By Mary Whitfill

Staff Writer

The Rocket Summer’s Stephen Bryce Avary is offering up-and-coming musicians CHS graduate Clayton Graham Fike and Perrysburg High School graduate Austin Eckel a chance to open for him at his February show in Dallas. The Rocket Summer is deciding the opener based on fan support, a popular record and commonly viewed videos.

The Rocket Summer (TRS) is a piano and guitar-driven solo-project based in the Metroplex. Avary writes and produces every song on his records and plays every instrument featured. Starting as a teenager performing at local shows in Texas, Avary has released three albums and several extended plays which have been sold on five continents.

“A lot of my influence was from [Avary] and he really inspired me to start making music,” Eckel said.

The latest EP, You Gotta Believe, was released Oct. 27. Coinciding with the EP release, TRS launched a 34-city North American Tour to promote his upcoming album to be released Feb. 23. Before the beginning of the tour, Avary announced that fans may submit videos of themselves performing a TRS cover and at each show a contest winner would perform on stage.

“When a band is good live, it makes you like them a lot more,” Eckel said.

 “My band’s sound is really good when we play live – we have really good chemistry when we play together.”

A CD release party for TRS will be held at the Granada Theater in Dallas on Feb. 26. A quick look at the TRS Facebook page shows that the major contestants are Fike and Eckel.

“My friend from Baylor send me an email saying I should apply for the opening slot and I feel like I have a really good shot,” Fike said.

Fans of both performers have logged onto their Facebook pages, marked themselves as fans of TRS and began to comment on the page. For the past few weeks fans have been posting photos, personal comments and links to online articles and videos, asking TRS to choose their favorite competitor for the honor.

Eckel first began to play piano and write music seriously three years ago. His first album, Isolated, will be released to iTunes Feb.  20.

“I’ve been trying to get a CD of my actual music out quickly,” Eckel said. “I really hate the song I have on iTunes right now.”

Fike’s six track album Brooks and Brandywine was released Dec. 5 and was quickly followed by a CD release party at the House of Blues Jan. 6.

“I missed the CD release party last month, but I really wanted to go,” sophomore Sydney Salerno said. “I love The Rocket Summer and seeing Clayton too would be great.”

 The winners of the contest will be announced Feb. 19 and their performance will begin Feb. 26 at 8 p.m. at the Granada Theater. Doors open at 7 p.m. and TRS will begin around 9 p.m.  

“Winning would open so many doors,” Fike said. “It would be a really good connection to have and if I perform well it could give me the opportunity to maybe perform with (TRS) again.”

For more information on the contest, click here.