Digital Summer was an American

alternative metal Alternative metal (also known as alt-metal) is a genre of heavy metal music that combines heavy metal with influences from alternative rock and other genres not normally associated with metal. Alternative metal bands are often characterized by ...

band from

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

, formed in 2006. The band has released three studio albums, ''

Cause and Effect Causality (also referred to as causation, or cause and effect) is influence by which one event, process, state, or object (''a'' ''cause'') contributes to the production of another event, process, state, or object (an ''effect'') where the cau ...

'' (2007) ''

Counting the Hours ''Counting the Hours'' is the second full-length studio album by alternative metal band Digital Summer. It was released on May 11, 2010, and features the singles "Just Run" and "Playing the Saint." Track listing Miscellaneous information ...

'' (2010) and '' Breaking Point'' (2012). Additionally, in 2013, the band released '' After Hours: Unplugged & Rewired'', which contained acoustic reinterpretations of songs from their first three albums. The band has had six singles break into major radio airplay, including multiple charting singles on Active Rock radio, as a completely independent artist.

History

Formation and ''Cause and Effect'' (2006-2008)

Digital Summer was formed in 2006 when

vocalist Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

and

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

Kyle Winterstein and

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themsel ...

Ian Winterstein enlisted long time friend and

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboard bass or a low b ...

Anthony Hernandez to form the core of the band. After a few months, Digital Summer made the addition of Johnmark Cenfield on lead guitar. The band has had a couple different full-time drummers. The band's first full length release, ''

'', was released on March 8, 2007. “Whatever It Takes,” was the first single and it spent 45 weeks in rotation on Sirus/XM's Octane 20, and got adds from

KUPD KUPD (97.9 MHz, "98 KUPD") is a commercial active rock FM radio station. Licensed to Tempe, Arizona, the station serves the Phoenix metropolitan area. The station is owned by Hubbard Radio, a division of Hubbard Broadcasting, Inc. of St. Paul ...

, WWBN, WFXH, WPBZ, KXTE,

KATT KATT-FM (100.5 MHz, "ROCK 100.5 The KATT") is a commercial radio station in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It is owned by Cumulus Media and airs a mainstream rock radio format. The playlist leans toward hard-edged classic rock with some current and rec ...

, KILO,

KXXR KXXR (93.7 FM) is an active rock/mainstream rock radio station broadcasting to the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. It is owned by Cumulus Media, which also owns KQRS-FM. Its transmitter is located in Shoreview, Minnesota. Its studi ...

WZBH WZBH (93.5 FM, "93.5 The Beach") is an American radio station licensed to serve the community of Salisbury, Maryland, Ocean City, Maryland, Southern Delaware, Virginia, and the rest of Delmarva, with studios and cluster offices located in Salis ...

WIIL WIIL (95.1 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Union Grove, Wisconsin. The station serves Kenosha (its original city of license), Racine, the southern suburbs of Milwaukee and the northern suburbs of Chicago. WIIL is owned and o ...

, Cage Rattle Radio, and more. In addition, "Whatever it Takes" was featured as one of the "Top 4 Songs of the Day" for over six weeks straight on 98

. The second single “Disconnect,” also enjoyed similar success with over 40 national adds, Sirus/XM's Octane 20,

WRIF WRIF (101.1 FM) is a commercial active rock radio station licensed in Detroit, Michigan and serving Metro Detroit as well as bordering city Windsor, Ontario, Canada. The station is currently owned by Beasley Media Group. WRIF is a grandfathered ...

KSHE KSHE (styled as K-SHE) is a Classic rock radio station licensed to Crestwood, Missouri which serves the Greater St. Louis area. KSHE transmits on 94.7 MHz and currently uses the slogan "KSHE 95, Real Rock Radio". Owned by Hubbard Broadcast ...

, and KUPD included. An acoustic version of "Whatever it Takes" was featured in KUPD's Acoustic Scorcher album released at Phoenix area Best Buy locations. The sold-out disc included 10 tracks recorded on-site at KUPD's End of Summer Scorcher by artists such as Sevendust, Corey Taylor of Slipknot, Five Finger Death Punch, Tantric, Cavo, and Digital Summer. The week of May 8, 2008; Digital Summer was the featured cover story for the

Phoenix New Times ''Phoenix New Times'' is a free digital and print media company based in Phoenix, Arizona. ''New Times'' publishes daily online coverage of local news, restaurants, music and arts, as well as longform narrative journalism. A weekly print issue ...

