News Soundtrack: Summerlin

Summerlin’s Drew Lawson puts DIY together a playlist along the theme of ‘Growing Up Sucks’. Perhaps the Easter bunny wasn’t too kind to him this year…

“When we grow up there are always songs that change your way of thinking or even just remind you of great times, great summers. So this is my Soundtrack. The songs that changed my life and remind me of better times and funny moments.”

The band are preparing for the release of their debut full-length, the Pelle Henricsson (Refused, Entombed, In Flames) produced ‘You Can’t Burn Out If You’re Not On Fire’, on 14th May.

The Hives - A.K.A. I-D-I-O-T
This always reminds me of being very young, ‘trying’ to tear up the streets on my skateboard. One of the best shows I’ve ever seen in my life was The Hives in Sheffield when they first kicked off. It left me dumbstruck they were so good.

Blur - Chinese Bombs
Blur are British summertime for me but this was the track that got me into punk. I just remember being very young having never heard anything like it. So aggressive and dirty! I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Blur and Graham Coxon beats the shit out of his guitar.



Offspring - Staring at the Sun
Fast, aggressive and my mum hated me listening to it. It’s like a snapshot of adolescent youth, you thought you hated everything and this was the soundtrack. Great humour on the record too.

Refused - Refused are F**king Dead
This changed my life. I remember where I was and what I was doing when I first heard this record. It just sounded so fresh. I’d never heard anything like it. This was one of the reasons I had to work with Pelle Henricsson I knew he’d make our mixes sound like nothing else.



Set Your Goals - The Fallen
This reminds me of last summer. The festivals, hanging with the guys and just good times. Such an awesome band and definitely the band I love out of the new breed of pop punk. I think there’s some footage somewhere of Roo our guitarist standing in for Matt somewhere. Good times.

Nirvana - Territorial Pissings
This is my youth. The first time I realised music wasn’t all about sunshine and rainbows but could be used to give truth to the harsh reality that we sometimes go through. One of the reasons I picked up the guitar when I was young. It was easy to play but sounded cool as fuck.

Pavement - Stereo
They were a lo-fi punk band from California. I used to be obsessed with Stephen Malkmus but that’s not the reason I’ve picked the song. This song has always entertained me and Ben (Bass) because of the line ‘And what about the voice of Geddy Lee? How did it get so high? I wonder If He speaks like an ordinary guy?… I know him and he does!’ It has us up in creases every time we hear it.



Dr Dre - The Watcher
This is our touring album. It’s always blasting out in the van and sets the tone for our tours. Such a good album but this is the one that I think relates most to getting older and looking back at the good times and the bad.

Homegrown - You’re Not Alone
This is another track that we all listened to when we were all growing up. I used to love the video having all the different types of alternative kids in it and poking fun at themselves. I used to laugh at the end too when the video subtitles say ‘Homegrown have been a band for 8 years and all of them still live with their parents’ I didn’t realise it at the time but so true haha.

Alkaline Trio - Calling All Skeletons
The new Damnesia album from these guys is insane. It’s old songs done acoustically and It is one of my favourite albums at the moment. One because they’re all songs that I love and grew up with but secondly the songs sound amazing stripped down and Matt Skiba’s voice sounds the best. Soundtrack to my summer 2012.



Summerlin’s new album ‘You Can’t Burn Out If You’re Not On Fire’ will be released on 14th May via Rude Records.