Bryce Avary may only be 29 years old, but you could call him a veteran in the music business.

I’ve been doing this for almost as long as I haven’t been, which is pretty surreal, Avary says.

What is now Avary’s solo project, The Rocket Summer, began back in 1999 when he was 16.

“I was making a CD playing all of the instruments as an experiment in my friend’s garage,” he says. “I had no idea it was going to become my life after that.”

A name like The Rocket Summer gives off the idea that there is more than one man in the band, but that’s not the case. Everything from vocals, guitar, piano and the occasional mandolin or banjo, Avary does it all on his own.

“I grew up in Texas where football is king, and I’m kind of a smaller dude, so I’d get destroyed,” Avary says. “But I’d come home from football practice and play guitar and drums. The next thing I knew I was playing a bunch of instruments.”

It’s a lot of work, but Avary likes the freedom of doing everything himself.

“I kinda get like a mad scientist in the studio and like to surround myself with a bunch of instruments and see what I can come up with,” he says.

Although he is on his own, Avary likes the idea of having an actual band name rather than just using his name.

“There’s something about the name that makes people feel like a part of it,” Avary says. “I liked the idea of making people feel more a part of it rather than it just being all about me.”

That’s the kind of selfless guy Avary says he aims to be.

“As a musician and songwriter, you hope to make some piece of art that is going to affect people,” he says. “I think ultimately people feeling alive and being inspired is what you want to have happen and that’s definitely something I want to do.”

Avary said he himself is inspired by hope, struggles, victories and failures, but he is also a very spiritual person. He believes there is a song in everything he sees and is always on the lookout for finding songs in everyday life.

The Rocket Summer is coming through Columbia in support of Switchfoot this time around, but big plans are in the works just down the road.

Avary left his major record label before the release of his most recent studio album, _Of Men and Angels_, to start his own record label, Aviate.

“I just wanted to release music in new ways, more whenever I want, and don’t have to be in corporate handcuffs,” he says. “It’s kinda cool to tear down the corporate barrier between the music and the fans.”

The latest addition to Aviate will be _Life Will Write the Words_, The Rocket Summer’s next full-length studio album that will arrive June 5.

For now, Avary is enjoying his time on tour with Switchfoot and is looking forward to coming back to Columbia next week.

“Hopefully we can begin the whole Rocket Summer army and family in Columbia,” Avary says.

The Rocket Summer and Switchfoot will play at 8 p.m. Thursday at The Blue Note.