In this interview spotlight, I chat with Summer of Blood about their latest music, challenges, technology and more.

Full Q&A along with links and music below.

Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)

We are a Phoenix, Arizona-based 4-piece that plays raw/noisy “garage punk” rock and roll music. 

What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?

We are (about to throw up in my mouth) “veterans” of playing in bands. We have been doing this since we were kids in various projects over the years. Why do we continue to do this though? I honestly think we might be sick in the head. I mean, who wants to play in a band anymore?! Maybe it’s the burritos. Yeah. That’s it. I honestly think we’re motivated by the prospect of getting free burritos for life someday. Then we’ll know we “made it”.

How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?

Rotten Fruit is our first release actually. We’re about to release our second single, “Strange Island” very soon. And we have a lot of material to work at this point so it’s just a matter of picking tunes that suit us as a group. I think, for us, this track just stood out for it’s simple/straightforward attitude. We weren’t trying to accomplish anything other than making sure our first impression to the world was in-your-face and set a standard of what people can expect from us.

Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?

Oh, man. Where do I start?! Okay, let’s go with the positives first. I, Ryan (the pretty lead singer, remember?), actually live in New York City, while the rest of the group is in Phoenix. Technology has allowed this band to exist! The fact that they can immediately send me a track and I can go into my Brooklyn studio and lay down vocals and then, immediately send it back to them?! Nuts. That’s very cool. And without technology it would be a long and drawn out process of sending tracks back and forth on a disk via snail mail. That would suck. Also, the fact that we can communicate on a constant basis at every stage during this evolution makes this whole thing work. So, without technology, we probably wouldn’t exist. 

As far as the digital age of music? Well, there’s goods and bads, obviously. We all grew up in a time before it, were in bands through it, and are now still playing in the thick of it. So we’ve seen the beast tear through the belly. The goods are, of course, the ability to immediately get your music “out there” for people to hear without any interference whatsoever. You can literally write a song, record it, mix/master it yourself, and release it publicly. All in one day. That’s pretty incredible. The bads though are that everyone is doing this too. So, I think your use of the word “over-saturated” pretty much covers it. It’s like screaming into a void. The likelihood you’ll get any attention from JUST doing this is pretty slim. But, if you truly love to do it, you just do it anyways. Because in the end it doesn’t really matter. 

On a personal level however, I DO think that because of all this, music is starting to suffer a little bit. Talent is of no to little importance anymore because we have computers to fix our mistakes. And we’ve reached a point where things that would’ve been considered bad at one time are now championed as an entire genre. Or the amount of followers you have on some social media outlet dictates how successful you become. That, to me, is bananas. But, it is what it is. And honestly, I could sit here and type an entire manifesto about my gripes, but that would be pointless. So I’ll again state that we are ONLY IN THIS FOR THE FREE BURRITOS. BBBBUUUUURRRRRRIIIIIITTTTTTOOOOOOOSSSSSS!!!!!!!!

What was the last song you listened to?

On my way to work this morning I was listening to a band called Enon. They were a Brooklyn-turned-Philadelphia band started by John Schmersal from Brainiac. The last song I was on is called Natural Disasters. 

Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?

I grew up in the world of cassettes and CD’s, so will always have a nostalgia for those formats. Vinyl, to me, is an experience that cannot be duplicated though. You’re experiencing a record, not just listening to it. But, as I said, I’m a New Yorker. So digitally listening to music is mainly what I do these days since I’m always out and about. If I HAD to pick one though? Vinyl. Hands down.

How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why? 

Pandora. Why? Because I don’t have to pay for it. I’ll stomach the ads. Plus, often I get turned onto new bands randomly on certain band channels I’m on. I’m also prone to BandCamp rabbit holes. Full disclosure. But, just prefer the random nature of Pandora I guess. Also, you can submit your music directly to Pandora and if they like it they will BUY it from BandCamp. WTF? That’s so cool! Who does that?!

Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?

Our website is our main base of operations. It’s summerofblood.red. You can pretty much find us everywhere, but we prefer going to site. And let that tell you the avenues to reach us.

Anything else before we sign off?  

Yes. Burritos. Lots of ’em. Thank you. Good night.