The Fuel That Keeps The Go Set Going

We do love our punk music in Australia, managing to maintain a grassroots, pub-crawling collective of solid punk outfits, partly thanks to the resurgence of mainstream punk bands like Bodyjar and 28 Days in the early 2000s. The Go Set, under the ever-energetic wing of frontman Justin Keenan, has long maintained a position in that spectrum, and Keenan himself – endlessly passionate about music and connecting with an audience – may just be one of the best role models for any aspiring proponent of the pit.

“I'm touring around this UK band called The Vibrators at the moment,” Keenan, who also runs his own touring agency, explains. “Sydney airport is shithouse at the moment; it's all crazy. So hopefully we get there intact, with all the equipment. The tour hasn't been huge, but it's been fun, and that's all that matters for us, really. We've played some fun gigs and drank a few beers so far, so we're hoping that continues.”

Keenan is somehow wedging this tour between both writing, recording and gigging with The Go Set and the release of his own debut solo album. “It's a lot like Frank Turner or Billy Bragg playing solo. Y'know, more intimate and close than The Go Set stuff. It's fun in its own way, because I get to leave a lot of space in my sets to hang around and talk to the crowd. I was worried that people wouldn't want to hear the stories in between the songs, because that can get a bit boring, but the reception's been great, everyone's been really responsive.”

These three fairly different facets – touring other bands, touring a much-respected punk band and touring himself – reflect Keenan's positive and passionate outlook on the whole idea of playing music. For him, it wasn't a decision to actively take on any specific role; he just kind of fell into it, a fact he says has kept The Go Set going strong for nigh-on 12 years now. “We all have different projects to work on and our own jobs and families now, so when the pressure of writing or recording or touring gets too much, we do have the liberty of stepping back and leaving it for a little while. But there's a lot of other things that go into it. Being so DIY, you can see the progress of your own project with your own eyes. Another thing is that we spent so much time touring around in the early days, and we weren't getting any bigger. You've just got to learn to throw that away at some point, because you're not getting anywhere. Then we started touring in Germany and Europe, and everything just kinda clicked. So that's a big part of where the band is now, and what fuels us to keep going.”

The Go Set are currently working on their seventh studio album. “You know, this album feels more free. Doing the solo thing gave me fresh perspective, but we also feel comfortable being the band we are now.”