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Bryce Avary has overcome so much to be where he's at right now. The journey between 2007's 'Do You Feel' and new album 'Of Men and Angels' is probably one of the biggest of his career, emotionally, musically and spiritually, yet here is a man taking in every moment and relishing every experience no matter what it brings. We were lucky enough to chat with the one-man phenomenon behind The Rocket Summer on his Spring UK headlining tour in 2010.

OS: So, it's the second date of the UK tour and it's your first time back in the UK since 2008. How are you feeling about everything right now?
Bryce Avary: It feels good to be back, I'm glad that we did it. The show last night was really fun. It was super energetic and electric. It was everything we thought it would be.

OS: Apparently this tour came close to be cancelled. Is that true?
Bryce: Yeah, it was this close. I didn't wanna cancel it. There were a lot of things that were happening back home that we needed to be doing. Everything felt like it wasn't supposed to happen.

OS: Like The Audition dropping out?
Bryce: Yeah, they dropped out and that was just, whatever. But everything else was like Jeez Louise because it was already like "should we do it?" in the first place. But, I was just pushing for it and we just had to do it.

OS: We're so happy that you're back.
Bryce: We have such a busy year planned and if we didn't go, we didn't know if we would get back so I decided, let's just go!

OS: You have such a loyal fan base here in the UK as well and everyone is so pleased that you've come back over.
Bryce: We have such good fans here: we had to do this. We've been waiting to come back for years. I'm surprised it took us so long in the first place. I was sure the record was gonna come out in 2009 and it didn't, and so because of that we didn't do a lot of touring. We were just waiting for it to come out.

OS: Was there a reason it didn't come out in 2009?
Bryce: Yeah, there was a lot. It was pretty much finished in March 2009 and I ended up creating more songs later that I put on the record. But to be honest there was a lot of behind the scenes stuff going on. A lot of people from my label were being fired, and new people would come in and then all of a sudden they wouldn't be there anymore. So it was a very tense time and we had to deal with all that. But the bottom line is that it came out and we're here now. It made my heart grow fonder.

OS: Are you pleased with the way the record came out in the end, after waiting so long to put it out?
Bryce: Yeah, I mean, it was weird because it came out an entire year after it was finished so I'm already in a new mind set with another album but the good part about that is I'll be able to make a record much sooner. You guys only know this album as pretty new but for me it's sort of old already. I still love the songs and I'm really proud of the record and I think that we have a long way to go on it, but hopefully that means as soon as we're done touring I can jump in the studio and make a new album, and hopefully it'll be out sometime in 2011.

OS: Because you're primarily on your own as a musician, do you think this gives you more freedom to move away from the songs and start new things? Obviously you sat on the album got a year, but not many bands would think "OK, that's done, next thing".
Bryce: I just write songs all the time and it's a release for me, and so I think naturally it just happened. I'm so thankful that I write a lot of songs but this past couple of years, the songs have just been flowing. I recorded 20-something songs for 'Of Men and Angels' and one day these songs might come out. But I'm also the kind of person who doesn't like to go backwards. I could easily take a couple of those songs and put them on the next record and have it out sooner but I don't wanna grab an old song and put it out. I'd rather get the whole 'Of Men and Angels' season out and then get the next album, and then the next one.

OS: From 'Do You Feel' how do you think you moved to 'Of Men and Angels?'
Bryce: I think this album is much more spiritually charged. I wanted to make an album that was much more organic and raw but still very big sounding. I wanted to make an album that was more emotionally charged than my other albums which is sort of where I was at at the time. There was a lot of searching and a lot of seeking, just emotional experiences that I was writing from. The album naturally turned out more substance filled and emotional.

OS: It really came across that it was filled with so much emotion, it seemed so much more personal than all of your other albums. What were you hoping to achieve from this album?
Bryce: I stripped away any ideas of commercial gain, even though that's part of the business. I obviously wrote songs that I would hope to be hits. It's such a lottery, a million bands turn out records every year, but there are only so many songs that can be played on the radio and so many great songs never get played on the radio. So I try to make the best record I can and write the best songs that I can write, and they'll hopefully be hits for my label and everybody but at the same time, I wanna write songs to change somebody's life and make somebody believe. I think I did that.

OS: In a place where the music industry is in a state of flux and where people are just trying to churn out hits, it is a difficult place for artists to be anyone, whether you're DIY or on a major label. How important is it just to be honest and to be real as a musician?
Bryce: I think that's just the bottom line. That's what music is. So many people now have professional song writers come in and help write their songs, which is really weird to me. You see that a lot in Country music but I never saw that in Rock Music. Growing up when I listened to records, I was always really attached to what the person was singing about because that was that person's story. Now, punk bands have professional song writers to do it for them, which is bizarre to me. But the same argument can be made that Elvis didn't write any of his songs. I'm trying to wrap my head around all that coz I try to write songs- it's not a pride thing at all, I just consider myself a song writer and I love to write songs and I love to see what it does for others. Hopefully one of these days the stars will align and I'll have some of the opportunities that my peers have had, but at the same time I'm so grateful to even get to do this. I'm trying to keep that mind set through the ups and downs of life. We have a good thing going on, we have a lot of great fans and I couldn't be happier to be in the place that I'm at right now.

OS: You're almost renowned as this extremely positive person. As you said, you've tried to overcome everything by positivity and you're also very spiritual. How hard is to remain positive like that?
Bryce: The truth is that I'm a very normal person. I've definitely had struggles and I definitely don't handle them the way that I should sometimes. So I think if there's any positivity in my life it is a testament and a mirror of my relationship with God. I still struggle with it. There's temptation, there's anger and it can be very difficult touring- vans break down and stuff, you know? I think my reputation might be much more than I am and I'm definitely not just some jolly-go-lucky guy dancing around the streets. If anything I can be a very serious person and I can get upset- but it's a testament to God in my life.

OS: In America there's a lot more religion than there is here and it seems to be more associated to music there than in the UK. There are very few British bands who are so spiritual in the way that you are and sometimes it doesn't get appreciated so much here. You're a Christian but you're not a Christian band. Is it difficult for you to come into an environment like that?
Bryce: Seeking and yearning and just knowing Jesus Christ is a huge part of my life. It's the biggest part of my life so it naturally comes out in the music. I never really wanted this to be a Christian band in terms of marketing or placement. I never thought that. I didn't really listen to that kind of music either. It hasn't been that hard. Without getting overly weird- I think I sometimes experience a lot of opposition in ways that are hard to explain. I'm more in a spiritual realm and I continually face opposition.

OS: It's not something that you sit and say. "Bryce is a Christian so everything he says is trying to get you to go to God". But it must be a strange situation to be in because people don't realise that it is just how you live your life. It is just a part of you as much as what music you listen to.
Bryce: It is a huge part of who I am and it comes out in the music. But I also sing about loneliness and I sing about Japanese Exchange Students. It is just a mirror of my life- The Rocket Summer. And it's kind of take it or leave it. I just do what I do.

'Of Men and Angels' is out now on Island Records.