Named after a Face to Face lyric, my high school punk rock band was born out of the skate park by five dudes with a shared worship of d.b.s. and Propagandhi. Set Aside existed as a political hardcore punk band from 1998-2001 with a reunion show played in 2003 and consisted of Ryan Smith (vocals), Ryan Taylor (guitar), Adam Lealos (guitar), Clint Flamand (drums) and Jeff Peters (bass). Chris Morin replaced Jeff on bass about half way through our career.
In our time as a band we played roughly fifty shows and made four trips to the recording studio. Memorable moments include a basement show in Winnipeg with Submission Hold, rowdy nights at the Wash’n’Slosh with Chupacabra and Sinclaire and nearly getting kicked off the bill of a straight edge Christian hardcore festival for being a little too flamboyant. The phone calls from a Calgary church, asking if I was gay, was sort of hilarious though.
Set Aside was all about the vocalization of society’s ills, political injustices and personal conflicts. Needless to say we heard “shut up and play” shouted at us a lot.
With this Retro Download I am including our last two releases, the CD version of “The Pain Won’t Wash Away” which included a few extra tracks, and our “Let’s End It Here” CD single, which contained tracks from our last full length that we never completed because we broke up over something stupid that none of us really remember.
Members of Set Aside have also clawed their way into many other local bands. Clint now drums for Lady Deathstryke, Adam shreds in The Quitters Club, Chris performs in Slow Down Molasses and The Eyebats and I’m still from the Internet.
So get angry and download our last two albums or check out these ancient videos of a skinny version of me flinging myself about the stage with reckless abandon!
The Pain Won’t Wash Away
Let’s End It Here
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NptEVqloUI&w=425]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykI0S2qpm_E&w=425]