give us a run-down of how The Summer Set was formed!
B: “We started in 2007 when I was 17- it was right before my senior year of high school actually. There are two brothers in my band, John & Stephen Gomez, and our drummer, Jess Bowen. The three of them have been playing together since they were like, 12; they were family friends and kind of learned their instruments together, and them playing in local high school bands that led to us forming The Summer Set in about 2007. Then our guitar player went to high school with a couple of them and weâve been the same lineup pretty much since we started. John & I were still in high school during our first year together, and once we graduated we went on tour and itâs just been a spiraling effect.”
HC: What was it like to still be in high school as your music career was taking off?
BD: “I had a lot of different groups in high school, so everyone was excited for me! It wasnât really one of those âOh, now you have a record deal and everyone wants to be friends with youâ type of things.”
Photo by Cassandra Stovash
HC: How is touring with Warped Tour different than touring individually?
B: “The days are a lot longer. With Warped Tour, you load in at 7 in the morning and load out at 11pm so you spend all day here. You also wake up in the morning and donât know what time you play until around 9:30am because every day it changes. On a regular club tour, we load in at 1 in the afternoon, we sit around for a couple hours, we sound check, and then play at like 9:00, so thereâs a lot more of a routine. I like that Warped Tour is more of a summer camp-type vibe than a regular tour.”
HC: Is the reality of tour life different than your expectations of it?
B: “Yes and no, I think if Iâd answered that question seven years ago I would have been really caught off guard by not knowing what to expect. When we first started touring we were playing for 50 kids a night, sleeping seven people in a hotel room and driving around in vans. It was not nearly that glamorous, but I was still more excited about it than ever. Now when we tour, weâve been fortunate enough to tour more comfortably than we used to, and we do a lot of touring internationally which is really exciting too! Touring is all I really know and understand anymore, so yeah, I donât ever want to not tour.”
Jess Bowen (drummer). Photo by Samantha Tarr
HC: Do you have any secret hobbies or guilty pleasures that would surprise your fans?
B: “Itâs crazy in the world of the Internet that we live in, so Iâm trying to figure out if thereâs anything left thatâs still a secret! I like to play golf; I think thatâs probably a little unorthodox, but Iâm pretty good at it.”
HC: What is the coolest or craziest thing a fan has ever done to get your attention?
B: “I once had three girls corner me in a coffee shop in LA that I didnât think anyone even knew about. Theyâd just been walking outside back and forth and then they came inside, asked if I was who I was, and I said yes. Keep in mind it was about 7:30 in the morning and Iâd probably slept for about two hours because I had a long night before. These girls just start screaming. That coffee shop is my favorite place- I go in there every single day- and now the waitresses just wonât ever let me hear the end of it.”
HC: If you werenât a musician, what do you think youâd be doing?
B: “Well, I wanted to be a pro basketball player until I stopped growing! I think my entire life, and I definitely got it from my dad, I always wanted to be a writer. Song writing just kind of happened by accident, second nature to that, so Iâd probably still be writing.”
John Gomez (guitar, piano, and back voals). Photo by Cassandra Stovash
HC: What are your feelings on music sharing nowadays with all of the free downloading and music converting that goes on?
B: “Itâs kind of hard to fight it at this point⊠The nature of the beast is that people wonât really buy new music anymore, but you still need to get your music into the hands of as many people so that theyâll come out to your shows and buy your other stuff. I think itâs easier to sell the brand now than it is to sell the music even though I think music is better than itâs ever been and albums are cooler than theyâve ever been, itâs definitely different than it used to be. Iâm not mad at file sharing and streaming sites because I use them as much as the next person.”
HC: From a musicianâs angle, what advice do you have for the students at Point Park who want to work in the business end of the music industry?
B: “Our manager for example went to Warped Tour once like, 12 years ago just as a fan, and accidentally stumbled backstage into the catering line and was just like, âoh cool, free food!â But he snuck in there and met the woman who managed Taking Back Sunday and ended up getting a job working for her, and then ended up becoming a music manager. With no intention! He actually was trying to produce music videos. So it really can happen any way you want it to, but I think as much as itâs important to learn everything you can learn in school, itâs also getting involved in your local scene. Go out to shows, go out to venues, meet promoters, maybe call a local venue and ask if you can intern or volunteer and just get yourself involved in how that stuff works so while youâre still going to school, you can learn the physical aspects of going to the shows and how they operate. Really, anything can happen is what Iâm saying!”
HC: Whatâs next for The Summer Set once Warped Tour ends?
B: “I think weâre going to try to make a new record in the fall, but that could either take two months or that could take nine. I donât really like to rush that part!”
Photo by Samantha Tarr
URLS:
- http://thesummersetband.com
- facebook.com/thesummerset
- Twitter & Instagram: @the_summer_set, @brianlogandales