Set Your Goals - interviewed

This article is due to appear in a future issue of the University of Nottingham's official music magazine The Mic. Many thanks are due to Natalie Passingham for helping hugely with the interview.


“I’ve been really frustrated the past couple of days. I feel everything’s changing musically. It’s sort of pushed onto us. People keep coming to us asking ‘what do you think of working with this producer/this songwriter?’ No one’s thinking for themselves anymore, everything’s being so mass produced.” Jordan Brown, one of Set Your Goals’ two vocalists, is pouring out his laments on the music industry in the dingy backstage area of Rock City. “At the same time, as much as that scene’s thriving and is dominant in the mainstream, there is always such a strong underground scene. I feel like it keeps me in a constant reality check, I really want to be such a part of that, it’s so much more real.” The band’s debut album Mutiny! is riddled with lyrical references to this strong independent ethic that they adhere to. “It’s important for bands to know they don’t need anyone, and that’s what the song ‘Mutiny’ is about - it’s about us taking over and doing it for ourselves. You need to be self-sufficient. Like the song says, people are telling you that you need to be their friend to get anywhere, which is not true.”

“There’s so many good bands out there” interjects Matt Wilson, vocalist number two. “If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from punk rock it’s that you don’t need that whole music industry, there are so many elements that don’t belong there. It’s not necessary - with the way things are now, bands releasing their CDs for free, anyone can get exposure. You can put it up on MySpace and if people react positively, you can press your own CDs.”

“It’s also true on a band-by-band basis. This tour is a perfect example of how punk you can be in the mainstream,” exclaims Jordan with more than a hint of excitement – “they [‘they’ being tour-mates Gallows] emailed all of us on this tour asking if we wanted to be on it. Obviously agents were involved in booking shows, but it wasn’t a case of ‘is this band going to help?’ It was more ‘these bands rule, these are bands we want people to know about’ and I think it’s important to have these bands in the mainstream that will bring others in.” “None of these bands give a shit about what people think of them”, explains Matt, “and Gallows are just interested in helping people out who they’re friends with that and that’s so awesome, all the bands deserve so much respect.”

Indeed, they’re no strangers themselves to the punk-rock touring schedule. Last year, they slogged it out on an enormous European tour – “7 and a half weeks with one off date” states Jordan, a figure that exhausts us just thinking about it. “We’ve learned our lesson as far as booking extensive tours go, you should take an off date every 3, 4 days. Especially to have time to see the locations you’re at.” Matt looks on the bright side, though – “It was amazing being able to go to places like Portugal, getting to experience their culture. I think it’s one of the best things of being in a touring band, getting to travel so much.” “I think it’s good to play in places outside of major cities, too” states Jordan. “Because obviously, France is not just Paris, not everyone can travel to Paris”.

Some major excitement has been coming their way as of late. On top of a support slot with Paramore and a coveted main stage appearance at Give It A Name this year, they have been approached by Vinnie Caruana to be his backing band playing songs by The Movielife at Bamboozle this year. Matt clarifies all: “We’d become friends with him through I am the Avalanche. Jordan met Vinnie back when he was in The Movielife, and we’ve been Movielife fans for a long time so it was an honour when he asked, it’s amazing.” “This is him giving closure to the Movielife so he can continue with I am the Avalanche and give back to the Movielife fans” beams Jordan, slightly bowled over by the whole thing. “We were thrilled when he asked. It was like ‘You didn’t even have to ask, you should have just booked it and told us ‘by the way’’…’’

Given the love they have for all things DIY and independent, we knew that SYG would have some bands that they would want give mention to. “I’ve been listening to a lot of A Wilhelm Scream recently, I think they’re awesome. I always try and plug The Swellers from Michigan, I think they’re doing something so amazing” says Jordan, eyes lighting up. “They’re really committed to touring and have a really good ethic. Even if you just go to our MySpace, we’re always switching up our MySpace friends so people can know who we think they should know about.”

So what is punk’s current situation in the midst of all this mainstream tomfoolery? Matt is confident about its relevance - “As long as the mainstream gets worse, there will be more revolt against it.” And as long as bands like Set Your Goals are around to affirm this, we couldn’t agree more.

