It takes a lot to stand out in the scene these days, but Set For Tomorrow does this effortlessly. With their unique blend of cinematic aggression and a fiercely DIY work ethic, the Richmond-based band refuses to be ignored.
They have now partnered with Thriller Records for the re-release of their EP, “ARCS.” The release features more refined and polished versions of each track, showcasing their growth since its first release. Vocalist Eyker Cruz shares:
"What an extraordinary year it has been. We proudly release ARCS in its entirety—a body of work we hold incredibly close to our hearts. This EP represents more than a collection of songs; it is the embodiment of our own character development arc. Those who have followed the earlier singles may have noticed how each returning track now carries a 'THIQQQ,' more explosive energy. The moment we partnered with Thriller Records, the entire project was granted its own level-up arc. Completely elevated, refined, and amplified to the best of our ability".
We caught up with Set For Tomorrow to discuss signing with Thriller, their concept of "THIQQQ" energy, and more!
MSM: If this new era of Set For Tomorrow were a movie, what genre would it be, and what actors would you want to play in it?
EYKER: Oh, I'm bad with actor names, but I feel like we would definitely exist in some kind of spin-off to the Blade Runner / cyberpunk era, and I want to say we would be an animated movie. I don't think we would be acted out by traditional actors, so I would say it would be like that Cyberpunk 2077 anime, but our version of that.
What is something about you that's a non musical fact that fans might not expect?
I grew up playing lots of platformer video games when I was younger, and now, well, my two biggest loves are between video game content for solo player games or reading. Reading would be like a horror genre or comic books, anything in that degree. I'm all about that stuff, all the nerdy stuff, all the stuff that wasn't cool before.
What's your favorite game?
I don't have a favorite one, but I'll say, as a throwback, my favorite platformer of all time would have to be the Banjo-Kazooie franchise. I want a third one really bad.
I was looking at your graphic design page (@musehavencompany). Your art is amazing! Would you say that being a graphic designer has influenced the way you approach music?
Sort of, I think that it helps me have a vision for what the overall vibe could be like for a song. Whenever we're working on tracks, and we're picking, "What would be a cool texture for this?", or Mikey's working on a song or whatever, and I'm in the room, and we're trying to build this beat or idea out, or like a background ambience behind a breakdown or chorus or whatever it is. I kind of imagine what the t-shirt design would look like for that, or what the aesthetic for it is ahead of time, because my brain kind of sticks it in a filing cabinet of, "Okay, that that style of that thing, and is now checked off. I want to move on to the next thing, and then move on to the next thing".
So, we get very specific with the vision of things. I think that the art direction helps me a lot with articulating it to the guys. Because I'm like: " Hey! I thought of this, and this is what I'm thinking of to make, to make sense of this". And they're like, "Oh, yeah, cool". It's way easier, you know, and it's hard to put in words sometimes.
Yeah, that's what I was thinking, like that as you're creating, you're probably already getting a vision.
Yeah. We're very intentional whenever we're working on things.
You've mentioned that this the re-release of EP represents the band's character development arc, so looking back on the original versus this release, what growth do you hear the most?
I feel like, even in hindsight, if you listen to the first version of the EP, aside from barring remixing it, or from Jonathan Dolese doing all that stuff, the two songs that were added on from the original release were "Someone Lonely" and "Bad Advice". I feel like "Someone Lonely" was this kind of idea of like the most digestible version of what the entire EP was, because we like to do what I was leaning into calling "diet weird", which is having weird elements in the song, but it doesn't all the way remove you from it. It's just a little weird. It's not so jarring that you're like, "Oh, I need to change this. I'm not cringing too hard". So, I feel like that song is the more marketable version of that. And then I feel "Bad Advice" is like the mash-up of all of the hyper pop elements to the breakdowns to even how we have our choruses, and post-chorus, and all that. I feel like that's a good mash-up of what the entire EP was. So, in hindsight, I feel like the new version has the left and the right side of this track of what this sound direction could lean into. I feel like those are the "leveled up" versions of what those things could be.
So, what has the experience been like with Thriller so far?
It has been pretty sweet. It's been really cool having a team to talk to you and sometimes bounce ideas off of- and we're always open to guidance. We did a lot on our own; we prided ourselves on being very DIY. So, it was interesting to bring in more of an outside hand. But we love it, it's awesome having the team that we have. They're very excited about this stuff, as excited as we are about it, which is also really sweet and feels obviously more validating that way.
Is there anything in particular that you want to stick to being DIY?
