The Ready Set

Jordan Witzigreuter, a teenager from Indiana, began isolating himself in his parents' basement during 2007 to create tracks blending melodic emo-pop with bubbly electronica. Although the project carried the name the Ready Set, Witzigreuter handled every aspect alone, both writing and laying down the performances without additional musicians. A contract with Decaydance Records arrived within two years, after which the label matched him with established emo producers Zack Odom, Kenneth Mount, and Matt Squire for his first full-length effort. That album, I'm Alive, I'm Dreaming, reached stores in 2010.

Witzigreuter next joined forces with producer Ian Kirkpatrick and occasional co-writer Kara DioGuardi on the 2011 EP Feel Good Now. Once he exited Decaydance and its parent company Warner Bros. while already developing new material, Razor & Tie became his new label home. Reuniting with Kirkpatrick and leaning further into pure pop, he issued the second Ready Set album, The Bad & the Better, in May of 2014.

Throughout 2015 Witzigreuter pursued a parallel venture alongside the Ready Set’s touring guitarist Cameron Walker. Adding Summer Set drummer Jess Bowen completed the lineup of Nekokat, which unveiled the Communication EP that June. At the same time the Ready Set moved once more, this time signing with Hopeless Records. Their third album, I Will Be Nothing Without Your Love, arrived in April of 2016 and emphasized an even broader mainstream pop sensibility.