All Set To Go

Over the past decade, The Go Set have earned a well-deserved reputation as one of the hardest-working independent bands in the country. They've released five studio albums, an EP and a live album, travelled to some of the most far-flung places in Australia and undertaken several DIY overseas tours.

Their most recent release, last year's eponymous album, had a more straightforward Oz-rock feel than the more mandolin-and-bagpipe-infused sounds of earlier releases, but Keenan assures this was not a permanent stylistic change. “With that album, because we worked with producer Paul McKercher, he basically just forced us to strip everything off it; he had a real approach that if the song doesn't need it, then don't put it on,” Keenan recalls. “We stripped a lot of our songs back to just basic rock songs, but in saying that, I think the songs themselves are better for it, even though it might sound like a stylistic change for fans of the band. On the new recordings we're doing at the moment we've actually had almost an allergic reaction to that record, because we've gone completely the other way again now; making sweeping string sections and pipe parts and we've gone really garage-punk in some parts, too.”

Keenan admits that when the band started, he couldn't have realistically envisioned their eventual longevity. “Yeah, if you'd told me ten years ago that we would've finished our European tour two weeks ago walking offstage at Mighty Sounds, I would've laughed at you, because the likelihood of us getting the opportunities we do now in Europe, and the fact that we've released six albums … I never would have dreamed of that. There's a lot of times where it's not fun anymore, and so to push through that… it's important to understand that the nature of performing and touring as an independent act is cyclic. For every high there's a low and I think that's really good, really grounding.” While Keenan is forthcoming about The Go Set's low points over years, but he insists the tough times have made the successful moments all the more rewarding. “It makes you more resilient and appreciative when things are going well and at the moment things are going great; I could never have dreamed things would be going so well, particularly in Europe for us at the moment. We're coming home with money now, and as much as art and money are evil twins, they're sort of co-dependent.”

The Go Set have always made a point of peppering their songs with references to Australian history and social injustice and while Keenan reckons this has endeared the band to some younger fans, he also concedes some listeners can be fickle at times. “As a culture I think we go through these cycles of Americanisms and having some UK music envy, where we all want to look that way and have those haircuts and sound that way and dress that way, and then eventually it comes full circle and there'll be a surge of kids for a year or two who'll come to our shows,” he tells. “I'm resigned to the fact that we're never going to be fashionable so we sort of have to wait for the fashion wheel to turn around again, because we're just going to keep doing what we do.”

Canadian Celt-punks The Real McKenzies were one of the first overseas bands The Go Set played with and Keenan admits this was part of the reason he invited them back to celebrate the ten-year milestone. “It's really exciting and fulfilling to go full circle and have them come back and stay at our houses and drive them around the countryside. I'm sure they've got some fans here who are really excited about seeing them too. They're crazy dudes and a lot of fun to tour with; it's sort of like touring with the punk-rock version of the Jackass team. [Plus] we've hired a rehearsal studio and I think there's going to be some McKenzies/Go Set collaborations in the show.” Keenan firmly believes both The Go Set and The Real McKenzies are most in their element in the live setting. “To state it pretty simply, both bands have been doing it a long time and both bands pride themselves on their live performances much more than anything they've recorded,” he offers. “Both bands have high-energy, great punk-rock shows and it's the real deal. It's not 'here today, gone tomorrow'; it's going to be here for a while. It's certainly going to be worth the ticket price, which incidentally is pretty cheap.”