In the last summer month of 2023, I made my way to a local venue for a show that was legitimately life changing. Tiny Voices and EMWAY were deep into their WUGUGOT tour, and on the 25th of August, they played Healer DIY. While I had been once before, much of my experience was with other venues — but anxieties over the unknown commonly present in both the back of my head and Summerbruise’s lyrics were far from the forefront of my mind. Being at a show with old friends and new ones alike brought me plenty of comfort on their own but Summerbruise’s melodic messages of loving those around you and remembering that you’re with people who care about you made me feel right at home.

Despite the upcoming fall chill, I felt warmer than ever.

Anyone familiar with Summerbruise is certainly familiar with the personal, melancholic yet somewhat hopeful undertones. Songs like “Fricked” or “Thanks!”, for example, evoke cold imagery with warmth just around the corner; invisible inspirations that hang in both the mind of a listener and a songwriter.

Inspirations vary, but much of Summerbruise’s lyricism is rooted in close family and the equivalent friends made over the years. “The Kate referred to in Never Lucky and Quitting is my fiance,” Mike explained. “…and the Katie in Penn Station and Daddog is my sister.”

Mike elaborated, explaining their roles in much of Summerbruise’s inspiration. “Those two come up a lot because they’re probably the two people that generally see the closest thing to the ‘real’ version of me on a regular basis.”

“The idea of my loved ones sort of tolerating me is a running theme in a lot of stuff I write.” Not to downplay the impact that Mike himself has on his own music, however; “That being said, I use the second person pretty liberally or ambiguously, so sometimes the “you” in a song is referring to me or switches between several different people throughout. It’s usually me though.”

Inspiration stemming from one’s own personal life is a concurrent theme throughout Summerbruise’s discography, from lyricism to the band’s name. For as incredible as it is, I had to ask- why Summerbruise?

“It’s from a book by a writer friend of mine!” Mike informed me, “It’s about a guy trying to pay off debt by reuniting his washed up band from the 90’s, The Summerbruise.” Continuing the trend of media influence, Mike confessed what could have been. “At one point we were pretty set on ‘Birdperson.’ […] I thank God every day the universe kept us from naming our band after a Rick & Morty character.” Dear lord. “2016 was truly a different time.”

Luckily, aside from Summerbruise, another name was deeply embedded in the band’s minds. “‘Dog College’ was also on the table at one point and I think if I could go back in time and pick that instead, I would.”

That one’s pretty good. It’s not too late for us to all agree to call them Dog College, right?

Speaking of the past, I had a moment to ask Mike about what things he might have missed from the bygone days of the DIY community, which I’ve been informed is a “boomer/oldhead Turing test” (which admittedly made me giggle). The DIY community didn’t die by any means during 2020, but some aspects never fully recovered. “Maybe house shows? I don’t think house venues are dead by any means, but I think the culture/mythos around house venues shifted a lot during the couple years we went without them.” House shows are certainly one of those still-recovering aspects.

“I think the worst kind of house show is a big college party full of drunk assholes where no one cares about the bands, and admittedly those used to be common enough.” I have to agree. DIY is an ecosystem, and it only survives due to its social aspect.

Mike elaborated further, explaining that “I love when house shows feel like parties, not in the binge drinking sense, but in the sense that people are there to make/see friends and also watch bands, not just attend a ‘concert’ that happens to be at a house, if that makes sense?”

Mike continued, explaining that this may be more due to personal reminiscing rather than reminiscing on the culture. “That being said, we rarely get to play at houses anymore, so this may just be something I miss about specifically our good ol’ days, not something that isn’t happening anymore. RIP North Pole Strip Club and shoutout Kling Thing!”

Just like any other band as involved in the culture as Summerbruise is, word eventually began to stir around the band. Especially with Summerbruise’s activity, playing everywhere from New Jersey to Texas, more and more people had more exposure to their music. Every band has a breakout, and according to Mike, Summerbruise’s came from a place not many would consider a momentous moment. “Weirdly, a huge feeling of breaking out for me was the first time I saw a negative comment about us online. Much is made about us being nice people, and I love that we’ve earned that reputation, but it does introduce the small fear that we owe more of our popularity to being nice than, say, having good songs.”

If you know anything about Summerbruise that isn’t their music, you’ve absolutely heard about how they’re the nicest guys around. Gotta say, I can personally attest to that- as I type this I’m sipping from a can adorned in a Summerbruise drink koozie Mike gave me for free while picking up some other merch.

“Something about us being just another band for someone on r/emo to shit on was actually incredibly validating in that sense, like we were well established to the point someone would be comfortable publicly saying we suck without worrying about us seeing it.” Can’t blame ‘em at all. Being in a position where people can be open with you is what everyone wants, right? On that scale, that means a lot. “It probably helps that it wasn’t a terribly scathing critique, but it still made me feel like we’d kinda made it in a sense!”