. Following ''Cause and Effect'', the band released the 2 disc EP/DVD set, '' Hollow'', on March 31, 2008. The DVD portion of the set included a music video for the song "Rescue Me". The full video production included a scene of a car accident and featured both friends and co-workers of the band.

''Counting the Hours'' (2009-2010)

Digital Summer issued their second full length album, ''

'', on May 7, 2010. ''Counting the Hours'' was recorded in Phoenix with producer Larry Elyea (who previously worked with

Jimmy Eat World Jimmy Eat World is an American rock band formed in 1993 in Mesa, Arizona. The band is composed of lead vocalist and lead guitarist Jim Adkins, rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist Tom Linton, bassist Rick Burch, and drummer Zach Lind. They ...

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing Hip hop music, hip hop in Middle America (United Sta ...

Adelitas Way Adelitas Way is an independent American band formed in Las Vegas in 2006. The band's debut single "Invincible", broke them into the mainstream scene after the song made numerous television appearances in commercials and live sporting events. As ...

), mixed by producer Mike Watts (Dear Hunter, Adelitas Way,

Saliva Saliva (commonly referred to as spit) is an extracellular fluid produced and secreted by salivary glands in the mouth. In humans, saliva is around 99% water, plus electrolytes, mucus, white blood cells, epithelial cells (from which DNA can ...

), and features guest performances by

Morgan Rose Morgan Jay Rose (born December 13, 1968) is an American drummer and a founding member of Atlanta-based rock band Sevendust. He is also responsible for much of the background vocals. He has also played drums for Call Me No One and Methods of Mayh ...

from

Sevendust Sevendust is an American rock band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 1994 by bassist Vince Hornsby, drummer Morgan Rose and rhythm guitarist John Connolly. After their first demo, lead vocalist Lajon Witherspoon and lead guitarist Clint Lo ...

. The album's first single, "Just Run", was released nationally in early February 2010. In late 2011 the band released the video for "Just Run". The second single, "Hostage", was also released nationally to radio.

''Breaking Point'' and acoustic album and inactivity (2011-present)

Before beginning work on a third album, Kyle and Ian Winterstein also released music under their experimental rock side project called "Tragedy Machine". They released their debut album titled ''Pacify'' on June 7, 2011, which contained the 4 EP tracks they had released in 2008 and 11 brand new tracks. In fall of 2011, Digital Summer announced that it had parted ways with guitarist Johnmark "Fish" Cenfield. After auditions were held, on January 26, 2012 it was announced the band chose Jon Stephenson as their new lead guitarist, who joined the band in time to help with recording and writing their third full length album. Digital Summer had a management deal with In De Goot Entertainment/ McGathy who boasts artists such as Chevelle, Sevendust, Saliva,

Shinedown Shinedown is an American rock band from Jacksonville, Florida, formed by singer Brent Smith in 2001 after the dissolution of Dreve, his previous band. Smith, still under contract with record label Atlantic Records, recruited the band's original ...

Puddle of Mudd Puddle of Mudd is an American rock band formed in Kansas City, Missouri in 1992. To date, the band has sold over seven million albums and has had a string of No. 1 mainstream rock singles in the United States. Their major-label debut '' C ...

, Adelitas Way, 10 Years, and many more. However, Digital Summer parted ways with in De Goot in December 2011 to operate under their own label, Victim Entertainment. Digital Summer used online crowd-sourcing platform

KickStarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

to involve fans directly in helping fund the recording and release of their new album, titled'' Breaking Point''. They produced a promotional video for the campaign, which featured praise from

Rick DeJesus Rick Anthony DeJesus (born September 20, 1983) is an American singer and songwriter, best known for being the founder and lead vocalist of the hard rock bands Adelitas Way and Sun Never Sets. Musical career In 2005, he was the singer for a band ...

