Summertime Dropouts have been dropping a lot of hints lately on social media about upoming news but haven’t given many details yet so I took a car ride with SD’s guitarist, Josh Stoll, to get some answers. With sales from their debut album, Rewind, reaching over 11,000 copies sold and a full season of touring under their belt the Minnesota band is on the verge of something big. We covered everything from a new album to new music videos to a new band member to a new label to New Zealand.
IVM: So many things going on in the Summertime Dropouts world! Where to start? The new band member? Let’s start with him. Who is he?
Josh Stoll: His name is Michael. He used to be the lead singer in a Fargo metalcore band called, With A Voice. He’s going to be playing bass and doing some vocals for us. Actually all of our members came from other bands; Dave was in Fades Away, Danny was in Bright Light Parade and Joe was in Shasta Blvd and Triple Stitch. Steve was in Fades Away too but Michael is replacing Steve.
IVM: Wow, so you’re kind of a band-wrecker, eh? Why did Steve leave?
JS: [laughs] Yeah, well I needed people in the band! Dave initially just hopped on the project to write lyrics and vocal melodies with no intention of performing. Danny initially hopped on to help write and be a stand in on a photo shoot. Joe helped track drums on the first record and occasionally filled in live once we started doing shows. And Steve jumped in on bass since him and Dave weren’t very busy with Fades Away. So yeah, the project took off so strong it kind of became the main focus for all of us now! Steve went back to school and it became too much to juggle the band and school. At this point in time, he feels like his calling in life is elsewhere and we respect his decision. Definitely no bad blood or anything! But he was around for the music video shoots a few weeks ago, he’s
even got a couple of cameos. Just look for the handlebar mustache…
IVM: Oooh, I can’t wait to see them! When will we see them? Any idea onrelease dates?
JS: The first video and single will be released early fall. It’s a song called “Young & Dumb.” In preproduction “Young & Dumb” was called “Good Eats with a Potato.”
IVM: Why?
JS: Because we have a book called 100 Things to Do With a Potato. It’s translated into 7 different languages (thanks Twitter fans from all over the world!).
IVM: Of course, that makes perfect sense. Is this Potato book available for
purchase?
JS: We’re in the process of moving our online storefront to another location so yes, once we’ve finished that process, physical copies will be available for purchase online!
IVM: So the first video comes out early fall and the other video comes out….
JS: It’s not set in stone yet but most likely sometime in September! Stay tuned on that one…we’ll have a lot of these dates solidified in the next couple weeks!
IVM: This new record is coming out on a different label than Rewind, correct?
JS: Yeah, our last album came out on Voluminous Records, we will be releasing this one through Winterstate Entertainment/Winterstate Music Group.
IVM: Why did you part ways Voluminous?
JS: We got a better deal with Winterstate.
IVM: Fair. Does the new album have the same sound as the first album?
JS: Yeah, we stuck with what we do best, creating a pop-punk sound from 2005. We record and then say “how can we make this sound like it’s from 10 years ago” but still give it enough of a modern twist to make it relevant.
IVM: Going for the nostalgic spot in people’s hearts. Smart. You guys posted on Facebook that you have a Smaug-sized tour news…anyone who knows anything about Tolkien knows that Smaug is the dragon in the Hobbit (I actually didn’t know any of that, I Googled it)…so what is this fictional-dragon-sized tour news of yours?
JS: We have been playing at The Color Dash 5k fund raiser runs all over the United States for the past few months and they have invited us to play four Color Dash runs in New Zealand! So we’re headed down there for five weeks in October with a run each weekend. We’re working on filling out the tour schedule in between runs with other venues; that’s all still in the works. Over the past couple months we’ve been able to help raise over a quarter of a million dollars for charities alongside The Color Dash. By the end of the year that total should be over a million.
IVM: Aww, look at you guys. A philanthropic band with heart. That’s actually
really great and I’m not even being sarcastic when I say that. You’ve also
been endorsed recently.
JS: Yep, we’re endorsed by Zane Guitars. They’re based out of Wisconsin and
they’ve given us 4 guitars and 2 basses, all custom-made just for us. They’re
awesome guys! They also endorse Tantric and Breaking Benjamin so being the
pop-punk band we’re definitely the oddball!
IVM: Okay, last question, who would you want to go out on tour with?
JS: Fall Out Boy/Kesha/Paramore/Summertime Dropouts
IVM: I’d come watch that show. Anything else you want people to know?
JS: Just keep an eye out for what we’re up to one our Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. We’re super excited to release this new project and see how people react! We think it’s some awesome stuff and hopefully our fans think the same!