Ben caught up with Set Your Goals back stage at the Academy in Manchester to talk about their current tour, what's on their Christmas list, plans for the future and much more.

Firstly, can you just tell us who you are and what you do in Set Your Goals?
(Joe Saucedo) My name’s Joe and I play bass for Set Your Goals.
(Jordan Brown) Hey, I’m Jordan and I sing in Set Your Goals, and I also help to write songs with the band.

How is the tour going so far?
(Joe) It’s going well, these shows are definitely a lot bigger and more fun than we expected them to be. It’s been a while since we’ve been out here doing a legit headline tour, so yeah, it’s going well!
(Jordan) I agree!

You’re obviously very far from home, do you enjoy playing gigs over in the UK?
(Joe) Oh yeah! It’s almost like a break, we don’t have to drive or anything!
(Jordan) People over here are really into the show and people over here have actually known a lot more of our new material, so that’s been cool. We have a set full of new songs, but we do play a few of Mutiny! too.

Do you have a particular favourite place to play over here?
(Jordan) I was actually going to say Manchester!
(Joe) It’s definitely up there!
(Jordan) The Music Box!
(Joe) That show was awesome! Our driver ended up stage diving that night! I’d say it’s a tie between Manchester and Leeds, we always have fun in Leeds! Even Kingston, that’s cool.
(Jordan) Yeah, The Peel’s sick!

You’re well known for your energetic live performances, but in your own words can you explain what someone who has never seen Set Your Goals, could expect to see at a show?
(Jordan) They can expect to see a lot of movement on stage, a lot of crowd interaction and very high energy!
(Joe) It’s definitely a party! It’s no Andrew WK though!

You’re currently signed to Epitaph Records, what doors have they opened for Set Your Goals since signing with them last year?
(Jordan) It’s opened up a lot, we’ve gotten radio play from this record, videogames, music videos, television!
(Joe) It’s opened up a tonne of doors, it got us a better record sonically.
(Jordan) Yeah, Epitaph is awesome, I’m definitely excited to be with them. Hopefully we’ll be with them for a long while. For the rest of our music career we’ll be with Epitaph.
(Joe) It’s a good home.

Your recent album This Will Be The Death of Us featured a number of awesome guests (Vinnie Caruana, Hayley Williams, Chad Gilbert), can you tell us how those came about?
(Joe) We’ve known Vinnie for a long time, so it was just a case of straight up asking him if he wanted to sing on the record basically!
(Jordan) I know Hayley wanted to sing on The Few That Remain, so it was the same thing, I just talked to her and she said that she’d do it! I worked closely with Hayley and Chad, we all clicked musically, that was one of my favourite moments in the recording.

Are you happy with the way the album has been received so far?
(Jordan) It’s been really good, people know the songs now, we got really good distribution, it’s super sick!

You have a relentless touring schedule, but this tour comes to a close in a few days, so are you going to go home for a relaxing Christmas, or are you going to be preparing for your US tour which begins in January?
(Joe) I think we’re just going to go home and not think about the band for a couple of weeks and just spend time with family and wind down because we’ve been on the road for so long now. We’re always thinking ahead and preparing, so once Christmas and New Year is over we’ll be ready.
(Jordan) I’m not going to do anything!
(Joe) I think I might take up snowboarding!

What’s on your Christmas lists this year?
(Jordan) I’m going to say that I’m wishing for things in life to go as well as they have been going, but that’s a little bit deep. I actually want an iPhone! That would be awesome!
(Joe) Yeah, I want more tattoos! I doubt any of this will actually happen, but if I could have one Christmas present it would be more tattoos!

Do you have any highlights of 2009?
(Joe) There’s been so many!
(Jordan) I got to hang out and meet so many cool people, it’s good to be round so many great people. I really enjoyed the recording, the exposure we’re getting and the tours.
(Joe) This tour’s actually up there for me.
(Jordan) Yeah, this tour’s really shaping up to be awesome.

What does 2010 hold in store for Set Your Goals?
(Joe) More touring! I know we’re doing Motion City Soundtrack in January, then some festivals overseas, and maybe the Warped Tour. I’m sure we’ll come back here towards the end of the year, but nothing’s been set in stone just yet.
(Jordan) We’ve talked about a couple of things, so it’s definitely a good possibility. Hopefully the stuff we’ve talked about goes down, because it’s all pretty cool!

Interview By Ben Connell