The band formed in the summer of 2006 to write their first EP, There Is No Such Thing as Science, which drew the attention of Hopeless Records and other labels in 2007. They signed with Hopeless Records within eight months of starting the band during their senior year of high school. They then re-released their debut EP under a new name, If You Could Only Keep Me Alive, with new songs included. Over the years the band has sold over 60,000 albums and over 300,000 singles. In April 2009, the band played The Bamboozle. The band's debut studio album, Reach for the Sun, was released on May 5, 2009, and reached number 42 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart. The band's name is taken from the book of the same name. The band has stated influences from Third Eye Blind, Bright Eyes, U2, Phil Collins, Explosions in the Sky, Jimmy Eat World, and Andrew McMahon. Their song "The Permanent Rain" was used in a trailer for the 2009 movieLove Happens, starring Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart. An acoustic version of Reach for the Sun was digitally released on March 15, 2011. The band's second album, War Paint, was released July 19, 2011. It reached 149 on the Billboard 200 on August 6, 2011 in its only week on the chart. They played on the Warped Tour 2011 on the Nintendo 3DS stage. The band finished their third album on February 26. They also began filming a documentary about themselves and are unsure of its release date. The album, Golden Record, was released on August 6, 2013. The first single, "Catholic Girls", was released on iTunes with an accompanying music video on June 4, 2013. In September 2013, AJ Perdomo left the band, citing Cody Payne as the driving force behind the decision. In February 2017, Cody Payne was sentenced to a year in prison after being charged with a felony burglary conviction. In July 2017, the band's Twitter account was wiped clean of all tweets and the profile picture and cover photo changed to static. On July 8, 2017, the band uploaded a video that read "Hello", followed the next day by a video hinting at an announcement on July 10. Additionally, Cody Payne posted on Facebook that the band would be reuniting without him. On October 19, 2017, The Dangerous Summer announced their next album The Dangerous Summer, which was released on January 26, 2018, alongside a new single titled "Fire" from the upcoming album. On February 19, 2019, the single "Where Were You When The Sky Opened Up" was released. The band's sixth album, Mother Nature, was released on June 14, 2019. In 2020 The Dangerous Summer ended their tenure with Hopeless Records and dropped their first self-released song "F*** Them All" on Molly Water Music. After their drummer left they recruited Aaron Gillespie to finish the new EP and stand in for live shows.