Not particularly. I think that in a perfect world, as the band becomes more successful or popular, whatever happens over time, as we become more busy: I think it's going to start to pull from abilities to do other things, necessarily if your hands are always tied up like Brendan's are. Brendan is the content guy in our band. He's always out with If Not For Me, shout out those guys, but we really have him just playing bass and hanging out with us, you know, whenever we're touring together, it's like we don't always want to be in work mode 24/7. There are things we'll be picky about, or be very, " We do this trade, so it needs to be up to this standard", but I don't think there's anything that we'd hold on to forever and indefinitely with a death grip. I think that can be self-sabotaging sometimes if you're not coachable, you know?
Yeah, absolutely. And then, for the release in general, how do you hope people feel after they listen to it? Are there any takeaways you want them to have?
Yeah, I want people to not be able to expect what the next single is going to sound like, as far as leading heavy or non-heavy or genre-wise, or maybe what the weird switch-up in the song is. I kind of like this concept of when I used to listen to other songs, I hated always being, "Oh, my favorite part of the song is just the breakdown- let's fast-forward to that part.!" I like the songs that have sprinkles of ideas or weirdness or something really heavy, and I just want people not to know what to expect as far as the next thing. It's my favorite thing to drop on them.
And then, speaking of, like, terms — how about the term THIQQQ that was used. What changes would you say were made to the re-release that kind of gave it that extra "level-up"?
Yeah, I guess, from a technical aspect, when we had Jonathan Delose get involved in the mix he made it sound sonically bigger. I think the guitars are a little more forward so it has more of a punch to it. There are also a few changes that we did to some of the songs: If I were to shout one out, there are some more harmonies that have been added to the "Counterfeit" chorus. And if you listen to "CTRL", in the very ending outro, it actually switches into, I think, halftime on the drums from like the breakdown, or from the outro. In the original version, it didn't do that. So, we kind of did more, like we've added a little more personality to some of the songs. And there's a background pad thing going on in the chorus for "CTRL". That was something that was added in. There's some textures added into "Doom And Gloom" as well, actually, from the original one, which was pretty cool. So, just things like that. So, when I say "THIQQQ", it's because of a funny inside joke. But the choruses and the songs, objectively, do sound bigger and wider. So, yes, that was the silliness behind that.
Yeah, you guys do have a whole cinematic kind of sound going on.
That definitely happened over time, because I knew we had the idea of it, Brendan and I talk a lot about the aesthetic for the band, or what we're into, like, "We don't ever want to try to fit this, or try to be that way", but instead, "What is the vision for this?" He's very much involved on that creative front. He's involved with a lot of the visionary stuff with me. So, we usually end up sitting down and and think of what would the SFT world be like if it was its own universe- like animated universe, or that kind of like video gaming realm, or almost like Toonami mix kind of feel from the 2000s kind of stuff- They kind of mix the retro stuff in. So, it is also partially thanks to him (or is a lot thanks to him) that we landed on these things coming out looking more cinematic, because he has all the video knowledge. When I probably sound like a caveman when I'm trying to describe to him how I think some of the angles for some of our videos and stuff need to be, and he's like, "Yeah, it's this".
So, you're based out of Virginia. What would you say the scene there is like, and has that influenced your sound?
Actually, I would say it doesn't because we're all widespread. Mikey and James, the two guitarists, primary songwriter Mikey and then James, come up with a lot of what we call "seed ideas" for, like, the startups and songs- they're in Richmond. I'm about an hour north in Fredericksburg, so that's, like, Old Town, kind of. They don't really have as much of a scene for live music where I live, not as much like that genre of music goes. It's more like folk stuff and things like that, I guess. They do have some underground shows that are pretty hard, but they have a Canal Club over there, which is the main venue in Richmond. At least not yet, anyway. And then, further up north, we have Brendan, who actually lives in Baltimore, Maryland, so he's separated. And then Sean's always in PA, so we're all spread apart.
How would you explain your live shows to someone who hasn't been to one yet?
I want our shows to feel like everyone can break the ice with each other, like it is this big party for everyone. But I don't mean party, necessarily to the degree of a band like Attila, where it's just your worst rowdy behavior. I mean, party in the sense of there's a camaraderie amongst everybody in the crowd- and no one's too cool standing in the corner, kind of being a tough guy posted up just doing this. My idea is for people to have fun and laugh and not take themselves too seriously. The whole idea is to come exist in this realm with us, and enjoy the music with us. Let's just forget about all the other BS that we have, that you're gonna have to deal with when you walk out those doors. You spent your money to come out here, so let's have a great time. Let's make the most out of it, because that's what you're here to do. Forget about the bad and all the other BS, you know, and just have some good, healthy fun. I love the party vibe, too: Pits are fun, all that stuff, I'm all for it. We just don't want a super non-welcoming crowd. If this is your first show, come on through. Don't feel like you need to prove yourself to anybody, and dress however the hell you want. You don't have to wear all black and show up to not feel out of place, just come to the show.
