Celebration Summer, from the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington DC, began as a message board posting in late 2019 when bassist Greg Raelson sought out members to bring forth from the ashes a style reminiscent of the late 80’s/early 90’s melodic punk rock he grew up on. Joined by drummer Glenn Boysko and guitarist Dan Hauser, both formerly of the DC band Confidence Man and notable ska side project The Captivators, the trio recruited newcomer Nate Falger to assume the duties of singer/guitarist. Celebration Summer, whose name is a mash-up of sorts, pays homage to the iconic Husker Du song Celebrated Summer and Washington DC hardcore’s significant social and activist “Revolution Summer” of 1985. Their debut EP, Against The Gun, was released digitally on Little Rocket Records and on vinyl on Shield Recordings and their forthcoming full-length Patience In Presence will be released by A-F Records in the U.S. and Shield in Europe in September 2022. We had a chance to catch up with bassist Greg Raelson to talk more about the band.
1. How did the band form and what does the band name mean?
We started pre-COVID in 2019 when I posted an online ad looking to put together a band with the intent of playing that 1990s style of melodic sing-along punk rock. Something with some grit, but really musical too. Our name is a mash-up of sorts, paying homage to the iconic Husker Du song Celebrated Summer and Washington DC hardcore’s significant social and activist “Revolution Summer” of 1985.
2. Previous musical projects? How'd you first get into music?
We've all been involved in the music scene in one way or another for a long time. There's a pretty big age gap in our band (our oldest member, Glenn, is in his late 50s and youngest member, Nate, is in his late 20s, while Dan and I are somewhere in between, haha). So, our experience making music and playing in bands is pretty varied. Dan and Glenn were in a band together years ago called Confidence Man, Dan also plays in the ska band The Captivators, and Nate is also playing guitar with our friends False Church. I'm really the latecomer to the game. I played bass with Jasten King (from KillRadio and Nancy Fullforce) in his first band back in 1999/2000 but had since given up playing altogether after that until about 4 years ago (at 42 years old!) when I decided to pick it up again. Best decision I ever made. See, it's not too late, kids!
3. First concert that you ever went to?
My first concert was Phil Collins back in 1989, followed right after by Scorpions and Trixter at Irvine Meadows Amphitheater in Orange County CA (where I'm from). My first "show" was Farside in 1991 at the now defunct 8 1/2 Club in Fullerton. I think Dance Hall Crashers may have opened, but I can't quite remember. After that show, there was no looking back. I was hooked on "club size" shows and underground music from there out.
4. What's your writing process like?
We don't have a specific process. A lot of the time Dan or Nate will come up with some music and bring it to practice or email it out to us. We'll jam on it a bit and see how it develops. A few songs have begun with just a bass line I was noodling with and it sorta went from there. Usually the vocal melody and lyrics come last, and that's pretty much all Nate. We've had full songs written in a single practice session and we've had songs take months to write.
5. What other artists or songs inspire your music?
Leatherface was really one of the first bands we discussed as influential to our sound, although we never wanted to be a ripoff band or too on the nose with our sound in relation to our influences. Certainly Tiltwheel, Hot Water Music, and other bands that have that really soulful, emotive music, with that edgy gruffiness are big influences too. I think as we grow and mature in our writing and our cohesiveness as a band, we are starting to really hone and develop our own sound. I think that while fans of the bands we are influenced by would like us too, I don't think any similarities run too deep to be off-putting.
6. What's the live experience like and your philosophy on playing live? Do you think the music live should be identical to the recorded version or should it be it's own thing?
That's a really good question. Ian MacKaye said something like, and I'm paraphrasing, that the album is the appetizer and the show is the meal. I've always respected that mentality. Not to tour to "support" an album, but the record supports the show. We love playing in front of an audience, there's nothing quite like it. While we'd love to tour incessantly all over the place, we're not sure how realistic that is these days with jobs, families, etc. We're no spring chickens. That said, we want to play in front of people as much as possible. Of course, I'm not sure that really answered your questions. So I'll say this... it's great when a live band sounds as "tight" as they do recorded, but the sound and feel of a live gig is always its own thing.
7. Has the band tour? What has the touring experience been, best shows?
worst shows?
We did a mini tour with our friends Neckscars from NY earlier this year. And we did some shows out in Ohio after COVID vaccines became available. We're really looking forward to heading down to Fest in Gainesville FL this October and we hope to get up to Boston and NY as well as Chicago etc.soon. It's really been difficult to plan anything with certainty during the pandemic, but I think later this year and 2023 will have us playing out and about a lot more. I'm genuinely stoked to play any and all shows, whether to a packed house or an empty room with only the other bands watching. So there are no "worst" shows as far as I'm concerned. I think my vote for best so far was opening for Ignite and Don't Sleep at the Pie Shop in DC. Being from Orange County and having seen Ignite dozens of times in my life, that was really special. Not to mention as a really big Dag Nasty and Down By Law fan, playing with Dave Smalley's band Don't Sleep was super rad!
8. What's up next for the band?
We're super excited for our new record coming out in September and our show with Anti-Flag, Suicide Machines, and Catbite at the Black Cat in DC Sept 30. It is our unofficial "record release show" and we couldn't have asked for a better lineup to be a part of!
https://linktr.ee/celebrationsummer