With temporary venues popping up everywhere and anywhere musicians can be hosted, from bars to restaurants- Live Without’s famous Denny’s Grand Slam being a notable example- dozens of once-in-a-lifetime shows are played every year in the midwest. With Summerbruise playing so many shows over the years, I had to ask; are there any closed venues or one-time shows they’d love to play or attend again.

“I am actually devastated that the original Summit Shack will join the list this year, but we still have a couple months!” Mike sent a pang through my heart with that one. The original Shack will live forever in the soul of every midwestern DIY lover. Even those who have never gone know how big of a deal the Shack is.

“Until then, Club Logos in Franklin, Indiana. As far as non-venues, I think playing at a Penn Station East Coast Subs would obviously be poetic, and I do not think I will be ready to fully hang it up until we’ve played inside a wrestling ring at least once.” You know, maybe I should’ve asked a question about the wrestling influence…

Speaking of the coming months and what they bring, the year is still relatively young. Sure as hell doesn’t feel like it. We all heard the “we’re 80 days into January” jokes, and I’m certainly expecting them as February goes on. Where was I? Right. The future. Summerbruise — what’s going on soon? The last response I had expected was an announcement of an upcoming break.

“We have big tours planned in the spring and summer, but after that I’ll be returning to full-time teaching and needing some time to adjust to that.” Good call. Don’t want to end up acclimating yourself poorly, right?

“Stanli and I are both broke as shit right now and decided it would be best to take a year or two off of heavy touring to save up some money and hopefully have the time and energy to try writing together with a little more intentionality than before. Unless, of course, we get some huge ass tour offer and I quit my job again. Only time will tell!” Anyone reading this know a guy ready to make some huge ass tour offers?

Going back to the past for a few, I had a very specific question about the last track on Summerbruise’s 2022 album “The View Never Changes”, related to a sample around the 2:49 mark. Anyone who’s heard “Quitting in the Name” knows what I’m talking about. I won’t lie, I’ve spent many sleepless nights wondering who that was, and I kept coming back to Steve Buscemi. I swear to God, that’s gotta be Steve Buscemi.

“Nick the Smoker, hahahaha!”

It’s not Steve Buscemi?!

“The first time we ever played at the Summit Shack, everyone gathered in the living room and watched a bunch of cigarette reviews on YouTube by this guy named Nick the Smoker.” Back to the Shack! See what I mean? Shack’s a big deal.

“When he ended this big inspirational speech about staying true to yourself with ‘I fucking love smoking’ everyone in the room joked about how perfect of a sample that would be and so began the race to be the first ones to use it. For a long time I was actually torn on having ‘Quitting’ as the first or last track, and part of the indecision was how well the ‘before we get going here’ in the sample works either way.”

In the end, Summerbruise has always been a band about community. Summerbruise is a band known for many things, but they’ve never been known for shying away from other musicians, showgoers, journalists, and any other type of DIY enthusiast. If there’s one theme that rings out through their discography, it’s a message of love for everyone who’s ever nodded along. I asked Mike if he had any last shoutouts or anyone else to mention, so I’ll just let him have the mic.

“The Bruiseheads! Imre made a really sweet post the other day about us being nice, and I don’t know if the people supporting us realize how uniquely easy they make it to be nice? For every time we, for example, give someone a free shirt because they drove super far, there’s always someone who gave us two 20s for $30 worth of merch and refused change. So then it’s just like, ‘why wouldn’t I do the nice thing that someone will really appreciate and effectively costs us nothing?’ Conor (from the Summit Shack) and I have tons of conversations about the ethics of being nice while also being aware of the expected outcomes of being nice and if that cheapens it all. I hope not, but with how it’s played out for us so far, it’s just never been a difficult decision to ask ‘okay how would the nicest band of all time handle this situation/interaction’ and go with that as often as we can. I tend to obsessively tune in to conversational cues, and the glimpses of kindness and empathy embedded in the offhand conversations we have with people at shows is, as corny as it sounds, inspiring to me. I have friends in ‘bigger’ bands that end up feeling sort of jaded by the way they’re treated by ‘fans’, but more often than not, I feel much more like a guy who writes songs getting to talk to someone who enjoys them than I do a Guy-in-a-Band transactionally talking to a Fan, if that makes sense. It’s less of a parasocial thing where I think everyone who likes our songs is my best friend, but more so a palpable two-way effort to feel like we’re both just some proverbial guys talking about music or wrestling or whatever. Basically, I get really nervous talking to people and usually just come out and say it, so the fact that we have a reputation for being nice and not for being weird anxious freaks is way more a testament to how people engage with us than anything on our end. So, thanks!”

Summerbruise reminds me of many things. It reminds me of my early childhood. It reminds me of my first shows. It reminds me of old friends. It reminds me of playing a wrestling game for the PS1 with my brother. Most importantly; Summerbruise reminds me that no matter how it looks, the people who care about you are always right around the corner.

[Update: June 14, 2024]

Summerbruise has a tour with Arcadia Grey, which runs from the 15th to the 10th of July.

https://linktr.ee/summerbruise69