Pop-rock outfit A Summer High are already legends on the touring circuit and social media. They invented the “Shadow Tour” concept, they’ve bedded down in a Walmart parking lot; but above all, they write and perform killer songs.
We asked them ten questions
1) When was the band formed? How did you guys meet?
The band formed in May of 2016. Luke and Mason met online and had mutual interest in starting a pop rock band. They quickly started posting on facebook and doing covers and gained an online following almost immediately. James then came across the band online and flew from his home in Minneapolis Minnesota to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and joined the band. A Summer High continued with covers and hit the road following 5sos, it came time to hit the road on their own tour and release original music so Noah joined the band in December of 2016. That’s how it came to be.
2) Who would you say is your greatest musical influence?
If we had to pick one band, All Time Low. But, we are also influenced by The All American Rejects, The Jonas Brothers, One Direction, and Sum 41.
3) Can you tell us about your song writing process, How do you create a song. What inspires you to write and do all four of you collaborate on each song?
Our platform is our book and our music is the stories of our life experiences. Typically one member will start a song either instrumentally or with lyrics and then the collaborations start. Once a song is started, Luke will sit down in the studio for a few hours with another member to write and record and we will have a finished demo. Each member listens through the songs and typically everyone has a input on every song we write. It’s a team effort.
4) You’ve worked really hard to build a devoted fan base. How much does your fan support mean to you?
Our fans mean the world to us. We are so thankful for the incredible support we receive. We have worked day in and day out for over a year to get where we are at, but without the fans support we would be nothing. They are the life, the blood, and the backbone of this band. Having such a large group of people dedicated to spreading our name and helping us achieve our goals is not taken lightly.With the fans by our side we can do almost anything, and somehow they really seem to understand that.
5) In 2016 you came up with the novel concept of a “Shadow Tour”, where you followed 5 Seconds of Summer around the country and busked outside each venue they played. (We think that was a really clever idea by the way). How was that experience for you? What’s your fondest and least favorite memory of that tour?
That tour was the best way to kick start the growth of our band. We traveled for 28 days to 18 venues across the country playing outside each date of the 5SOS tour. At first we didn’t really know what we were doing and no one knew who we were. By day 10, we had gained so much momentum and word has spread so much that fans were awaiting our arrival. We played to at very least 2,500 people collectively through the day and we’re sometimes gathering crowds of 300 people just by playing acoustic in the parking lots. Favorite memory was actually around the end of that tour when had a talk and all realized what we had just done. It was a surreal moment realizing what we had just proved to ourselves. Least favorite memory is hard to choose, as cliche as it sounds, no bad memories of that tour come to mind. In the moment, sleeping in a small car in walmart parking lots sucked, but even that is a great memory now.
6) How did 5SoS fans react to you? Did you come across any of their die- hard fans who followed the band from venue to venue? Did any switch allegiance to you.
Long story short, we realized we made a great choice of the band to follow pretty much immediately. Once fans were awaiting our arrival, we had reactions from screaming, to crying, to even nearly being mobbed outside of a venue in North Carolina. We caused such a scene that the police actually had to escort us away from the fans. Since the tour, the fans have stayed extremely loyal and have spread the name of our band like wild fire. We see these fans at our own shows now, the same fans we saw following 5SOS follow our tours now. It’s crazy.
7) We heard that 5SoS became aware of your presence at each show. How did they react to your “shadow tour”?
We’re not sure how quickly they became aware of us, but they did eventually know about what we were doing. They must have supported it, because they tweeted a photo of us and captioned it “These guys were legends, met the other day at the Holmdel, NJ show. Thanks for coming to the show dudes” After that tweet, the shows only got crazier for us.
8) You eventually met them. Do they keep in touch with you?
We did meet Ashton and Calum in NJ and they were the coolest guys. We haven’t talked to them in person since, just very little back and forth on social media. We do have plenty of mutual friends, so it’s just a matter of time before we see them and hang out again.
9) Since releasing your debut original song and video “I need you here”, We know you’ve been busy as heck writing, recording and touring. You just released your EP “Pretty Little liar”. We love the video for the title song, what’s the story behind the song; is this based on a real life experience by one of you?
Thankfully “Pretty Little Liar” wasn’t a real life experience for any of us, but it’s a fictional scenario. A pretty girl who flirts with, and tries to get with every guy in the school. The guys keep falling for it, until they start to learn she’s only using them for the attention.
10) You’ve been touring throughout July and have four more dates in August, The tour wraps Aug 17th in New Jersey. What’s next for you guys?
More touring a little later this year. Our goal is to continue to spread our name and really grow our online following. We’ve taken huge steps in the right direction this year and we plan to keep that up.
Wanna hear more music? Here’s the link to their EP on ITunes:
And of course here’s their website