So, you have shared stages with Crown The Empire, and you've played festivals like Inkarceration. Is there anything that you've taken away from playing larger performances, and then even just playing alongside these artists? Like, any lessons you've picked up on (from those experiences)?
I think, personally, and maybe as a band, we've learned that persistence and tenacity feel like the key to things. Brendan was like, "We've literally tried every single thing with this band at this point, like, I don't even know what else to do if we're not going to land anything", but I remember being obsessed with Crown The Empire at the time, and being able to go play Inkarceration, and growing up going to tours like Warped Tour- it's like those things took so long to kind of happen, and it doesn't feel any less validating when they finally happen. The lesson is that opportunity comes whenever you keep at it, but that opportunity is going to show up in weird ways. It's not going to be like, "Here's the gateway to go play that!" - it's going to be "What is the micro step that you can take that puts you in front of more of those opportunities", and the likelihood of those things to happen. And eventually, I do believe that you will get that bone thrown your way. You just need to be aware of it, like in mine, I went to a live emo band karaoke, and covered Underoath, and that's how I met Mikey. Then, one year later, I filled in for the band, and I stuck around. Like, if I stayed home that day, I probably would not have that, you know what I mean? So it's those kinds of things. You have to put yourself out there, and you just need to be confident. Yeah, that's the big lesson- I think tenacity is key.
You have an unshakable work ethic, being knocked down and then standing back up. What was the lowest point of the band so far, would you say? And did that help inspire the songs in any way? Like have you ever felt like that as a band, that you're being knocked down and had to stand back up?
I think that there was a time where we didn't know what sound direction we wanted to go in. "Initiation" was a lot of us, kind of, testing out the waters on how heavy we wanted to go, and how non-heavy, I guess, more rock forward we wanted to go with songs like "Absolved". But at that time, there was some doubt around what the band was going to shape into. I think that really fueled us to try to not settle, I think the idea changed into being let's just put out the best songs we can objectively write, and take our time with these things, and really, really zone in on the craft of what the vision was. I don't think that we would have pushed that hard to prove a point if our backs didn't feel like they were kind of against the wall there for a little bit. We pride ourselves on that "underdog" feeling, and I think that stuff is badass. People don't expect it, and then you come out swinging- like a "hold my beer" moment.
What is something that fans might not know about this EP that you would want them to maybe understand from your perspective?
I would say to give it a listen, front to back. I don't think you're going to expect the gravity of it, or for the band to go as ridiculous or confusing. I want people to just kind of go into this and expect the unexpected as far as where the ideas come from, as far as what vibe you're getting. We have a song called "Impulse", and it starts off like a club song, and then it ends up being the heaviest song I think I've ever written by the end. So, there's just all kinds of weird stuff. And then if you want to be in a Tokyo samurai battle fight, go listen to "Bad Advice". What I'm saying is I think there's a little bit of something for everyone. There's songs on there that if you don't enjoy that kind of music, I think you'll still find stuff that you will enjoy from it.
And then what can we look forward to next from Set For Tomorrow?
Next year's looking pretty busy. I can't really announce anything, but we have some really huge announcements to make, and it's some of the coolest stuff we've ever done. We're so excited for next year. It's just like that meme where the guy's just staring off in his face, and all his neck veins are popping out, and you can't say anything. That's kind of how we're going to have to feel throughout the holidays. We're always working on new music, so you never know whenever the next one's going to come out. We're staying busy, and planning a lot for next year. Hopefully, we can get around to seeing everybody at some point everywhere.
Is there anything else you'd like to share with any of your fans?
I would say that if you haven't checked us out — Hello, come check us out! And if you want to be part of a welcoming community, we also have a Patreon and a free tier on Discord, and everybody is super friendly. We don't tolerate any BS or trolling and annoying stuff like that. So, if you want to go make some cool friends and meet some really nice people, come check out the Discord or our Patreon, because we'll we do all sorts of announcements through there, and you can keep up even closer with us. But otherwise, we post all our stuff to our socials as well.
