The Dangerous Summer: Unending Soul Search
As THE DANGEROUS SUMMER released their last album in 2022, they were already in the studio working on the next: Gravity. With an insatiable need to keep writing and pushing themselves, another release was inevitable, and the success of their previous album only motivated them further.
Catching up with vocalist AJ Perdomo, he explains, “we’ve heard these songs so many times, but as people start to take hold of them, they start to change and mean something. You can really feel it in the universe right now, it feels crazy.” For the band, their fans have always been very central to what they do, and while they don’t necessarily take notice of what people say on a wider scale, it’s always important to them that their fans love what they put out. As the singles start to drop, their fan base always positively responds, which just spurs the band on to keep making music. “We put everything we possibly can inside of the new songs, and we showed up and we gave it our all, so it feels really good when people give us the nod.”
Despite hailing from Maryland, and having a very typically American style and sound, the band show consistent love for the UK, including it’s music and it’s crowds. They just played Slam Dunk Festival, where the response to their first singles did not go unnoticed. “People are just straight up singing along with it already, so it already feels welcome, which is exciting.” Off the back of these shows, they were quick to announce their UK tour for the album, which was a decision that came directly from the band. Touring with BROADSIDE and HAPPYDAZE, he believes that as a package with the other bands, they will draw big crowds. AJ says, “there’s something about America, everyone’s too cool. It’s still like segmented scenes, and I’ve always really admired the way that the UK has embraced rock music. It’s a very accepting rock world, and it’s a beautiful place. You never get used to that feeling of you walking out on that big stage and seeing all the people.”
Later on, he explains how although the influences aren’t directly obvious in their music, they listened to a lot of CATFISH AND THE BOTTLEMAN, and COLDPLAY when recording, and always try to emulate that huge stadium rock sound.
As they began to write Gravity, the only initial concept was ‘art by all means’. They knew they wanted to have an open mind, explore everything and push themselves to their limit, so to do this, they secluded themselves in a studio for seven weeks, with practically no influences from the outside world. AJ explains, “anything goes and we try everything. That’s the joy of making a record, making something new and beautiful that you didn’t even know you had in you, so we really just strap up for the journey.”
While they would sometimes hit dead ends and have to switch things up, the band never struggled with motivation. “There’s just this fire you feel like you’ve never quite done it yet, like I can’t even go home yet, I don’t think I finished. It’s a life of unsatisfaction.” With the lead single and title track Gravity, AJ ended up rewriting the whole thing in the last few days, determined to make it fit on the record and become something he was really proud of. He explains that much of the process is just trusting your intuition, even if it means completely upending everything.
While THE DANGEROUS SUMMER are no strangers to writing vulnerable music, this album felt particularly personal for AJ, which made the process quite difficult on an emotional level. “You start to really touch your heartstrings and you just pour what comes out. Sometimes it’s hard to listen to the music because it’s like wow, I was in a lot of pain then and I didn’t even know I was in a lot of pain. It’s the subconscious talking.”
Although it’s never easy to have to face emotions that are hidden deep inside, AJ recognises the healing powers of writing in this way. “To share is therapeutic, and to pour it out is therapeutic, and it feels good overall. It’s a brutal honesty that it’s like a freedom to get out. That’s how you know you’re getting somewhere great, there’s something that just strings it along and pulls it out.” While writing their last album, Coming Home, the band had a TV in their studio which would play the news 24/7, meaning that it became heavily influenced by current events, the band decided against this for Gravity, and isolated themselves completely. AJ explains that while he loves making an album, it can definitely be painful at times, and it took a lot out of him. “The whole theme of the record is the kind of loneliness. You miss a lot, you feel like you’re in outer space, and you’re searching. It’s hard for the world outside to understand, and it feels like they’re thousands of miles away.”
With no break between this album and the last, AJ can’t help but to already start thinking about the next. This is mostly inspired by their never ending need to keep pushing forwards, keep changing, and keep being the absolute best that they have the capacity to be. Of course, it’s a bit about the happiness and relief that making music brings. “We just got to keep digging, get back into the studio and keep searching. That’s the great thing about music, it’s infinite, and the soul is infinite. We’re still finding pieces of ourselves that surprise us. That unending soul-search, the search for sound and something new, we will always have that drive in us.”
For now though, fans of THE DANGEROUS SUMMER are about to hear Gravity for the first time. It’s undoubtable that they will find as much in it as they did with every other album from the band, and AJ is determined that the songs will become summer anthems, with them strategically timing the release for the first day of summer. This feels extremely fitting for the band, and AJ states, “I hope people unravel their summer to these songs. I hope they live a whole life this summer to these songs, and I hope good friends, good drinks and good vibes are involved. I think it’s a journey of an album, but one that’s meant to be had in the sunshine.”
Gravity is out now via Rude Records.
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