AURA Fest is bringing back the memories with a show from I Set My Friends On Fire

AURA Fest is closing out it’s 2021-2022 season with the return of irreverent pop-metal noise-makers I Set My Friends On Fire (ISMFOF).

If you were a teen in the Myspace era you might remember ISMFOF from their internet breaking screamo cover of Soulja Boy’s “Crank That.” The explosion of popularity quickly earned the band a record deal with Epitaph which released their debut album “You Can’t Spell Slaughter Without Laughter” in 2008.

The album showcased ISMFOF’s schizophrenic genre-hopping tendencies that combined metal, screamo, emo, electronicore, chip-tunes, glitch, and dance-pop into a big sticky wad of hi-fructose ear candy.

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After years of line-up changes, label disputes, and delayed and shelved albums ISMFOF began to drift out of the memories of their aging fans. Although the band continued to tour occasionally and periodically release music, things certainly slowed down for them and they took on regular day jobs.

Then the infamous We Were Young Festival line-up was announced last year featuring every band that ever played Warped Tour,...except for ISMFOF. The band didn’t take the slight without a fight and trolled We Were Young Fest by purchasing and holding the URL WhenWeWereYoungFest.com hostage. If you clicked on the URL it would take you to ISMFOF’s Facebook page.

In a social media post ISMFOF said, "WE ARE GOING TO MEME OURSELVES ONTO THIS ONE WAY OR ANOTHER" and "LIVENATION YOU CAN HAVE IT BACK IF U JUST PUT US ON THE FEST...OH AND WE OWN THE INSTAGRAM TOO."

The stunt reminded their old fans that they still existed and deserved to be included in the nostalgia loaded line-up.

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“Stuff really took off the last couple of months,” said ISMFOF guitarist Nate Blasdell in an interview conducted last May. “I think we were a band that a lot of people knew but forget. I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. We went through a lot of different stuff with labels and delayed albums. Eventually, some of that leads to killing momentum, and irrelevancy, I guess. For example, in the corporate world, when people would ask me what band I’m in and I say, ‘I Set My Friends on Fire,’ they’re like, ‘Oh, man! I loved you guys in high school.’ It was never, ‘I LOVE you guys.’ It was always in past tense.”

ISMFOF were always a divisive band that drew mixed reviews from critics. Alternative Press magazine absolutely panned their debut album, so the band found it frustrating (and kind of funny) when AP recently wrote a glowing piece that looked back fondly on their music. Naturally, they called out the magazine for its hypocrisy.

“I think our stubbornness hurt our band in a lot of ways,” said Blasdell. “With When We Were Young Fest, I think that people understood where the stubbornness came from because when we signed with Warner they were like, ‘What are you guys doing burning bridges with Atl Press?’ We really didn’t roll over for people. We never were fans of the AP, their publication, or how they did their business. It wasn’t because they didn’t write about us, but because of what they kind of stood for which was the hopping on the train of an album they absolutely destroyed thirteen years ago calling it the worst thing they ever heard, then to say, ‘Oh, well, now that the guys did this cool punk rock thing we’re about it.’ But they were never about punk from the beginning. We don’t identify as a punk band, but I think we have that mindset.”

ISMFOF have been on big labels since they were teenagers and played the game, but as Blasdell sees it, the band have been their happiest when they managed themselves, booked their own shows, and recorded themselves, without big label interference and pressure.

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“This has been the first time we’ve really been full D.I.Y.,” said Blasdell. “I mean, we got signed before we ever played a show. But I think it’s really cool that we’re finally getting the opportunity to do it and see it be successful.”

“I think a lot of people didn’t understand the band or our outlook previously. We were never a band to start [expletive]. We’re just the band that didn’t roll over and let things happen. If someone like the AP said they had faith in us the whole time and they didn’t we’re going to call them out.

"I can’t believe the AP put us in there. I hope nobody lost their job over that. It blows my mind that someone threw us in there.”

In recent years, ISMFOF have released singles like “Addictions” and “Existence is...You’re On Your Own” that lean heavily into Soundcloud rap similar to early Trippy Red or Lil Uzi Vert.

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“There’s definitely a lot of hip hop elements that Matt [Mehena, singer and founder of ISMFOF] has adapted to the music, but we’re also in a position where we don’t really have to answer to a label anymore,” said Blasdell. “We’ve always been a band that pushes the boundaries and never had a set style or genre. If we want to write a rap song, we’ll write a rap song. If we want to write a metal song, we’ll write a metal song. I feel there’s elements in Matt’s vocal melodies that ties everything together, even if it’s a different genre.”

Fans waiting for a new album will have to wait a little longer, but ISMFOF are working on new material and trying to legally release some old stuff.

“We’ve had two albums that we couldn’t put out for legal reasons, but I think it’s finally all straightened out,” explained Blasdell. “Obviously we self-inflicted some of our own situations. I’ll be honest, before the When We Were Young stuff, we knew we were going to do another tour, but Chris [Thompson, drummer] and I have pretty demanding day jobs, so there’s been a pretty long time where we didn’t know if we were going back out again. We had had a Facebook status that said “We go out on tour in 10 days and we haven’t practiced in 4 years. That was one hundred percent true.”

“It’s not as much motivation to get back in the studio. Yes, there is some motivation to get in the studio and yes, there is stuff we are working on, but we don’t view this as much as a job anymore, but as a hobby. Once we got that mindset a lot of the politics was taken out of it. With the way things are now I think it’s more motivation to find the time to do things that you love. I was so caught up with my work schedule that there is probably a year and a half that I didn’t pick up a guitar, just because I was working. I love my job, but at the same time I think this was a reminder of what a big part our lives music was, and you need to find time for those things, the things that you love.”

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah GA events: I Set My Friends On Fire at El Rocko Lounge