The Dangerous Summer (band)

History

The band formed in Ellicott City, Maryland, United States in the summer of 2006 to write their first EP, There Is No Such Thing as Science, which drew the attention of Hopeless Records and other labels in 2007. They signed with Hopeless Records in May 2007. They then re-released their debut EP under a new name, If You Could Only Keep Me Alive, in August 2007.

In April 2009, the band played The Bamboozle.

The band's debut studio album, Reach for the Sun, was released on May 5, 2009, and reached number 42 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart.

Their song "The Permanent Rain" was used in a trailer for the 2009 movie Love Happens, starring Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart.

An acoustic version of Reach for the Sun was digitally released on March 15, 2011.

The band's second album, War Paint, was released July 19, 2011. It reached 149 on the Billboard 200 on August 6, 2011 in its only week on the chart.

They played on the Warped Tour 2011 on the Nintendo 3DS stage.

The band finished their third album on February 26, 2013. They also began filming a documentary about the band and started a Kickstarter fund. The page hasn't been updated since 12 January 2014.

The album, Golden Record, was released on August 6, 2013. The first single, "Catholic Girls", was released on iTunes with an accompanying music video on June 4, 2013.

In 2014, AJ Perdomo left the band, citing Cody Payne as the driving force behind the decision.

In February 2017, Cody Payne was sentenced to a year in prison after being charged with a felony burglary conviction. In July 2017, the band's Twitter account was wiped clean of all tweets and the profile picture and cover photo changed to static. On July 8, 2017, the band uploaded a video that read "Hello", followed the next day by a video hinting at an announcement on July 10. Additionally, Cody Payne posted on Facebook that the band would be reuniting without him.

On October 19, 2017, The Dangerous Summer announced their next album The Dangerous Summer, which was released on January 26, 2018, alongside a new single titled "Fire" from the upcoming album.

On February 19, 2019, the single "Where Were You When the Sky Opened Up" was released. The band's fifth album, Mother Nature, was released on June 14, 2019.

In 2020, The Dangerous Summer ended their tenure with Hopeless Records and dropped their first self-released song "Fuck Them All" on Molly Water Music. They recruited Aaron Gillespie to record the remainder of the EP.

In January 2022, Christian Zawacki from Virginia Beach took over on drums.

On April 29, 2022, The Dangerous Summer released their title track for their sixth full-length studio album Coming Home. The album released in 2022 through Rude Records. Two years later, they released the follow-up, Gravity. Both albums were recorded at The Bakery Recording Studio in Richmond, VA with legendary producer Will Beasley.

Personnel

Current members

• AJ Perdomo – lead vocals, bass guitar, (2006–2014, 2017–present)
• Josh Withenshaw – rhythm guitar (2022–present; touring 2018–2021), lead guitar (studio; 2023–present)

Current touring musicians

• Marcus Leopard - lead guitar (2023–present)
• Nick Pultz - drums (2025-present)

Former members

• Cody Payne – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2006–2014)
• Bryan Czap – lead guitar (2006–2012)
• Etay Pisano - lead guitar (2012)
• Tyler Minsberg – drums, percussion (2006–2010, 2011)
• Ben Cato – drums (2012–2014, 2017–2020)
• Matt Kennedy – lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards (2012–2014, 2017–2023)
• Christian Zawacki – drums (2022, 2023–2025)

Former touring musicians

• Doug Rogells – drums, percussion (Feb UK Tour)
• Kyle Jordan Mueller – drums, percussion (March 2011 US Tour, War Paint Tour 2012)
• Chris Kamrada – drums, percussion (Europe and UK Tour 2012)
• Alex Garcia – guitar (2018)

Timeline ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:110 top:0 right:5 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/2006 till:12/31/2024 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:3 ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:2007 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:2006

Colors = id:v value:red legend:Lead_vocals,_bass_guitar id:bv value:pink legend:Backing_vocals id:lg value:teal legend:Lead_guitar id:rg value:brightgreen legend:Rhythm_guitar id:d value:orange legend:Drums,_percussion id:k value:purple legend:Keyboards id:alb value:black legend:Studio_album id:ep value:gray(0.50) legend:Extended_play id:live value:gray(0.75) legend:Live_album id:bar value:gray(0.95)

LineData = layer:back at:05/05/2009 color:alb at:07/19/2011 color:alb at:08/06/2013 color:alb at:03/15/2011 color:alb at:08/21/2007 color:ep at:06/30/2010 color:live at:01/26/2018 color:alb at:06/14/2019 color:alb at:08/14/2020 color:live at:12/04/2020 color:ep at:08/26/2022 color:alb at:06/21/2024 color:alb

