Review Fix Exclusive: The Go Set’s Justin Keenan Talks Tour, New Album

Review Fix chats with  Justin Keenan of The Go Set, who discusses their upcoming album and upcoming US Tour.

For More on the band, click here.

Review Fix: What does it feel like to be playing the US again?

Justin Keenan: Great. We had such a good time last time around. It’s always hard to start touring in a new territory, especially a market as big as the US, because it feels like you’re going back to the days of starting out. Nobody knows the band, there isn’t much money, and things can be tough. Fortunately for us, we’ve got a great team working with us in the US now, so we have really hit the ground running.

Review Fix: What inspired the current album?

Keenan: I think we just wanted to lock ourselves away and play the songs as a group, rather than going through the clinical processes in a studio. I mean, we basically set up the mics and recording gear and just went for it. The key for a band like us is to try and replicate what we do live, and I think this record captures that really well.

Review Fix: What music will you be playing on this tour?

Keenan: A bit of a mixture off all of the albums. We tend to know which ones transfer well live, so we’ll definitely play a lot of the high energy stuff. The set will vary each night too, so we are planning on pulling out a lot of early material as well.

Review Fix: What makes this new album special?

Keenan: Probably the fact that we did it entirely ourselves, and that we’ve been able to attach our documentary film to the package. It’s a great starting point for US audiences who have just discovered us because it gives an entire decade of background in an hour and also explains the making of the audio they’re listening to.

Review Fix: Is there a song that stands out? How was it written?

Keenan: The band guys like the first single – Bones, because it’s really dynamic to play live. For me, I like a song called ‘The Last March’ because it’s very personal and quiet. It adds a new dimension to the album I think.

Review Fix: Who will enjoy the album the most?

Keenan: Good question, I’m not sure. I think that it sits somewhere to be punk enough for the kids, and folk enough for their parents – with a definite harder edge. I’ll be interested to see how our audience develops in the US. In Europe its mainly students and punks, but in Australia we play a lot of folk festivals as the ‘late night punk rock’ act!

Review Fix: What makes it different from your previous work?

Keenan: I guess the lack of outside help, and also that I think the songs were crafted really meticulously over a period of time.

Review Fix: How do you want this tour to be remembered by fans?

Keenan: As the best new thing they’ve seen all year.

Review Fix: Anything else you’d like to add?

Keenan: Yep…. go and see live music. Buy what you enjoy and don’t download it for free. It’s never been harder for independent bands than it is right now, so get out and support it.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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