The Rocket Summer--a.k.a. Dallas/Ft. Worth-native Bryce Avary--has experienced a musical career path that is the opposite of many of today's Christian bands. Avary's music was discovered by the mainstream market long before the faith community--and to some extent, Christians are only just beginning to acquaint themselves with The Rocket Summer's tunes.

But now, with critical acclaim, several well-received albums and a brand-new full-length project under his belt, Avary isn't seeking additional accolades from the mainstream world, but rather establishing a familial relationship with the Christian community.

It hasn't come easy, as he shared in Part 1 of our exclusive interview. Feeling as if he has a target on his back, Avary has experienced trials and tribulations. But in the midst of it all, Avary said he eagerly anticipated his performance at Creation Northwest in Enumclaw, Wash., because it would be in an atmosphere he craves--the atmosphere of faith. 

The following is the conclusion of our interview, as well as an epilogue regarding The Rocket Summer's performance.

Make sure you read Part 1 of this interview here.

I’m always impressed to hear all the instruments. What is an instrument that you haven’t learned yet that you want to learn to play?

 

I’ve kind of messed around with mandolin. I’ve played it a little bit. When I was recording Life Will Write the Words, I recorded all of these songs that were intended for the album, but I didn’t want to put out an album of 16 songs just because people wouldn’t listen to it in this day and age. We’re going to have this stuff come out eventually. I played a mandolin on some of it. I can get by, but I’m not a mandolin player at all. You’ll listen to it. I’m not really a mandolin player, but I’m trying. That would be really cool to do. 

 

 

The past three months that we just endured and experienced and loved and hated and everything of being on the road as much as we were in an RV. We were in an RV that we were driving, playing almost every day for three months and putting out a record in the process. It was very, very wearing and honestly I don’t like to get too personal into stuff, but it was a really hard time for me that looked different in terms of hard times for me. 

 

But what was hard about it was that I was really having a hard time knowing where God was in my daily life of being so busy and it’s like, “You say you’ll meet me where I’m at and you know that I don’t have a single day off or a minute off.”
 

 

 

So I was really looking forward to getting home to dive in to just trying to know and hear the Lord and take our relationship to a new level, and I’m almost wondering if that’s why that [hard time] happened. Since I’ve been back all I’ve been doing is really focusing on that.

 

I just want to know Him more than ever in my life. I think that’s what’s happening--nothing that could happen with my music or successes or tours or anything. I’m just realizing at this point in my life that nothing is better than actually being in His presence and knowing Him. So that is where I’m at.
 

 

Oh yeah, for sure. There’s still a lot of work to be done always and I’m always writing. It’s a nonstop thing for me. We’ll see what the future holds, but right now I’m excited about what’s happening and where He has us and what the next steps are with this record. 
 

 

I think so. We’re going to be home. Now we’re all of a sudden playing catch-up on all the things that we neglected, like the record. We never even shot a real video. We’re shooting a real video next week.

 

 

We’re doing two singles. One for "200,000" and one for "Just For a Moment Forget Who You Are," which is more for Christian radio. Just stuff like that. We’re busy, but it’s a different kind of busy. At least we’re not in a rickety RV being tossed around and sweating bullets every day.

 

 

Oh yeah. I’ve done plenty of tours where I started getting used to the big buses and the cruise. You just can’t ever get too entitled to anything. It’s all fun. Hopefully we’ll do our next one in a bus. That would probably change a lot to be honest.

 

 

I’m really excited to see Relient K. I really wanted to just cruise around and see as much as I could because this is all really new to me, this culture. Even though I’ve been a believer my whole life, I’ve never really experienced so much of the Christian music culture. I’ve heard a lot of good things and some weird things. 

 

 

I can pick up on a lot of that. It’s cool to come into it not having a jaded heart because I feel like a lot of people in this world definitely do. I’m just excited. I’m curious to see what God is doing in all these people’s lives at these festivals. That’s the thing that I’m curious about. Or is it still for a lot of people just going to a rock show and they’re not really into that part of it? It’s interesting to watch it as an outsider that’s now in it.

 

 

Tonight is actually weird. Normally we put on a pretty big show where I’ll do this thing where I loop a bunch of instruments. I’ll get on the drums and record a beat. I’ll get on the keys and I’ll make a song. We’re not doing that tonight. We’re not doing it because we had to fly out at five in the morning and the last Creation we played there was some timing miscommunication. We were setting up with like 10 minutes. 

 

I was on stage just like, “check, check check,” in front of the whole crowd, and we just started playing. When I did the loop I was just like, this is the scariest thing because I didn’t even check this. What if it doesn’t work? Let’s just plug in and play a rock show tonight. Hopefully it’ll be good without all the wild things.

 

Thank you. It means a lot.

EPILOGUE
Well, Bryce's desire to just play a rock show "without all the wild things" just didn't happen. After a couple songs, Bryce was informed by stage personnel that there was an electrical problem with the sound system, and the band had to get off the stage. Fifteen to 20 minutes later, the band got back on stage. I could tell Bryce was disappointed. He only played another two songs before having to move on for time's sake. "Thank you!" Bryce said at the end of his set, disappointment clearly in his eyes. "This was memorable. I'll never forget it."

With difficulties at both Creation Northeast and Northwest, Bryce's words about feeling like he has a target on his back seemed to come to life. We need to be praying for The Rocket Summer and for Bryce Avary. God has given this musician and his band a tremendous platform for reaching the hurting and broken, and the Christian community needs to get behind him. If you haven't checked out music by The Rocket Summer, make a point to do so. You'll find that Bryce is making some of the most compelling and relevant music--complete with Christian worldview--on the scene today.