Exclusive: Life is Good for The Dangerous Summer

The Dangerous Summer turned a lot of heads when they released their debut studio album, Reach for the Sun, back in May 2009. Pop-punk fans like me loved the record, filled with catchy singles like “The Permanent Rain.” The band spent 2019 touring in support of their latest album, Mother Nature, as well as celebrating the 10th anniversary of Reach for the Sun. I spent some time talking to The Dangerous Summer before their show at the Loving Touch a few weeks ago.

Frontman AJ Perdomo leads the current iteration of The Dangerous Summer, now a trio along with guitarist Matt Kennedy and drummer Ben Cato. Perdomo actually quit the band in 2013 after a falling out with former founding member Cody Payne. The Dangerous Summer seemingly broke up shortly after that. Luckily Perdomo didn’t completely give up on the band he helped start and brought back Kennedy and Cato into the fold.

Along with Perdomo’s differences with Payne, another reason why he left The Dangerous Summer six years ago was the desire to start a family. However, living a 9-5 lifestyle wasn’t something he could keep doing.

“I went through this whole transformation. When my daughter was born I became a father and got my 9-5 job and I started working hard,” Perdomo says. “I had the perfect life out in L.A. I got in my motions and everything was great. And then there’s just something missing. As Joe Rogan calls it “the cheese grater of the soul.” I could feel my soul slowly being crushed by that.

So I had this kind of epiphany and feeling that my daughter needs to see me fully happy in order for her to be happy. She needs to see me reaching for crazy dreams and jumping off these cliffs in life and saying, ‘Hey, I’m just gonna fucking go as hard as I can.’ My daughter is a big driving force for me coming back as much as she was when I had to step away from it.”

Listen to the entire interview below, where the Dangerous Summer discuss White Claw, Perdomo’s current relationship with Cody Payne and more.