The Dangerous Summer already had a history before we worked together. They had broken through with Reach for the Sun, made several records, broken up in 2014, and eventually reunited. By 2018 they were back and had released a self-titled comeback record.
But coming back is one thing. Figuring out what the next version of the band should be is another.
What We Did
The opportunity came together fast. The band had an upcoming tour with State Champs and needed a new song.
Fuck it. Let's make a record.
They had roughly seven or eight demos. We talked about doing an eight-week session at The Panda Studios, and before coming out they spent about two weeks writing more than 20 songs so we could choose the strongest material. The band later described those sessions as roughly two months of extremely long days, completely immersed in making the record.
That became Mother Nature. I produced, engineered, and mixed the record.
The goal wasn't to recreate Reach for the Sun. It wasn't to make the reunion record again either. We wanted to figure out what The Dangerous Summer could sound like now — pushing the arrangements, performances, textures, electronics, guitar sounds, dynamics, and emotional scale of the songs until it felt like a real new chapter.
And It Worked
179,000+ monthly Spotify listeners.
That matters because these aren't legacy songs from the band's original breakthrough era. They came from the record we made after the breakup and reunion.
It Stuck
The record didn't disappear after its release cycle.
Years later, songs from Mother Nature were still a major part of the live show, sitting alongside material from their original breakthrough era.
That's The Part I Care About
This wasn't a brand-new band where everything was still possible. It was a band with history. Success. A breakup. A reunion. And all the expectations that come with trying to figure out what happens after that.
We had eight weeks to make something that felt important enough to become part of the band's story instead of just another reunion-era record.
We didn't try to recreate their past. We gave the next chapter its own identity.