2017 was a busy year for Nick Drabble and Stu Turner of Sydney production duo Set Mo.
“We played more shows than ever. We took a party we did called the 'Stamina Sessions' where we do minimum, four-hour sets and we did that for the first time nationally,” Nick says.
“That was definitely a highlight I'd say, just playing in four capital cities and having people who are ready to party with you all night was super special.”
The boys also appeared at multiple festivals, always attracting a big crowd of punters ready to party. “In terms of festivals, we did Harbourlife which was a big one just because that was a festival that we went to as punters for so many years, even before we were hanging out and making music,” Nick says.
“Over New Year's we had a great run,” adds Stu.
“We did Rhythm and Vines in New Zealand. And then we came back and closed the main stage at Beyond The Valley right after The Presets. That was to more than 10,000 people, which was by far the biggest [crowd] we've played to. And then we came back and rocked Field Day on 1st January, which is also just a great day.”
Set Mo have recently released their latest single, 'Nightmares'. “Essentially it's about anxiety, so if you listen to the first lyrics it kind of dives into a bunch of stuff that could relate to overarching anxiety but it kind of describes the symptoms of a panic attack going through it,” Stu says.
“So it talks about things like tidal waves and kind of feeling hopeless and overwhelmed.”
'Nightmares' is a collaboration with London-based multi-instrumentalist Scott Quinn. “We were in Europe last year, we went over there for a month just to write music. We were in Berlin, London and Amsterdam,” Stu says.
“We got linked up with Scott Quinn in London by a producer. We met him at the studio one day, he's just this kind of preppy looking English lad. You don't really expect his voice when you see him in person.”
“We like to collaborate with people from different worlds, musically,” adds Nick. “Sometimes you find that there's certain vocalists who feature on a lot of dance tracks.
“Whereas we kind of really like to explore outside of that realm and work with singers whether they're from more of an indie background or folk or rock. Because then you kind of come up with something more unique we find.”
Set Mo have announced their plan to release a new single every month from February to December of this year. “We did a whole bunch of writing over the last 12 months while we were travelling and kind of doing these writing trips where we'd lock ourselves away.
“So we got to the end of last year and were sitting on a whole bunch of music and were kind of going okay, 'what's the best way to put this out?'
"A lot of the music is quite varied and different to what people might expect from us. We decided do a track a month to give everyone the time to process it and get their head around the new style and new sounds.”
Set Mo start a massive leg of touring in March. “We're kicking off our biggest ever Australia/ New Zealand tour which is over 20 shows. So that'll keep us busy for a couple of months. And then we're hoping to be in the States in the middle of the year to do some of our first shows there.
"And then, obviously there's just going to be a fair bit of time in the studio to make sure all this music is ready to be released.”
Set Mo Tour Dates
Thu 1 Mar - The Helm (Sunshine Coast)Fri 2 Mar - Prohibition (Brisbane)
Sat 3 Mar - Why Not? Beach Party (Bunbury)
Sat 10 Mar - Proud Mary’s (Central Coast)
Sun 11 Mar - The Inn Hotel (Geelong)
Fri 16 Mar - Discovery (Darwin)
Sat 17 Mar - Goodbar (Sydney)
Sun 18 Mar - Surfers Paradise Beergarden (Gold Coast)
Sat 24 Mar - Sets On The Beach (Fremantle)
Sun 25 Mar - Sundaze Fundaze @ The Clarendon (Newcastle)
Thu 29 Mar - Frnds @ Uni Bar (Wollongong)
Sun 1 Apr - M.V. Catalina Boat Party (Sunshine Coast)
Sun 1 Apr - Old Soul (Sunshine Coast)
Fri 6 Apr - Night Cat (Melbourne)
Sat 7 Apr - Fat Controller (Adelaide)
Sun 8 Apr - Manly Wharf Hotel (Sydney)
Fri 13 Apr - Mr Wolf (Canberra)
Sat 14 Apr - Roches (Grafton)
Fri 20 Apr - Saloon (Launceston)
Sat 21 Apr - The Tah (Hobart)
Sat 28 Apr - Crows Nest Hotel Rooftop (Sydney)
Sat 5 May - Byron Bay Brewery
