Before eight well-oiled, orange-skinned cultural phenoms took over the sandy beaches of Seaside Heights, the Jersey shore was just another beach where kids could frolic and escape the pressures of everyday life.
Although Tracey Rappa has called Phoenix home for the better part of her life, she grew up there and remembers owning the beach before it became home to the hit television show.
Rappa leads the three-piece rock troupe, Tracey Rappa and The Heat, and is fresh off of a six-song EP titled, Six Easy Pieces. One of the songs that's been receiving love from local radio station KWSS is "Back To Summer," a track inspired by the beach at Seaside.
We caught up with Rappa before her March 3 show at Donna Jeans Libations in Glendale for a closer look into "Back To Summer."
Up on the Sun: What's the story behind "Back To Summer?"
Tracey Rappa: It's pretty much about going through life, with all the stresses and all the things that happen, and sometimes just thinking about the freedom of, like a summer vacation when you're in school. There's no work and there's no school and no responsibility. You can just hang out with friends and hang out at the beach, partying all the time. But it's pretty much about, trying to go back to that feeling as opposed to being grown up and running into all the trials and tribulations of life and all the shit that just piles up. It's just going back to the days when you were a kid hanging out on the beach.
Which beach did you use to go to as a kid?
I grew up in New Jersey; right by Seaside. I don't even like saying Seaside because of Jersey Shore, but that was my freaking beach when I was little.
So how did the song come together?
I actually just kind of woke up with it. Some of the songs come all at once, some come in pieces, but this one I just woke up with. I had this melody in my head, I grabbed my guitar and started playing it and all of a sudden, back to summer just came. I knew that was going to be my chorus. But yeah, it all came out in one big clump. First the melody came, then the words and it was all done and ready to present to the band in 48 hours.
About the March 3 show:
We're having a birthday celebration for me and my sister. The opening band are a group of guys that I went to high school with, plus our band and Tell Me About the Rabbits will be closing. We've played a lot around town with them, and really like them.
What's a Tracey Rappa and The Heat show like?
We have energy, we're powerful and we're original. No one leaves our shows not wanting more. Everybody just digs it.
