What were the earliest musical influences that shaped the Summers Brother identity?

Watching  my dad play drums as a kid definitely influenced me a ton. He started  out playing in ‘80s hair bands with tons of theatrics and carried that  on with country bands when I was a kid. He had a drum kit that was  custom built to look exactly like a tractor, and now I use the smoke  stack from that kit as our on-stage confetti cannon :)

A  lot of new bands struggle to define their lane. At what moment did you  feel your sound “clicked” into something uniquely yours?

The  band started as a solo project, but now that we have a more solid and  consistent group the songs are starting to sound like their own thing.  Having the collaborative aspect makes everything sound so much better.

How do you approach creating your lyrics?

A  lot of the time a lyric will feel like it needs to be created because I  sometimes have really strong recurring and negative emotions that I  just can’t describe or understand. It’ll bother me and itch my brain  until I write about it, and it’s like I can let go after that. Then  making the rhymes and phrases end up being a fun little game, so it’s  turning this negative feeling into something enjoyable that I can  actually control.

Another  thing I’ll do is listen to rappers like Mac Miller or Little Simz who  are really good at talking about their feelings. Little Simz’s album, NO  THANK YOU is one of my favourite all-time albums, and I’ve written a  lot of my best lyrics after listening to it. She writes about her  emotions in such a profound way that makes you really listen in to what  she’s talking about. And since rappers put so many words in each line,  you have a little more forgiveness to improvise, freestyle, and not be  perfect all the time. So sometimes I’ll write little raps in my notes  app and a quarter of that will end up being the lyrics to an entire  song.

The  chemistry between bandmates can make or break a project. What does your  creative process look like when you’re writing or arranging together?

Since  the inception of the band, I’ve always brought fully arranged songs to  the group, while letting every member improvise and experiment with  their own parts. But it’s in the recording studio where things get  really experimental and we start trying things we never would’ve tried  during rehearsal. We’ll add layer by layer and think of new ideas every  time. This year though we’re going to be trying to write as many songs  as possible, whether it’s complete or not. We’ve got so many riffs and  jams and complete demos so it’s going to be more collaborative than ever  before.

Live  shows seem to be a big part of your momentum. How has performing in  front of different crowds influenced the evolution of your music?

I  definitely sing louder than at first, and the vocals are a lot higher.  It’s hard to hear yourself when you sing low on stage, so I’ll take a  song like “Make It Wit Chu” which was the first song recorded as  Summer’s Brother and sing it a whole octave higher than our recording.

The  music landscape is shifting fast with streaming, social media, and  short‑form content. How do you balance artistic integrity with the  pressure to stay visible?

Oh  god I have no idea. I used to always make little short films with  friends and YouTube vlogs as a kid so I’ve always kind of enjoyed making  content in a way, and I try to have fun with it. Other times though  it’s a complete nightmare and I don’t know what to post so I’ll ignore  it for weeks. Talking to the camera feels authentic to me so I’ve been  doing that a little bit more, going back to my vlogging days. I also use  the Summer’s Brother Instagram like my personal one so I’m not as  scared to put something non-related on our story, which lets me not  overthink it as much.

Looking ahead, what’s the next chapter for Summers Brother sonically, creatively, or even philosophically?

We’re  going through a lineup change currently with our guitarist of 2 years  moving on from the band, so the core of the band will now be a  three-piece where our roles are a little more fluid. It’s hard, but  it’ll be a fresh new start. Caleb, our bassist, is an incredible  guitarist so he’s going to try switching to guitar while my buddy  Pastrami plays bass. Our drummer Max is a great piano player and writes  songs on keys, so I can definitely see him doing that while I play  drums, which is my main instrument. We’ve got a new single dropping soon  called “Solid Ground” which is totally disco-punk with a ton of synth  layers so I wouldn’t mind leaning into that style either. I think the  way to go in the writing room is like a ton of buddies getting together,  having some drinks, throwing some shit at the wall and seeing what  sticks. If we write 100 songs, there’s got to be an album that we all  love in there. And then after that, we edit like mad scientists and plan  for the future like cut-throat businessmen! Definitely need to visit  Edmonton sometime since we haven’t been yet.