How is a pop punk band made? Is it an idea born out of a really incredible live music moment? We like to think so, and in this episode of Marquee Memories you can hear Cody Carson from Set It Off detail some of his pivotal show moments. Check it:
Five Iron Frenzy:
"This band is the reason I really got into any sort of alternative music. Like when I was growing up, I listened to whatever my sister was listening to, which was like TLC, Usher. And then I got into like the boy band phase and then my friends pulled me into the Nu metal phase. And then my good friend Jeremy showed me this band, Five Iron Frenzy. And I fell in love. And as we started to gain some steam I tried to like, tried to reach out and see like if I could get in touch with them. And one day they invited me to come watch them play. Just I had like a loss for words. They were all so nice. What I love about the way they perform is just they're entirely themselves. Everyone's just having fun. And that's what I loved about Ska. If you don't know this, there is a, there's a dance for Ska Music which doesn't have the best name, but it's called Skanking. It's like a bunch of fun-loving people running around in a circle, just kicking and running at the same time. It's like the little jig. Like people, I remember I was listening to the Farewell album and he goes, who's the guy that dressed as Colonel Sanders? Like that's the kind of thing people dress up as like, ridiculous things. It's just a lot of fun."
New Found Glory:
"All I know is that I've always been a fan because it helped me get through a lot. I've always wanted to see them play. And so I got myself a ticket and I went alone. I'm like somewhere in the middle of the crowd. I'm like, I'm getting to the front. So I'm like trying to weasel my way into the front and eventually I get there because what mattered to me, for some reason, I wanted to perform every lyric at their singer, Jordan. 'Cause I wanted him to notice me. 'Cause I'm a fan. I wanted that moment, you know, where you make eye contact and you just feel like, you get me and I want you to know that. And that happened a few times and it meant everything to me. And then to fast forward, I remember me and some of my friends, we probably should have had an escort. Maybe we were being sneaky. All I know is I got backstage and I wanted to see Cyrus and he came outside of the bus and I said, Cyrus! He turned around, and I walked up to him and I said, I just wanted to say that I think you're an amazing drummer and the way you create your fills and everything is just so unique. And you can never tell where you're going, but it always makes sense. And he said the coolest thing to me, he goes, "you remind me of me when I met Travis Barker." And I knew I wanted to start a band. So for me, that like really invigorated me and it actually really shaped how I talk to and engage with our crowd."
Pop Disaster Tour:
"I was calling a radio station 'cuz I wanted to hear a song. And he goes, "you're the winner." And I was like, "what?" He's like, "you're caller 13." And I was like, "I was calling to request a song." And he goes, "you're telling me you call willy-nilly and you just happened to win?" And I said, "who's willy-nilly?" 'Cuz I've never heard that expression before. And so I accidentally won tickets to the Pop Disaster Tour to see two of my all time favorite bands, which were Green Day and Blink-182. I like Blink 'cuz they were funny and they like wrote really catchy songs. But I felt like I had more of a personal relationship sonically with Green Day. He's got, dude, Billie Joe's got such a charisma, the amount of engagement he gets out of a crowd where he's stuck behind a mic stand, that's another thing I admire. Even the way he says "Oi," I know that sounds stupid, but he's just, it makes you wanna scream it from a mountaintop, yeah. It's just, it's masterclass in being a front man."
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Set It Off have a handful of UK dates this month and their headlining US Tour kicks off May 1 in Baltimore. Get a complete list of dates and details via their official site.
