Every now and then we get pitched something that stops us in our tracks for all the right reasons. With the insane amount of music that we get here at the magazine, it’s almost as if the universe is tapping us on the shoulder and making sure we take the time to listen to it. That was the case with a band that we had never heard of before called The Summit. The press release said that they were a “vintage rock and roll band” from Cincinnati, Ohio and their new single was called “Hit Me Up.” Less than a minute into it and I was hooked and that had absolutely nothing to do with the beautiful model Tana Leggo who is in it. The band has a sound, a vibe and a look that really draw you in. Lead vocalist Chris Scott has a voice that sounds as if he’s traveled that rock and roll road many a times with many a story to tell. The band has excellent, seasoned musicianship top to bottom. The dual guitar attack of Coty Hicks and Brian Arkkelin trading off licks in that song is killer. After hitting replay on the video about a hundred times (you’re welcome guys) I knew that I needed to talk to these guys. One email to their publicist and suddenly I was in touch with the lead vocalist Chris Scott and drummer Mike Hennel. We ended up have a lengthy talk about where they had been and what got them to where they are now. Pull up a chair and check out our talk. Make sure to hit play on the music video as well and check out the “Hit Me Up.” You can thank me later.

I’ll begin, like I usually do, with my music nerd questions. Every super hero and villain has an origin and bands are no different, less the radioactive spiders and secret government experiments. What’s the origin of The Summit?

Mike Hennel/The Summit: Chris and I met in college in 2003 and we started off playing covers. I have this diverse background of music due to my parents. He had a great voice and I was completely orchestra trained which ended up not meaning shit in rock and roll. We traveled with the Kenny Wayne Shepard band and their lead singer Noah Hunt is from a suburb of Cincinnati. I fell in love with the blues because of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s drummer Chris Layton also played with Kenny Wayne Shepherd we got to do a tour with them. We went down to Memphis a few times. Chris is a great lyricist and he just started spitting out lyrics real quick. This is our third band together. We started The Summit in 2014 right after my dad passed. We want to do this band the way we want to do it and we did. We’ve had a lot of good players with us over the years and we just play what the fuck we feel like. We went out with Collective Soul and things just really fell into place with Will Turpin and that’s where we are now.

Chris Scott/The Summit: In 2014 when Mike and I started the idea for The Summit we wanted this idea to be based on taking all of our influences and throwing them into a pot. The Summit didn’t take off until 2016; it was two years of writing and putting together our platform of what we wanted to do. When you sign with a label it’s not all what you think it’s going to be. We had been with a label before but this was a bigger label. rootsy Americana rock and roll was our sound and what we wanted to do. In late 2016, 2017 we got asked out by ZZ Top and that really started to put us out there. We did a tour with them in 2017, 2018. We were really out there a lot and we changed the molding of the band in 2017. Me, Mike and (Mike) Walker were the core and we knew what we wanted, so we started rebranding the band. We spent 2018 and 2019 doing that which is the inception of the band that you see now. We added Coty (Hicks), who is this amazing up and coming guitarist, to the band in 2020 right before the pandemic. We knew it was what we needed. That was when we got introduced to Collective Soul and started doing dates with them. We became really close with Will (Turpin) and Jesse Triplett. So now we were coming out of the pause of who were and starting to get back out there again. “Hit Me Up” is the first single off of the record and that’s where we are now.

Did the timing of Covid allow you the extra time to rebrand the band that maybe you wouldn’t have had under normal circumstances?

Mike: Chris did a side project during Covid and I went dormant so I could be with my family. Chris ended up getting a gold record out of all the work he was doing. 

Chris: With Covid, do we go out or not? I chose to go out and I was writing with this other guitar player for The Quilt. We had a song called “Sweet Molasses” that was streaming gold and all of the luxury of that came from the success of playing off The Summit. I decided to bring Mike back into it because to an extent it was The Summit. We went out with Collective Soul and that’s where the relationship with them got really deep, friendship deep. The Quilt wasn’t going to be a long term thing even though I had some success with it. Once Covid settled down, Mike and I knew we had this platform, so we revamped. Will (Turpin) came through for us as a producer. That’s where the rebranding started and it’s happening really quickly. Suddenly, ZZ Top reaches out and says it’s been a year and a half and we miss you boys so let’s go back out

Mike: They’ve been through a lot too with Dusty’s passing. I feel like we’ve become family with them. They’re a big family and it takes that to make that show go. It’s more than just the three people you think of. They’re on their shit man, they really like us.

It’s weird because when I tried to find out info on the band for research for our talk, I really couldn’t find much. I was beginning to wonder if you guys were part of a witness relocation kind of thing for musicians (laughs).

Chris: We did this in reverse; we went out touring before we had a lot of material out there. One of the coolest things that happened was when Billy Gibbons was watching us side stage. That was the first time I had seen him outside of performing with ZZ Top and at that point we still had not met them. He’s listening to us and he’s stomping his foot. We walk off stage and he’s asks what was the name of this song and that song and where it came from. I fucking love it; he’s an idol. He sits there side stage every time now and listens to us.

