Set It Off

Set It Off spent their opening decade channeling anthemic drive and memorable choruses while shifting from bright-eyed pop-punk roots toward a more propulsive, synth-tinged rock approach. The Tampa-formed, Los Angeles-based quartet followed a path similar to fellow acts Fall Out Boy and Panic! At the Disco, refining their approach album by album from the blunt punk force of early EPs through the major-label arrival of Cinematics. Electronics and sugary pop elements had become integral by the 2016 release Upside Down, sharpening the band’s focus on mainstream appeal, and that exploratory spirit carried forward into Midnight in 2019 and Elsewhere in 2022.

The group came together in Tampa, Florida during 2008 and first issued three high-energy pop-punk EPs—Baby You Don't Tripajaharda in 2008, Calm Before the Storm in 2009, and Horrible Kids in 2011—before inking a deal with Equal Vision Records that same year. Core members included founding vocalist Cody Carson alongside guitarists Dan Clermont and Zach DeWall, bassist Austin Kerr, and drummer Maxx Danziger. Their first full-length, Cinematics, appeared in 2011 and entered the Billboard 200. Two years afterward the R&B-tinged follow-up Duality arrived, produced by Brandon Paddock and featuring input from Tommy English and Matt Appleton. Also in 2013, the band’s rendition of Ariana Grande’s “Problem” surfaced on Fearless Records’ Punk Goes Pop, Vol. 6 compilation.

Reduced to a quartet following bassist Austin Kerr’s exit in 2015, Set It Off issued Upside Down in 2016; its single “Life Afraid” helped the album reach the band’s then-highest Billboard 200 placement, just outside the Top 50. After departing Equal Vision for Fearless Records, they unveiled the sharp-edged pop track “Killer in the Mirror” in 2018, which later appeared on their fourth album, Midnight, released the following year. Mike Green and Brandon Paddock handled production duties on that record, whose additional single “Lonely Dance” further highlighted the group’s evolving style. Elsewhere, their fifth full-length, surfaced in March 2022 and broadened the pop-punk palette even more, again with Mike Green alongside Bruce Wiegner and Nico Stadi behind the boards.