Young For The Summer.

Detroit, Michigan. Sunset Blvd. Not enough whiskey. Too many girls on their phones. DALES.

[youngforthesummer-blog]

Thank you for all of your support today. I know this is a hard one to deal with right now. I promise you, this is the hardest thing I’ve gone through in my life. The last 10 years in this band, and the unbelievable people we have met along the way, have left us with a legacy that will never die. For that, I thank you. I know I can be the worst at communicating it sometimes, but I am so grateful to every single one of you. 

This is for the ones who drove hours on end just to come see their 4th show of the same tour. The ones who waited outside the van at Croc Rock, all the way to the tour bus outside The Roxy, just to say hi for a few minutes before we went on to the next city. To the ones who remember “She’s got The Rhythm” and weekend shows at Chain Reaction. Even to the ones who only ever heard of this band because of the “Jay-z and Beyonce song from the Macy’s commercial”. You all mattered. Whether it was your first song, your last song, your 1st show, or your 100th show (I’m looking at you Madi Convey), thank you from the bottom of my broken heart. Growing up in front of you guys hasn’t always been easy, but it sure as hell has been worth it. 

I’ve always wanted to share this, but it never felt like the right time. Attached is a link to the original iPhone voice note from the night I wrote “Figure Me Out” on my parents piano in the house I grew up in. This was and will always be the most important TSS song to me. May it live with you forever and remind you of 10 years of incredible memories. Long Live.

-Brian

[youngforthesummer-blog]

At some point a few years ago, I fell out of love with music. On tour, I’d stay in the darkness of my bunk all day until soundcheck, struggle to hold a conversation during meet & greets, then barely make it through the shows without counting down the minutes until they were over. At home, it wasn’t much different. I was apathetic toward the album we were making and toward my abilities as a songwriter, so I slept all day, drank all night, and distracted myself with new people who weren’t really even my friends. I lost the ability to care, and I lost the ability to feel anything. I didn’t love me, so why should you? It was the darkest period of my life. I planned a solo trip to Alaska with the intention of never making music again when I returned. Thanks to fate intervening, the day before I left for Alaska I had a chance encounter with my longtime friend Matt Beckley. As the story goes, I ran into Matt at a cafe in Los Angeles, and he asked me to join him back at his new house to check out his studio and maybe write some music. (I’d like to think Matt’s extraordinary intuition knew I was in the darkest before the dawn phase). We went back to the house, opened a bottle of Stranahan’s, and didn’t write a single fucking note. Instead, we just sat around and talked about what we loved about music in the first place. Bruce Springsteen, Bryan Adams, The Gin Blossoms, Tom Petty, you know the rest. We talked about where we'd love to see music GO. We both wanted to move the needle and we both wanted to chase great in a world full of just good. As I was leaving that night, Matt said to me, “Go to Alaska and stop thinking about what you’re gonna do when you fail. Think about all the things you’re going to do when you win.’ That was the moment that DALES was born. Over the next 2 years, Matt and I began writings songs together. A lot of songs. The best songs I’d ever written in my life. I was alive again. Writing with no destination, no business plan, and absolutely no fear. For the first time in a long time, I was making music simply because I loved it. After a while, I decided that these songs were a different chapter of my life, a new story, and I put them away while The Summer Set finished Stories For Monday. Then that record came out and we went on tour. Then, unfortunately the darkness came back. I lost that fire in my soul I had finally just found again. So, I spent every minute I had when we weren’t on tour, locked in the studio at Matt’s house trying to feed the flame that gave me my love for music back. Here we are now. At this time, I have carefully decided that I don’t want to lose that spark anymore. It is in my best interest to follow my heart and dive head first into this new adventure. I want to finish these songs, play them live, and give the world the DALES record I think it needs to hear. The record I NEED to hear. I’m an all or nothing kinda guy and a terrible multi-tasker, so if I’m finally gonna do something…I want to give it everything I’ve got. With that being said, unfortunately that means The Summer Set will not be making any records or touring plans indefinitely. To John, Stephen, Jess, And Josh: I have loved this journey every single step of the way. On my best days and on my worst days. From The Modified Arts to The Macy’s Day Parade. We put more miles on that old van than dollars we may ever have in our bank accounts. (I still can’t believe we sold that van to a church.) This has been, and may always be my greatest ride. John and Stephen- It is no secret you guys are well on your way to becoming two of the best music producers I know. If you blink, you’ll realize you’re already there. I can’t wait to see what you guys do next, and I can only hope one day we find our way into the studio (or at least the makeshift one we made in your shared bedroom in North Hollywood) someday again. Jess- Your drumming and your friendship are among the most sturdy and reliable things I may ever find in this lifetime. You’re my sister. We fight a lot (Literally, you once beat the hell out of me in a Taco Bell parking lot in the middle of Texas), but I love you. You already have more drum gigs lined up than you know what to do with, and I will be your biggest fan along side everything you do. Josh- There are no words to describe how valuable you are to this band, and to me personally. That became abundantly clear when you actually left the band. We tried to make Stories For Monday without you, failed, threw in the towel, asked for your opinion on the new songs, you told us it was our best work yet, told us we HAD to put the album out, and we told you we couldn’t do it WITHOUT YOU. So you jumped back in, without hesitation. You are our rock. You are there when we need you. You are there when I need you. You're there when ANYONE needs you. There’s a reason you’re the first person anyone calls when they need advice or they’re in trouble. I hope life in Nashville is everything you want it to be, where I am sure you will figure out how to balance being a hit songwriter AND a future mayor at the same time. To The Fans: All I can say is thank you. I never in my wildest dreams thought this would last 10 years. You were there for me on my worst of days, and I'm sorry I wasn't always there for you in return. You guys stood by our side during the awkward teenage years, through the terrible haircuts (which thankfully, you can still google!) through growing up, and most importantly…through the blood, sweat, and tears of four albums and more tours than I can count. I’ve seen places around the world I never thought I’d see, all because of you. There is no home quite like a room full of you guys screaming back the songs we made together. Make no mistake, that will live forever and never die. As for me, I’m on a lifelong journey searching for the right and the real. To learn how to feel everything again. To learn how to love and be loved in return. To fall back in love with music. I was born to write songs and be on stage and I can’t believe I almost gave that up. It’s my greatest magic trick. Bruce Springsteen once said, “Everything dies baby, that’s a fact, but maybe everything that dies…someday comes back." See you soon, Brian Dales

