Interview: Matt Wilson of Set Your Goals on The Legacy of 'Mutiny!', Performing at When We Were Young, and New Music
Nearly two decades ago, a Bay Area punk act by the name of Set Your Goals released an album called Mutiny!, combining high-energy punk with melodic overtones and a hardcore ethos. Nearly twenty years later, albums like Mutiny! and a stellar follow-up, This Will Be The Death of Us, have endured, bringing generations of fans out to shows to scream, mosh, and crowdsurf. The band took a bit of a hiatus after the release of their 2011 album, Burning At Both Ends, but have since started playing a handful of comeback shows over the last few years.
This year, Set Your Goals will take the stage at the When We Were Young Festival in Las Vegas, Nevada, with a set that is sure to see crowdsurfers barreling over the stage barricade and fans screaming their lungs out to fan favorite songs. Ahead of their show, Shameless sat down with co-vocalist Matt Wilson to talk about the enduring legacy of the band, why they don’t do long tours anymore, and when fans can expect to hear some new music.
Note: Portions of this interview have been edited solely for the purposes of length and clarity.
Main Photo: Matt Wilson of Set Your Goals performing in Mountain View, CA // Main Photo Credit: Jared Stossel for Shameless SF/STAFF
The last album the band released was in 2011 with Burning At Both Ends. I know that a lot has happened over the last decade with the band, with COVID happening, with people focusing on other projects. Do you think there’s any chance that fans will get new music from Set Your Goals in the future?
Matt Wilson: Well, I would say it’s an absolute certainty, at this point. We are in the studio recording right now, finshing up two songs with Scott Goodrich. We just have to get those mixed and mastered, and we’ll put them up online!
That’s great to hear! Without giving anything away, what kind of sound can people expect from you guys for these songs?
Wilson: I would say it’s further along the lines of the progression that we were headed in with our last two songs, “Only Right Now” and “I’ll Walk It Off”. It’s pretty on par with those. It’s a little bit more…evolved? Mature? I hate all of those words, because when bands say that, it means they’ve turned boring, but I really liked those two songs. I’m biased, obviously, but they were pretty well reviewed across the board. I think these will be too! These are in the same vein as those.
On the same subject, you’re doing When We Were Young but you were also announced to play at Slam Dunk in the UK next May. Is there a tour in the cards for Set Your Goals in the near future? You guys toured more than any other band that I knew of; I think you guys were on the road like eleven months out of the year.
Wilson: We really were. (laughs) It was pretty strenuous. These days, some of us have businesses, some of us have kids, so it’s a lot harder to do that. Honestly, we’re probably not going to tour ten months out of the year again, regardless of the offers we get. But, we have gotten some really cool offers. As far as Warped Tour, we actually got an offer for this year, but the date that we were offered, I think Jordan had a family trip, so we couldn’t do that. But hopefully the dates will line up for next year!
As far as touring, just because of our hectic schedules and personal lives, we probably can’t tour for an extended period of time. But we have talked about it as a group, and we do want to do short runs whenever possible. Maybe a week or two-week tour we could manage, but not two months.
When We Were Young is one of the biggest festivals in this scene, and it plays a lot into the nostalgia factor of artists and the legacy of this scene. What can fans expect from a Set Your Goals set in 2025? I think the last time that I saw you guys was that “final” Warped Tour at Shoreline Amphitheater in 2019.
Jordan Brown of Set Your Goals performing in George, WA // Photo Credit: Jared Stossel for Shameless SF/STAFF
Wilson: We did some “comeback” “anniversary”, whatever you want to call them, shows this past February. They were just above and beyond our expectations. We’re the kind of band that feeds off crowd energy, and that’s still there. It’s just as intense as ever. Those shows were some of the best that we’ve ever played. Since then, we did Four Chord [Festival] a few weeks back along with a couple of headlining shows scheduled around that, and it was amazing. We have not slowed down at all in that regard.
The shows, to me, are the best part of doing this band. I love writing music and hanging out with some of my best friends and playing music together with them, but the live shows are what keep us going. And hopefully we’ll have some time to grab some fun stage antic-type things like confetti cannons or something like that. (laughs)
There’s gotta be nothing like it. You have six guys on stage, two singers, all going crazy. Your band feeds off of the energy of those crowds. I’m assuming that at those February shows, there were no less than ten people airborne at any given time.
Wilson: Yeah! And honestly, if it’s anything like the shows we’ve done earlier this year, or the last time we played When We Were Young, when it was still in Orange County - I think it was like the first or second time? - It’ll be awesome.
[Editor’s note: the very first edition of When We Were Young took place at The Observatory Grounds in Orange County, CA on April 8th and 9th, 2017. The lineup featured acts like Morrissey, Descendents, and AFI.]
Set Your Goals performing in Oakland, CA // Photo Credit: Jared Stossel for Shameless SF/STAFF
I want to take a moment to point out that This Will Be The Death of Us is now sixteen years old, and Mutiny! is nearly twenty years old. How does it feel to have released albums that are still beloved by fans all these years later?
Wilson: Honestly, to sum it up in one word, it’s gratitude. I’m in disbelief that people still remember that record twenty years later. We’re still able to play it live, and people still care, and people still sing the words back to us. It’s truly incredible. (laughs) When I started this band in my garage with Jordan [Brown, co-lead vocalist], we had no idea we would take it this far. We were like, “Oh, let’s play some local shows.” And here we are, twenty years later, and it’s still like a part-time career for us! It’s really cool.
Set Your Goals will perform at 5:40 PM on the Allianz Stage at When We Were Young on Saturday, October 18th and Sunday, October 19th, 2025.