, C.J. Pierce of Drowning Pool, and Morgan Rose of

. ''Breaking Point'' was released August 7, 2012. The lead single off the album, "Forget You", which features

Clint Lowery Clint Lowery (born December 15, 1971) is an American musician, songwriter and producer, best known as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the rock band Sevendust. He has also played in Dark New Day and Still Rain, and served as the touri ...

from

, reached #38 on the Active Rock charts. The album debuted at #13 on iTunes in Rock. On September 10, 2012, an official music video for "Forget You" was released. "Dance in the Fire" was also released as a second single, with an official "tour" music video released on 5 March 2013. The band toured extensively in support of the album. In July 2012, Digital Summer joined hard rock band

12 Stones 12 Stones is an American hard rock band, formed in 2000 in Mandeville, Louisiana, and currently consisting of Paul McCoy, Eric Weaver and Sean Dunaway. History The band members met in Mandeville, Louisiana, a small city north of New Orleans, ...

on the road for a 27-day tour, spanning across the midwest and east coast

In November 2012, Digital Summer went on tour with Taproot (band), Taproot for the Winter Riot Tour through the Midwest. In January 2013, Digital Summer went on a 28 dates tour with heavy rock band Nonpoint that covers the Pacific Northwest, Southwest and parts of the South. In late 2012 it was revealed that the band parted ways with drummer Ben Anderson and would be using fill-in drummers for the remainder of the touring year. Digital Summer was one of RockRevolt Magazine's "Indie Band of the Week" in February 2013. The full length acoustic album titled '' After Hours: Unplugged & Rewired'' was released on October 8, 2013. A music video for the track "This City" was released on January 8, 2014. On January 20, 2014 it was announced that the band would be going separate ways with guitarist Jon Stephenson due to professional differences. Thirteen-year-old Austin Rios was announced to be replacement touring drummer.DIGITAL SUMMER Announces Tour With VOLBEAT & TRIVIUM
In January 2014, the band performed at Shiprocked festival alongside such bands as

Five Finger Death Punch Five Finger Death Punch, also abbreviated as 5FDP or FFDP, is an American heavy metal band from Las Vegas, Nevada, formed in 2005. The band originally consisted of vocalist and keyboardist Ivan Moody, rhythm guitarist Zoltan Bathory, lead g ...

Papa Roach Papa Roach is an American rock band from Vacaville, California, formed in 1993. The original lineup consisted of lead vocalist Jacoby Shaddix, guitarist Jerry Horton, drummer Dave Buckner, bassist Will James, and trombonist Ben Luther. After t ...

Three Days Grace Three Days Grace is a Canadian rock band formed in Norwood, Ontario in 1992 originally as "Groundswell" and played in various local Norwood backyard parties and area establishments before disbanding in 1995 and regrouping in 1997. Based in ...

, Sevendust, In This Moment and Device among others. In April 2014, they did a U.S. national tour with

Volbeat Volbeat are a Danish rock band formed in Copenhagen in 2001. They play a fusion of rock and roll, heavy metal, and rockabilly. Their current line-up consists of vocalist and guitarist Michael Poulsen, guitarist Rob Caggiano, drummer Jon ...

and

Trivium The trivium is the lower division of the seven liberal arts and comprises grammar, logic, and rhetoric. The trivium is implicit in ''De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii'' ("On the Marriage of Philology and Mercury") by Martianus Capella, but t ...

with 25 dates and multiple one-off festival and headlining dates. In June 2015, Digital Summer had announced that Jon Stephenson has rejoined the band. And that based on the direction of the band, they no longer need drummer Austin Rios and made the addition of RED drummer Dan Johnson.

Members

;Current members * Kyle Winterstein - lead vocals (2006–present) * Ian Winterstein - guitar (2006–present) * Anthony Hernandez - bass (2006–present) * Jon Stephenson - guitar (2012-2014), (2015–present) * Dan Johnson - drums (2015–present) *Austin Rios (touring) - drums (2014-present) ;Former members * Johnmark Cenfield - guitar (2006–2011) * Chris Carlson - drums (2006-2009) * Ben Anderson - drums (2009–2012) * Justin Pacy (touring) - drums (2012–2013)

Discography

;Albums * ''

'' (2007) * ''

'' (2010) * '' Breaking Point'' (2012) ;EPs * '' Hollow'' (2008) ;Compilation * '' After Hours: Unplugged & Rewired'' (2013) ;Singles ;Music videos * "Disconnect" * "Rescue Me" * "Just Run" * "Forget You" * "Dance in the Fire" * "This City"

References

External links

Official website

Indie Music Phoenix Interview
{{Digital Summer American alternative metal musical groups American hard rock musical groups American post-grunge musical groups Musical groups from Phoenix, Arizona Rock music groups from Arizona 2006 establishments in Arizona Musical groups established in 2006