Mike: He doesn’t have to do that. It’s such an honor to us; he doesn’t have to ask us back. That guy’s rich, you can google him (laughs). I’m 43 years old; we’re parents now. This is the happiest I’ve ever been in my life and I’m having so much fun doing this. I feel like I get rock and roll a little better now, not the Motley Crue kind. Don’t ask Vince Neil, don’t ask Tommy Lee. That’s a bad example (laughs). I’ve been playing with Chris most of my adult life and that means something. We’re playing what our parents put into us and we’re having a fucking blast doing it.

So, you have released “Hit Me Up, but what’s the next phase of your game plan?

Chris: The goal is to release six singles in a row and then an album in June. The second single will be out January 1st and then the rest will be 6 to 8 weeks apart. We’re looking forward to 2023; it’s going to be our year.

The fun that you refer to comes across in the music and in your words when you describe it. Man, I’m getting all jacked up listening to you guys!

Chris: Mike and I are passionate about this but it had become monotonous. It was very “check in check out,” but that’s what the industry was looking for at the time.

Mike: We’ve always been passionate but this time it’s different. I look forward to this every day. Is it easy? No, but we embrace it.

Chris: At one time, we avoided confrontation. Mike wanted everything to be happy all the time, but we’ve learned to embrace the hard. You have to embrace it because it’s a learning moment.

You have to experience the sour to truly appreciate the sweet.

Chris: Oh, absolutely.

Mike: I’m still learning and if I’m not, then I’ll drop the damn drumsticks and won’t play. It’s trial and error, especially in art and rock and roll music. Music in general; it’s art. I don’t give a fuck what it is, whatever genre. Anybody who’s had their hammers in there, going through it and learning from it.

Chris: You can buy art, Picasso, whatever, but it’s going to end up on your wall. When you’re an artist, why are you buying your capabilities? Buy yourself a paintbrush and go paint it yourself. The industry pisses me off. People are buying gold and platinum records and streaming. If that’s what you need for your ego, then go ahead but I won’t go that way, I won’t mention names but I was talking with the lead singer of a band that is doing extremely out there. He asked how we got onto the ZZ tour. HE said that buy on was too rich for his blood. We’ve never bought onto a tour and we never will. You’re probably making more money than me because you’re agency is probably giving you more money when you do buy onto these tours but you’re just balancing things out. You’re spending 20 to 30 grand to go play with a band but why? I know you want to get yourself out there but that’s silly man. 

Social media is similar in a way. I get approached via email and private messages with offers to sell me anywhere from 5000 to 20,000 “followers” to boost my numbers. The numbers may look impressive on the surface, but if you look at the interactive rate some of those publications who bit on this offer then you’ll see that our numbers blow them away.

Chris: The industry as a whole is that way. There are three or four major booking agencies and it’s all about numbers.

Mike: I’d rather talk to you than these guys because you’re doing your shit too just like we are.

Chris: You’re allowing us to do that. You’re asking the questions that will allow us to organically give you our answers. You’re not looking for us to give you a story that will sell for them

(Editor’s Note: At this point, Mike had to leave for a prior commitment)

I didn’t get a chance earlier to ask my second music nerd question which is about the band’s name. Sometimes a band name has a story behind it and sometimes it was just pulled out of a hat. What about The Summit?

Chris: I love this question and Mike tells the story really, really well. Me and Mike have been friends for 20 years and we also love to take hiking trips. We’re close to Tennessee and we love going to the Cherokee National Forest. We knew we were going to get a band together so we decided to get away from everyone and go start planning. We were hiking and trying to think of a band name. We were both severely hungover because we had been drinking. Why go to Tennessee and not get some moonshine, right? We were hiking up the mountain and sweating out moonshine. We got to the top and were exhausted. Thank goodness we brought the tents. We decided to sleep it off. I got up few hours later and Mike was already up. He told me that he had the name, The Summit.  I’m sold dude, maybe the moonshine had something to do with it. The name is a play on who we are. We’re going to take it to the top just like we do when we hike.

Chris, I know you have to get going, but before you do I have one more for you. Well, actually three. We end our interviews with something called Three For The Road. It’s three fun questions geared more to learn a little more about you personally. Number one, who was your first celebrity crush?

Chris: Is this sexual or emotional (laughs)? Probably Olivia Newton John, which was my dad’s too. In Jr high school, I was in the play which was Grease and I played Kenickie. I had to go back and study the role, so I watched the movie a lot. I was really mad that I didn’t get Danny. The girl that was playing Sandy in the play was British. I loved that accent and it was a big turn on. I started studying the role over and over and watched that movie 40some times. I fell in love with her, even though she’s old enough to be my mother. Still, she’s hot as hell! I love that accent.

She was my first celebrity crush too!

Chris: I’m a sucker for British and Australian accents.

My second question is do you remember the very first album that you bought with your own money?

Chris: Oh yeah, it was Pearl Jam 10. Ironically, I was 10 when it came out. I grew up on Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and STP.

Last question, if music was over today and you went into professional wrestling, what would your wrestling name be?

Mike and I were big WWF fans growing up. Mike is the biggest Hulk Hogan fan you’ll ever meet in your life. I would say something like Stickboy 420 because I was always the skinnier boy growing up.  I feel like The Italian Stallion would have been perfect for me because my family’s Italian but unfortunately Rocky stole that one.

I’m Music Magazine Owner/Editor Johnny Price