Sika Redem - Entheogen

Sika Redem are a sadly underappreciated band from Coventry. Their schizophrenic, cathartic yet beautiful sound could be broadly generalised as screamo, but there’s so many different elements to take note of in their music that it’s quite hard to tell. While it fuses together so many different influences, never once does Entheogen sound contrived or, indeed, anything less than unique. There is a broad sonic range on display here: the epic album opener “The October Bird of Death” showcases Sika Redem’s capabilities perhaps better than any other track here, an impressively seamless flow from jarring discordance to inventive mellow guitar-tapping; from furious screamo to enormous epic climaxes. ‘Mr. Hunk’, ‘The Race From Hominid To Star Flight’ and ‘Shields’ sound, to throw some lazy journo metaphors out there, somewhat like Off Minor teaming up with Mogwai to fend off Isis at their most colossal. Their noodling post-rock guitar lines are juxtaposed with towering walls of almighty noise. ‘Euglena’ and ‘Proud Sons of a Magnanimous Land’, meanwhile, show that they also have the art of short bursts of cathartic screamo-meets-mathcore firmly under their belts. Sika Redem’s sense for the epic is, opening track aside, most noticeable in ‘The Protagonist Fails, The Pugilist Falls’ and ‘Stretching for the Zenith’, two sprawling, gargantuan tracks that reward attentive listening immensely. Tommy Jones’ vocals also display an impressive range, flitting from impassioned, abrasive screams and desperate yelps to ethereal crooning. Browsing the lyric sheet only makes things more involving – Entheogen is a complex, compelling album brimming with emotion. The production, done by Magnus Lindberg (most notable for his involvement with Cult of Luna), is also of note – it sounds enormous,s yet distinctly unpolished, a raw titan of an album. This review makes Entheogen sound frankly all over the place, but that is simply because it is hard to describe the sound without resorting to lazy comparisons. It is a very coherent and unique-sounding record, each song carrying with it a distinct sound that could only be attributed to Sika Redem themselves, whilst displaying an impressive amount of invention and variety. Don’t miss out, immerse yourself in their chaotic, dizzying wonderland – it’s a trip that you won’t forget.

Download three tracks from this album here.

American Nightmare - Background Music

Despite acknowledging that “Screaming gets you nothing”, Wes Eisold decided, regardless, to pen the lyrics to Background Music, a 24-minute hand-grenade of lovelorn desperation. American Nightmare (now using the moniker Give Up The Ghost) play hardcore in the hard ‘n’ fast tradition, coupling their short, frantic songs with Eisold’s passionate, throaty rasp. His delivery makes words often undistinguishable on first listen but, when accompanied with the lyric sheet, Background Music is a tour de force. You’re not even getting half of it if you don’t listen to the lyrics – behind this album’s incessant power chords and drumbeats lies a lifetime’s worth of upset and frustration. There is the odd Modern Life Is War-esque tale of suburban depression (‘I.C. You Are Feeling Drake’) but the most poignant thing here is Eisold’s stories of heartbreak and unrequieted love. It is something that most of us have been through, and he puts his frustration in such an eloquent way that the listener feels an immediate connection with what he is feeling. He displays a keen sense of wit with such gems as “I took a shot at the world/and I missed” and “If imperfections are illegal/Then you should call the cops/and they should lock me up”. In these lyrics you can hear how many lonely nights he’s had, how many times love has pushed him to the edge, how many times he would have rather been dead. Despite all this depression, you can still hear how much he values the world around him and those close to him in the final stanza of ‘Farewell’: “I've lived through days/I've lived through nights/I've had my loves/I've had my fights./You've got to know, you have my heart.” Background Music is the perfect soundtrack to being young, male and lovesick, and it is nothing short of inspiring.

Download three tracks from this album here.

mewithoutYou - [A-->B] Life

mewithoutYou have always been a band that have been misunderstood and mislabelled as a “Christian” band. Yet even the most hard-hearted atheist should be able to appreciate the lyrical genius of Aaron Weiss: his ruminations on faith, love and life are well thought-out, passionate and intensely personal. It is clear that his views on religion are well informed, intelligent and honest, far from the imagined black-and-white ethical system that so many misinformed Dawkins-worshippers jump to criticise. Lyrically as well as musically, there is an interlinked trajectory to be noted in mewithoutYou’s discography: the first two albums show increasingly searching reflections on faith, showing the difficulties and moral tests Aaron has faced on the path to finding God. Meanwhile the latest offering, Brother, Sister, is a more mellowed-out effort with a new-found penchant for lush instrumentation, its lyrics suggesting that while Aaron still faces plenty of tests, he has also found many answers to the questions posed on earlier albums. As such, [A→B] Life is a more endearing album to many fans, because, as the raging and yearning beginnings of mewithoutYou, listeners find themselves searching and asking questions alongside Aaron. Musically, it is far rawer than its successors, with an increased emphasis on post-grunge-isms and raging punk-esque guitars, while Aaron is more likely to be found screaming his heart out than speaking soft spoken word passages. The main element that makes the album what it is, however, is Aaron’s incredible lyrics: there are still ponderings on spirituality here, but what is more evident is a theme that is familiar to everyone, believers and non-believers alike, and is thus instantly relatable: love. Throughout the album there are so many eloquent passages that send instant shivers down the spine – take the line in ‘Silencer’ “She put on happiness like a loose dress/Over pain that I’ll never know” or ‘Gentlemen’s declaration of “And I’ll live without your love/But what good is one glove without the other?” Aaron’s poesy is made all the more authentic by his honesty: he is unafraid to admit that he is imperfect, that he makes the same mistakes that everyone makes in his relationship both with other people and with God. His impassioned delivery adds to the power of his lyrics, frenetically mumbling over spine-tingling breaks in the music. The beauty of his lyrics here is that many of us have felt exactly what he feels, while he communicates his problems in a way that is simultaneously breathtaking and heartbreaking. mewithoutYou have, to this day, maintained a near-flawless discography that is as affecting as it is essential. Whatever your beliefs, mewithoutYou are more than merely a band to check out – they are a band that you need in your life.

Download three tracks from this album here.