I got a chance to chat with Cody Carson of Set it Off after the show they played with Our Last Night and Chiodos at The Masquerade in Atlanta, GA. Below is the interview. You can also read my review of the show that accompanies the interview: HERE.
MA: For all the kittens out there, what’s your name, your role and in what band?
CC: My name is Cody Carson and I sing and touch you in Set It Off.
MA: Don’t worry, they get harder. You just played the almighty Masquerade in Atlanta, GA which was actually the former DuPree Excelsior Mill building. What would you say your favorite thing about that venue is?
CC: My favorite part is definitely coming in the fall to experience their horror maze The Chambers of Horror. It’s absolutely grotesque and terrifying.
MA: You have a very charismatic aura about you when you perform which I can tell is very intriguing by the look on your fans faces. What would you say provokes this vibe?
CC: This is going to sound completely cliche, but the stage is the only place I truly feel worry free and at home. I have no insecurities, I have no anxiety, I feel invincible. It’s my outlet where I let everything out and they do it with me. It’s a mutual energy that is the biggest high.
MA: Who would you say has the best stages moves in the band and can you describe the move(s) in a sentence?
CC: That’s hard to pick out because each one of them have their own unique style but I’d say they each have their signature move. Dan stomps so hard, you feel the stage move and tomahawks like a champ! Austin does the “splip” which is a double turn where he turns his whole body with the bass and then does a bass flip. Zach does this crazy lethal guitar flail where he hits an open chord and then throws his guitar so hard that it swings around to his back and the momentum brings it right back to him. And Maxx does this move where he reaches all the way behind his head and then whacks the shit out of his drums, it’s hard to describe but it looks awesome haha.
MA: You know my band The Venetia Fair maybe a bit too well…If not all of us, who would you say you dislike the most and why?
CC: That you’re all a bunch of pussies. It’s actually hard to hate you guys, we tried. haha
MA: Right now you are on a short tour with Our Last Night and Chiodos. 1) Out of the 3 of you, who has the best tour vehicle set up (rig) and 2) If you were to all race to the next show, who would win?
CC: Ok to answer the best rig set up I do have to award that to us for the two bunks we have in the back, but in a race. Probably Chiodos because they have to load in first and we can only go 60mph maximum.
MA: After this tour you mentioned taking the next two months to write music, hash out about 40 song ideas and bring them to the studio to make a record. Is this you standard approach to writing new material?
CC: Actually yes, I always set a very high goal of songs so that when we get there we have too many to choose from and it becomes too hard to pick just 12 songs for the record. I want each song on our album to be an absolute 10. no filler songs.
MA: Being that we have an in house recording studio, we are always interested in other artists’ recording experiences. Cinematics sounds excellent, how was it working with Kenneth and Zack on that record?
CC: Zack and Kenneth are absolutely stellar producers. They come up with great ideas and are very respective to creative boundaries as well. They’re also just good people in general, it was an incredible privilege to work with them.
MA: You guys will probably be working with John Feldman on the upcoming record. What is the reason behind switching producers? What made you want to reach out to John?
CC: We wanted to change our sound up a bit. Not a lot, just a natural progression and we have said since day one how we’ve wanted to work with him. We went out to LA, wrote a song with him and had amazing chemistry. We really feel he can help us accomplish what we’re looking for and he has the track record to back it up.
MA: Thanks for chatting with us Cody! Can you please tell fans where they can check you guys out online? Anything else you’d like to say…now’s the time.
CC: My pleasure! You can find us on:
twitter.com/setitoff
instagram.com/setitoffband
facebook.com/setitoffband
youtube.com/setitoffband
