Let’s be honest. Set Your Goals doesn’t really fit into any particular scene. Even their drummer, Mikey Ambrose, will admit that. So why did they make it onto the AP Tour Fall Ball’s bill? This is a question that takes hardly any deliberation. What separates this band from others out there today is the fact that they’ve still managed to keep a message within their songs. Instead of losing their focus and turning towards what the crowd or the public may want, Set Your Goals has taken on a no-one’s-forcing-you-to-listen attitude. Despite this, they’ve picked up a lot of buzz in the recent past. Admittedly, their “genre” isn’t always received well and if you showed up at this year’s AP Fall Ball Tour looking for artists falling along the lines of fellow tour mates The Secret Handshake, you might not want to sit through them; but just give them a shot because they deserve to be heard.

Although they weren’t headlining this year’s Fall Ball Tour, that doesn’t mean that the crowd was any less receptive to Set Your Goals. As a matter of fact, even the band will admit that they’ve gotten a much better response than they expected. There were several points during their performance where it almost felt like the floorboards were going to collapse from so much activity in the crowd. Whether it was from all the jumping or the intensity of the crowds shouting and sing-a-longs is unsure but, for the thirty minutes that Set Your Goals took the stage, no one in the crowd seemed to care about anything else.

Before they even began performing, Set Your Goals let the crowd know that they were in for a good time. Eruption of shouts and laughter came from the crowd as vocalist Matt Wilson danced on stage wearing a formal shirt and tie carrying a blow-up doll in a prom dress. They then proceeded to open with “Summer Jam”, a song that, even if you didn’t experience the particular moments they sing about, makes you feel nostalgic of your previous summers. Their set continued as they played both older songs such as “Mutiny!”, “Echoes” and “Goonies Never Say Die” as well as songs off their new album. It seemed that the atmosphere only became progressively more riled up as they carried on and by the time they reached their final song, the title track off of a previous album, the room almost felt like it was going to burst from excitement. That night there wasn’t a doubt in the world that the crowd wanted to hear more from Set Your Goals. Even if their set was too short, they’d certainly made their mark.

Sometimes people aren’t in the mood to hear sad songs about break ups and mourning. Sometimes those issues become cliché. Hell, they’re almost always cliché and Set Your Goals can appreciate that. So if you’d rather hear songs about something else, songs about being on the road, good times and even songs about capital punishment, then Set Your Goals might just be your saving grace.  This is a band that is truly on your side and something tells me they always will be.

“Because when there is no one there to hear you, the music will listen.
And when there’s no one there to tell, the words will write themselves.”

-          “Our Ethos: A Legacy To Pass On”, Set Your Goals

Feature by Clarisse Hansard

Photos by Ali Carcache