BackgroundColors = bars:bar

BarData = bar:AJ text:AJ Perdomo bar:Bryan text:Bryan Czap bar:Matt text:Matt Kennedy bar:Cody text:Cody Payne bar:Josh text:Josh Wittenshaw bar:Tyler text:Tyler Minsberg bar:Ben text:Ben Cato bar:Aaron text:Aaron Gillespie bar:Christian text:Christian Zawacki

PlotData = width:11 bar:AJ from:start till:04/01/2014 color:v bar:AJ from:06/01/2017 till:end color:v bar:Bryan from:start till:09/29/2012 color:lg bar:Matt from:09/30/2012 till:04/01/2014 color:lg bar:Matt from:09/30/2012 till:04/01/2014 color:bv width:3 bar:Matt from:06/01/2017 till:05/29/2023 color:lg bar:Matt from:06/01/2017 till:01/01/2021 color:rg width:7 bar:Matt from:06/01/2017 till:05/29/2023 color:bv width:3 bar:Matt from:01/01/2020 till:01/01/2021 color:k width:5 bar:Matt from:01/01/2021 till:05/29/2023 color:k width:7 bar:Cody from:start till:04/01/2014 color:rg bar:Cody from:start till:04/01/2014 color:bv width:3 bar:Josh from:01/01/2021 till:end color:rg bar:Josh from:05/29/2023 till:end color:lg width:3 bar:Tyler from:start till:01/03/2011 color:d bar:Tyler from:05/01/2011 till:12/19/2011 color:d bar:Ben from:01/01/2012 till:04/01/2014 color:d bar:Ben from:06/01/2017 till:05/23/2020 color:d bar:Aaron from: 09/24/2020 till:12/10/2020 color:d bar:Christian from: 01/01/2022 till:end color:d

Discography

Studio albums

• Reach for the Sun (Hopeless Records, 2009)
• An Acoustic Performance of "Reach for the Sun" (Hopeless Records, 2011)
• War Paint (Hopeless Records, 2011)
• Golden Record (Hopeless Records, 2013)
• The Dangerous Summer (Hopeless Records, 2018)
• Mother Nature (Hopeless Records, 2019)
• Coming Home (Rude Records, 2022)
• Gravity (Rude Records, 2024)

EPs

• There Is No Such Thing as Science (2007)
• If You Could Only Keep Me Alive (Hopeless Records, 2007)
• All That Is Left of the Blue Sky (Molly Water Music, 2020)

Live

• Live in Baltimore 2019 (Hopeless Records, 2020)

References

References

1. "The Dangerous Summer".
2. "The Dangerous Summer".
3. "The Dangerous Summer - The Dangerous Summer".
4. "The Dangerous Summer - Biography".
5. Reinecker, Meg. (May 26, 2007). "Hopeless sign the Dangerous Summer". Punknews.org.
6. Reinecker, Meg. (July 13, 2007). "The Dangerous Summer EP detailed". Punknews.org.
7. [{{AllMusic
8. (March 15, 2011). "The Dangerous Summer stream acoustic record". Alternative Press.
9. (June 8, 2011). "The Dangerous Summer Announce Their New Album, WAR PAINT". Hopeless Records.
10. "War Paint - The Dangerous Summer". [[Rovi Corporation]].
11. (February 26, 2013). "Twitter / @dangeroussummer: New album is finished.". [[Twitter]].
12. (28 March 2012). "The Dangerous Summer Start Kickstarter For DVD".
13. (29 March 2014). "AJ Perdomo Parts Ways With The Dangerous Summer".
14. (January 26, 2018). ""We're Over All The Shit That Went On, We Feel Alive": The Dangerous Summer Return".
15. (February 1, 2018). "The Dangerous Summer have nothing left to prove". The Bunker Publishing.
16. "The Dangerous Summer Twitter".
17. "The Dangerous Summer".
18. "Cody Michael Payne Facebook".
19. https://www.instagram.com/p/DKA6l9uP-DN/?hl=en&img_index=1
20. Brian Kraus. (September 29, 2012). "The Dangerous Summer part ways with guitarist Bryan Czap". Alternative Press.
21. Tim Karan. (January 3, 2011). "The Dangerous Summer drummer leaves band". Alternative Press.
22. Zack Zarillo. (December 19, 2011). "The Dangerous Summer Update Status on Drummer". Property of Zack.