Avid Dancer

Jacob Dillan Summers performs as Avid Dancer, an artist whose output centers on pop songs built from sharp, melodic lines that feel both bright and emotionally direct. Raised in a strict Christian home that banned secular music, he moved often as a child because his father held a position at NASA. The limited music available to him fueled a genuine interest that led Summers to join his school band on drums in eighth grade. Through dedicated practice he emerged as a strong percussionist by the time he reached high school, eventually serving as section leader of the drumline and claiming wins at Drum Corps International events. After a short and unsatisfying attempt at college, Summers enlisted in the Marines and was stationed in Washington, D.C., where he played with the Marine Drum & Bugle Corps. He signed up on September 12, 2001, yet maintains the terrorist attacks of the day before played no role in the choice; “It was the day after 9/11,” he told a reporter, “but I’d planned on doing it anyway.”

Once discharged, Summers settled in Los Angeles with the goal of earning a living as a studio drummer. Entry into the city’s indie scene came with a steep learning curve. He began listening to styles once forbidden and started writing songs of his own. A move to Alaska followed, where he worked as a sound engineer for a local television news broadcast while trying to win the affection of a woman he loved; he later returned to Los Angeles and threw himself into music full time. Booking sessions at area studios, he tracked his material while playing most of the instruments himself. Under the name Avid Dancer the recordings caught the ear of Grand Jury Records, an imprint of the independent label Fat Possum. The label put out Avid Dancer’s first single, “I Want to See You Dance” b/w “Stop Messing with My Heart,” in 2014, and the full-length album 1st Bath appeared in 2015.