[youngforthesummer-blog]

When I was a child in this house in Novi, Michigan, we went to church in the basement. I didn't grow up in a religious family. In my house it was simple, Bruce Springsteen was the Lord, and "Born To Run" was the Bible. I remember burning that album for hours on end downstairs with my dad, Tenth Avenue Freeze Out turned up to 11, pretending to play along on any instrument I could find. I was baptized by rock & roll music. A big part of my story is rooted in this guitar in my dad's hands. It's an early 1980's fender esquire. My mom bought it for him as a gift. He never learned how to play it, but it always knew how to put on a show for the neighborhood kids on Chase Drive. Later on, when the DALES clan became a party of five and moved west to Arizona, the guitar came too. It survived a big fall out of the trunk on Route 66, my failed first guitar lessons, and even my awkward teenage years when all I wanted was be a drummer. Eventually I turned 18, the dream became real, and I got to tour the world for the several years. Meanwhile, the guitar collected dust in the garage. When I started making the DALES record with Matt, I took a trip back to Arizona and begged my dad to let me take the guitar home with me to LA. After a bittersweet debate, he gave in and we were on our way to dust off the cobwebs. A part of me always knew I wanted to tell this story with the very instrument that was so deeply rooted into my childhood DNA. (I also wanted to learn how to really fucking play, thanks Matt.) It's an out-of-body experience to hold something in your hands and it feel like a time capsule to your first memories of music. A portal to a basement in Michigan where I felt the feeling for the first time, the same feeling I'll be chasing for the rest of my life. Now not a day goes by where I don't pick up this guitar.

[youngforthesummer-blog]

This is where the DALES story began. 2 years ago, in the most trying creative period of my life, I ran into my old friend Matt Beckley at a cafe in Sherman Oaks, California. We went back to his house to make music, but instead drank a bottle of Stranahan's and watched a live bootleg of Bryan Adams playing "Summer of 69" in a stadium in Lisbon. Just him, a guitar, and 50,000 people singing at the top of their lungs in a language they didn't even speak. What a moment. I was pleasantly reminded of how great music can make you feel. Then everything became obvious. In a world driven by more, more, more....I got excited by the power of less. Matt and I spent the next two years making songs in this 16x20 studio shed in his backyard. If the magic wasn't there with just a voice and a guitar, then no amount of voodoo was gonna make it better. The feeling had to exist in this little room, or not at all. Then we hit record. Instead of filling the empty spaces with a million things, how could we fill them with the things we really need? The philosophy about music became the philosophy about life. Do everything simply, but with importance. I've been fortunate enough to do this music thing all over the world. In a LOT of small punk rock clubs, a couple arenas, a few festivals, and even on someone's farm in the middle of Utah. No matter where this adventure takes me next, it's always gonna lead me right back here. To Matt's backyard, where I will write a thousand more songs with the same mission... If it's not great in here, then it's not great enough. Thank you for all the Young For The Summer love, but I promise you this is only the beginning of the best story I am ever going to tell. -DALES

[youngforthesummer-blog]

Dear Brian,

You're 4 years old in this picture. You're at Pine Knob Music Theatre (now DTE Energy Theatre) in Clarkston, Michigan. You're watching Bruce Springsteen, and I'm pretty sure he's watching you too. Your parents bought you that plastic guitar so you could run up and down the aisle and sing every word. You've been putting on this show your whole life. When you get older, you're gonna get to do it for real. If that sounds crazy to you, it's because it is. Some days you're gonna want to give up, but you won't, because you'll remember how you felt in this moment for the rest of your life. I used to write songs to try and impress a lot of people who don't really know anything about me. I've realized now that the only person I want to impress is you.

I wrote you a song, it's called "Young For The Summer". Spotify doesn't exist yet in 1993, so I'll send it to you on cassette. I hope you love it as much as I do.

Long live,

DALES.

Spotify- https://t.co/4H9aljHNzR

Apple- https://t.co/Wve3jP3Lnh