One of the first things you get to know about Audelio Flores, guitarist for hardcore punk band Set Your Goals, is just how aware this guy is of his place in the world and the responsibilities that come with it. Realising that fans are the source and reason for their continued existence, Audelio is both down to earth and conscious of the impact that their music can have on those who follow them… a rare combination in todays music scene.
Early difficulties with record labels drove home some difficult lessons for the band, but a shift to legendary punk rocker Brett Gurewitz’s Epitaph label finally gave them a home from where they remain passionate and driven about the message they want to get out with their music.
It’s been a bit of an interesting ride for you guys so far, just over 5 years together. What do you think has changed day to day as a working band, from when you started?
AF: We’ve just grown up a lot, y’know. Like, we’ve been fortunate enough to be able to travel the world and go to places we never thought that would ever be possible, by doing music, which is the one thing we all love. From all of that we’ve just grown to be more of a family with each other. Before we were just…like we’re still really good friends, but it was more like “Let’s just go out and play a couple of shows here and there”… but now it’s become more of a career for us, which is awesome. We’ve had a lot of bumps, a lot of ups and downs, but we all got through it together.
Do you think that comes out more in the music you’re writing now?
AF: I think so, ’cause like we’re very passionate about what we do, and we’re very passionate about what we want to say and what we talk about. And we’re passionate about our fans. We’re a fortunate band that even our fans look up to us and it’s kind of like, almost like a job for us to be a positive role model to a lot of younger kids.
Do you think this responsibility has come out in the music? Do you think your listeners hear this in the difference in the music between Mutiny and This Will Be The Death Of Us?
AF: I think so. A lot of bands say “We’ve matured”, but we hate using that… like ‘Oh, we’ve “Matured”’, quote-unquote… but, we definitely have on our way seeing the world. We want to keep carrying that message.
Like, to me, I love bands that have something to say and not just talk about some random girl that they’re in love with. I’ve always been a fan of bands that had something to say. Especially for us, we all grew up as part of the punk rock hardcore scene, and for those bands we grew up listening to, it was a responsibility, almost, that they had, and they have to keep carrying it with them. So that’s kinda how we see ourselves.
Is writing a collaborative effort or do ideas come from separate members?
AF: For Mutiny, it was more Jordan, Mikey and Matt. Because the band wasn’t completed …it was like more friends filling in. But for this one, four years ago, we finally got our set lineup and this record was more of a collaboration. Jordan would come up with riffs, or someone else would come up with riffs and we would just jam out. Jordan would take it to Mikey to get the basic ideas going… and Matt and Jordan would just brainstorm thoughts and ideas about what the band has been feeling or about what the band wants to talk about and just take it from there. So yeah, it’s definitely more of a collaboration.
One of the comparisons that have come up recently with the release of This Will Be The Death Of Us, is with Bad Religion, who set the standard for the genre. How do you fell about this comparison?
AF: to be honest, it’s amazing. We all grew up listening to that band, and when we signed to Epitaph, we knew that was gonna would be a home for us, especially after talking to Brett Gurewitz. We weren’t even nervous; we were more excited to be able talk to him as, like, a musician. We didn’t talk to him as a business guy. When we met up with him, we were like “This is one of the dudes from Bad Religion!”… a band that we all grew up listening to and a lot of us were inspired by. To be honest, we never thought we would sign to Epitaph and be compared to them. It’s awesome. To me, if we could be… not that we’ll ever be like Bad Religion… but if we could be the next type of Bad Religion, as a band, I would be happy.
Speaking of Epitaph, the move from Eulogy…other bands have gone thorugh similar label problems in their formative years. How did think that affected the sound of the second album?
AF: I know our record has more of a mid-90’s punk feel to it, but we try to bring the Set Your goals hardcore influences in to, but I don’t think it really affected the way we write or the way the band shaped itself, because we don’t want to be pigeonholed into being like a generic hardcore mosh type of band. We want to play… we all grew up skating and grew up listening to that style of music, and so we wanted to write music that’s gonna moves us and gets us excited and definitely it’s a coincidence that we ended up going with Epitaph and it sounds more like one of their earlier releases.
On the topic of getting excited; you guys will be on the Soundwave Festival lineup next week. This won’t be your first visit to Australia. Anything you missed out before that you want to do here this time?
AF: We went two years ago on The Boys Of Summer (tour), and it was rad. The only thing that was a bummer, I guess, was that every morning we would fly out and so we didn’t’ get to see the outskirts of Australia. In the states we travel in a van still… we don’t have a bus… and you’re able to see the little towns, like the wilderness. That’s the one thing we didn’t get to see on the previous Australia tour, the last one with All Time Low. If we can, we would love to just see the culture side of things of Australia … just go to the beach and hang out. The simple things.
With the Soundwave festival coming up, there’s a lot of band on that lineup. Are there any in particular that you’re looking forward to seeing?
AF: We really hope we’re on the same day as Sunny Day Real Estate. Right now they’re touring and we just missed them and none of us got to see them. That’s one of our favourite bands, especially Matt Wilson… it’s his favourite band, so it’s a bummer that we can’t see them on this reunion tour that they’re doing, but, I hope we’re on the same day so we can enjoy it.
Any acts that you admire that you haven’t performed/toured with that you’d like to? Who would be your dream co-headliners?
We really wanna do a Bad Religion tour, y’know? We always joke around with Brett about doing that, because it’s kinda like more exciting getting to tour with bands we grew up listening to. Like when we did the Gorilla Biscuits tour. It was awesome… I love doing shows like that. When Lifetime did their reunion shows and we were able to play two of the shows, and when we got to play with New Found Glory, those have also been highlights. But if we could do an ideal tour that we would love to do, it would be Bad Religion and Rancid.
Six guys together on tour can get pretty intense… is there anything you take that you can’t live without?
AF: Now, because technology is so advanced, is our iPhones. More than half of the band has iPhones and just video games. iPhones, iPods and talcum powder. Because on those days when you’re chaffing, it makes it feel better *laughs*
Unfortunately, parts of Australia are really humid, especially the coastal areas, so it’s pretty intense like that.
AF: Don’t worry, we never travel without it. *laughs*
What can Australian audiences expect from you guys on stage this time out? More of the same, or do you have something new for us?
AF: It’s definitely too early for us to think of what to do, but we always try to change it up every time we go, just because we want to put on a show and have the audience interact with us. But you’re definitely going to see a lot of energy coming from us, as much as the crowd, because we always feed off the crowd. I hope there’s no barricade, which I’m almost positive there’s going to be, but if there isn’t, we want kids to just try come up onstage… like, “Our stage is your stage”, and without you guys we wouldn’t be able to go play.
Are you looking ahead to the next album? What have you got planned for us next? What’s on the agenda for Set Your Goals for the future?
AF: There’s been a lot of writing going back and forth between all of us. I don’t know if we’re going to do a full length album, right away, who knows. But, we’re talking about doing, maybe an EP… just to like get things going. But we definitely don’t want to wait three years to release another record. We were going through a lot of dark times at the time and didn’t feel like releasing anything, until the right moment was there. But we definitely have more stuff that we just want to get out… more energy, more… more punkrock music, I guess. Just change it up, like, whatever we’re into at the time… just try to bring whatever influence into it, but with a Set Your Goals twist to it.
Thanks alot to all the Set Your Goals team! And to the kind folk at Soundwave Festival for allowing the interview and festival to take place.
Tickets are still available at www.soundwavefestival.com! Be quick!
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