In Search Of Timeless Pop-Punk

It's funny that albums holding arguably the most gravity in phonograph recording history have ended up surrounded by none at all. The Golden Records were sent into space in 1977 along with the Voyager spacecrafts. Holding the natural sounds of Earth – surf, wind, thunder, animal calls – native music from various cultures, greetings, images and more, the gold-plated copper records were meant for extraterrestrial life, offering a taste of what's happening in our part of the galaxy.

American four-piece The Dangerous Summer liked the ideals of that space undertaking and wanted to capture the same thing on their third LP, “so we were thinking let's make an album that's based on the sounds of The Dangerous Summer,” says bassist Cody Payne.

“We wanted to make something a little more timeless,” he continues. “So many bands have this new sound to their recordings, but we wanted to do something a little more raw, almost like grungy – especially with the vocals – and make it really passionate in the sense of the sound. We just wanted to make our Golden Record, the one that we're really proud of [which] represents us as a band.”

To grasp the spirit of who they are now, the Maryland rockers let their current line-up shine through, and with new recruits Matt Kennedy (guitar/keys, formerly of The Graduate) and Ben Cato (drums) bringing plenty to the table they pushed for a bigger and bolder Dangerous Summer. “I think we're getting more, I guess the word is 'worldly' with our sound,” remarks Payne. “We just tried to get a little more experimental with the 'rock band' thing.”

What they observed and heard from bands such as The National and Japandroids also encouraged them to add more layers and dynamics, removed of any pretention and bullshit. Payne cites such acts as being part of a “cool, more underground [scene] that have their popularity, [while still] creating this whole new wave of mainstream rock music.”

The resulting sessions saw Payne remove the sole burden of songwriting and open the experience to his bandmates. Jams continued that way until the feeling was good enough to start structuring and penning lyrics, with Golden Record speaking of joys and struggles, scepticisms and hope.

“This time it was just four guys in a room rather than one bringing a song to the table,” explains Payne of the creation process. “You can hear that in certain songs, and I think [that feeling] is only going to get stronger as we get more comfortable with each other and know how to communicate when we're writing and when we're trying to get an idea across. We're excited about it and will continue to write that way [in the future].”