Set Your Goals

San Francisco, CA
http://www.myspace.com/setyourgoals

11/7 Sayreville, NJ - Starland Ballroom
11/8 Farmingdale, NY - The Crazy Donkey
11/10 Allentown, PA - Crocodile Rock Cafe
11/11 New York, NY - The Fillmore at Irving Plaza
11/12 Buffalo, NY - Town Ballroom
11/13 Toronto, ON - The Guvernment
11/14 Cleveland, OH - House of Blues
11/15 Pittsburgh, PA - Altar Bar

more dates here...

10/14/09: Hollywood, CA Allnighter After Party Recap Here
10/15/09: Pomona, CA Allnighter After Party Recap Here

This isn’t their first rodeo, you know?  In fact, Bay Area pop-punk band Set Your Goals have been rocking crowds from coast to coast since 2004.  Maybe you’ve seen them on tour with New Found Glory or perhaps it was Paramore or Gorilla Biscuits?  Warped Tour?  In the five years Set Your Goals has been a band they’ve already achieved what most bands only dream about: toured the world, gained huge respect from their peers (see above) and achieved massive credibility among their wide-spread legion of fans. 

So what separates Set Your Goals from all the other bands you might ask?  For one, they have no gimmicks.  They don’t need to wear flashy neon, dress up like white kids at a 50 Cent concert or sing about getting wasted to melt their listeners’ faces.  Instead they channel positivity through their lyrics and let the music speak for itself.  The band is changing the game and blazing trails with their unique style that’s influenced by ‘90’s skate punk and melodic hardcore.  No trendy haircuts or cheesy breakdowns here, just straight up head bobbling pop-punk like it’s never been played.

Avoiding the sophomore slump like it was the plague, Set Your Goals come out guns-a-blazing on their new album, This Will Be The Death Of Us, the follow-up to their fan-coveted debut Mutiny.  The band has always had one foot in the hardcore world and the other in the pop-punk world, so naturally haters will speculate that the band has lost their hardcore edge or their style has changed, but the music begs to differ.  This Will Be The Death Of Us is balls-to-the-wall non-stop furious pop-punk like only Set Your Goals knows how to do. 

From the galloping drum beat and Joe Saucedo’s driving bassline to the ripping riffs of the title track, which features guest vocals from Vinnie Caruana from I Am the Avalanche, detractors will be discredited from the get-go.  “look closer,” is a soaring, fast paced sing-along and “the fallen” is a scorching punk rock track showcasing duel vocalists Matt Wilson and Jordan Brown’s flawless delivery as they trade off singing duties. 

While This Will Be The Death Of Us has the definitive Set Your Goals sound, they aren’t afraid to keep it fresh and try new things.  For example, “gaia bleeds (make way for man),” featuring Turmoil’s Jon Gula, takes things to a whole new level with Audelio Flores and Dan Coddaire’s Motorhead-ish riffs and Mike Ambrose’s tightly knit double kick over gang vocals that will blow the doors off your mom’s grocery getter, and the soon to be fan favorite “the few that remain,” an insanely addictive song that features longtime Set Your Goals fan Hayley Williams of Paramore adding some gutsy vocals.  The band finishes off the album with the 90’s skate punk influenced “our ethos: a legacy to pass on” featuring fist-pumping guest vocals from New Found Glory’s Chad Gilbert. 

This may only be the band’s second album, but you wouldn’t know it.  Set Your Goals has already proven their longevity and dedication to the music through relentless touring and their classic debut, and with the release of This Will Be The Death Of Us it further cements them as one of the pop-punk greats.