Set Your Goals

I remember buying the Set Your Goals EP awhile ago from the Rev HQ Site, based on their name (an homage to Civ) alone. I enjoyed their songs and became excited when I heard of their signing to Eulogy. After hearing their song, "This Very Moment," on Purevolume, and not being able to stop listening to it, my excitement grew even move. Their Eulogy debut, Mutiny, drops on July 11, and I highly suggest checking them out after reading this phone interview with Jordan, which covers (among other things) thumb sucking, hype and the upcoming Gorilla Biscuits tour.

PL: State an interesting fact about yourself.
SYG: An interesting fact about myself?
PL: Yeah.
SYG: I recently unleashed this to my core group of friends who, if I was gonna be embarrassed around anyone about this, it would be them, so I should just tell the world that I sucked my thumb until I was 14, and I have really fucked up lower teeth because of it. I always get complimented on how nice my teeth are, but they can't see my bottom teeth. When I hit my freshman year of high school, I was so stoked because I stopped sucking my thumb, and I could go on camping trips with girls and not have to worry about sucking my thumb.
PL: I sucked my thumb until I was six. My mom told me she would get me a dog if I stopped, and I stopped that night.
SYG: Dude, I sucked my thumb until I was 14. Thats nothing. If we grabbed Matt's most embarrassing moment right now, I'm sure it would destroy that. I'm so tempted to tell you what it is, but I can't because he would probably quit the band after that.

PL: Are you worried that your new album won't live up to the hype surrounding it?
SYG: Honestly, when we released that demo and started getting all that buzz on the internet and various print publications, I was a little nervous. There is pressure on you. You put this pressure on yourself, and I fell into this writer's block for the longest period of time. We went on tour and I was able to focus on that and get back into the swing of things. It honestly pushes you and forces you to grow up a little bit and kind of see the reality of things and how the world works and not having support from your parents because you're not living at home anymore, and I just stopped caring what people said. I can honestly say that I haven't looked at a message board since September. We got back from The Warriors tour we did in August and September and I kind of took a break from the band, and I was just evaluating everything and wondering if this was what I wanted to do or if I wanted to go back to school. I remember picking up my guitar and just playing, not even realizing that I was writing music again, and just having fun. Thats how the record started again and how these songs started coming out again. I just honestly stopped caring. I cared about the music; I don't want that to come out the wrong way, but I didn't care about people's opinions. This music was making me happy. I'm honestly not worried about whether or not it lives up to the hype because I listen to this record everyday since we've recorded it, and I'm equally stoked every time I hear it, if not more stoked.

PL: Are you prepared for the backlash if Mutiny blows up and you guys become more popular than sliced bread?
SYG: Backlash? How so? Like people complaining that we sold out and stuff?
PL: Pretty much.
SYG: Obviously, we've already gotten that crap from a lot of people. Again, another reason I just stopped paying attention to everything. I rarely even go in and check Myspace except to post bulletins anymore. Like I said, this record makes me happy, and thats all I'm concerned about. There's kids at our shows grabbing us while we're playing these songs. They're not just singing along, they're literally reaching for us and pulling us. And thats how we feel: we want to pull them into it. If there is a backlash, we're not seeing it. When we're on the road, the kids that want to see us are gonna come and see us. And, if we get bigger fan bases, if that pushes us to keep doing this, than that's what we're all about, is to just be able to keep doing this.

PL: If you could choose, what would your pirate name be?
SYG: Have you heard the song "Mutiny" yet (that song can be found here!)?
PL: I don't think so.
SYG: There's a couple songs that Eulogy put out on a sampler, and one of them is called "Mutiny." We did a take underneath a part where we preach about the music industry, both above ground and underground, and underneath it, there's a lot of chants that is actually us just screaming pirate slangs. We each chose pirate names. Dave was Dave the Red Baron, but I think mine would be along the lines of The Red Bearded Curse of Willy the One Eye, I don't know. And I'd definitely have a monkey as a companion, and I would have two daggers and a peg leg.

PL: What would you do if you ever found the person that robbed your trailor?
SYG: This is gonna sound really bad: I would probably thank them because they forced us to take a week off after recording. We were so totally stressed out because six of us had been crammed into this small apartment, writing this record. It was a really rewarding experience, but it was really emotionally trying because you're living with six people that you don't normally live with, and a lot of stuff comes out, so it forced us to take a break from each other. Mikey was coughing up blood the day our trailor got stolen, and a couple other guys were running fevers as well, so it forced us to take a chill pill and take a week off before we went back out on the road. It sucked that our trailor was stolen, but it was found, so no harm done in the end, and we were able to carry on and have a pretty fun tour overall.

PL: What are your thoughts on the upcoming Gorilla Biscuits tour?
SYG: I think its awesome, but I no a lot of people are wondering if they're coming back to make money or whatever. These people are genuinely excited on their music. I was talking with Matt Pike, who is booking the tour, and he knows them all personally, and he was talking about how, after the CBGBs reunion, how genuinely excited they were on music and punk rock and hardcore again; in a way they hadn't been since they were playing. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to say this or not, but I will anyway: he played a new song for us that they recorded. Walter wrote it right after they played that reunion, and they recorded it along with the first song they ever wrote, which they never recorded. Its called "At the Matinee," and its just about that. Its about when they were getting into shows growing up and listening to bands like Seven Seconds and stuff. I totally see them coming back for the right reasons and not as a marketing thing in any way. They're doing these 25 shows in the U.S., and I think its awesome. We got added to three of the shows, and Matt's freaking out about it. Its Matt's all time favorite band. Needless to say, and us obviously carrying the Set Your Goals name as well, we were taken back at first. Dave over at Eulogy called me and said that we were on Gorilla Biscuits, and I was like, "Yeah, okay." We fuck with him all the time, so I figured that he was just getting back at us. I'm excited.

PL: Whats a little known fact about California?
SYG: The town I was raised in is called Martinez, and thats where the Martini was invented. Thats really all I've got, except that its the best state ever.

PL: Name one album, besides your own, you think all kids should have in their collection.
SYG: The Kid Dynamite releases for sure. That band really did it for me, and obviously all the other stuff that Yemin has done like Lifetime and Paint it Black. The Movielife. These bands are all somewhat newer, and I'm 22, and these are bands that aren't super old, but really started to turn things around for me and get me into other stuff. I would say just that.

PL: Do you have anything else you want to say?
SYG: We're out with Ignite right now, and I think everybody should definitely check out that CD. Its well produced and the songs are awesome; its definitely one of the best this year. We've been on tour with some rad bands this year. Crime in Stereo has a new album out, The Troubled Stateside, and they were awesome to us. They played our first shows. Everyone who's reading this should check out The Troubled Stateside by Crime in Stereo, which is out on Nitro; Our Darkest Days by Ignite, which is out on Abacus. There's so much good stuff out there that people should just go out and search and not stop ever.

Interviewed by: RF
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