IE: Please list the current lineup and what they do in the band. What is everyone’s age?

Raf: The Setup is Jef (30, guitar), Kris (35, vocals), Michiel (25, bass), Tim (25, drums) and Raf (35, guitar)

IE: For someone reading this that has never heard of The Setup before can you give us a brief rundown as to what The Setup is all about?

Raf: We're a hardcore band from Belgium. We've been around for ten years and have 4 full length albums out and 2 EP's. We mix up heavy riffing with some melodic twists. Our songs deal with everyday life stuff…we're not a political band or anything. Lots of personal stuff in it about things that we feel are wrong.

IE: You guys are now in your 10th year as a band although there have been numerous lineup changes in that time span. Who has been in the band from the start and can you give us an idea why the band has gone through different members throughout its history?

Raf: The only original member is me. We did have a lot of line-up changes, but this is the line-up we've been playing with the longest. When we started out we all were still in college or just started working, so we had no real responsibilities. But life always happens so people started to shift their priorities. Some couldn't combine our busy schedule with other projects/bands they were doing and others had difficulties combining the band and family/work life. I still have good contacts with all the ex-TSU members. Every now and then someone still fills in. Also Andries (ex-guitar player) co-produced our latest album for me and he still is like the sixth member. The thing is that all current members started out as fill ins and kinda stuck around when somebody left the band. So it almost never felt like you had someone new in the band. It's always guys from inside the family sort of speak. That's also the reason why I kept it going because it still feels like being in a band with friends.

IE: Your latest album is called “This Thing Of Ours” which came out in May. You guys seem to have worked in some more melody over your previous efforts while keeping your overall heavy sound. How has the reaction been from your long time followers?

Raf: We got really good comments on “This Thing Of Ours”. A lot of people dig some of the new elements we brought to our sound. For us it was a natural progression, we always used some melodic elements in the guitar work to create a more layered sound. We just pushed it a bit further with this release and also threw out some extra baggage that overcomplicated the songs. We just wanted to go to the essence of what we liked and it resulted in more straight forward songs. I've always been a fan of heavy music with good melodies and I think we found a good mix on this album.

IE: If the younger version of you from 10 years ago heard “This Thing of Ours” what do you think his reaction would be to it and why?

Raf: I think I would've loved it. I remember when we were recording “The Pretense Of Normality” (our first full length) we were driving home listening to No Warning and just loved their “Suffer Survive” album that just came out.  Ever since then I wanted to make an album like that, being a heavy album with a lot of melody. In the first years I never was the main writer of TSU songs and the songs I wrote had more of our new songs in them. I think over the years it became clearer on how to write good songs and especially create a good song out of an idea. I often had a good idea but lacked skill in really pushing it to the next level. Over the years we grew as a band and just got better in writing better songs.  

IE: The band’s sound has a lot of 90’s hardcore influence to it. Did you personally find hardcore music around this time and what were some of the first bands that you found that you got into?

Raf: We've always been fans of old NY hardcore and we basically grew up in the 90's, so I think it's normal that this sound also reflects in our music. I listen to many different styles of music, so I grew up listening to Sick of it all, Agnostic Front, Bad Brains, Cro-Mags, Madball, but I also listened to more metallic stuff like Unbroken, Merauder, ... also in Belgium we had a big scene who all played what they would call “metalcore”, bands like Congress, Liar, Arkangel, Length of time. So that's all stuff that was going to be reflected in our music.   

IE: What were some of the first records that you bought relating to hardcore/punk/metal? What about early shows that you remember going to?

Raf: My first “hard” releases were “Appetite For Destruction: from Guns ‘N Roses  and “Pump” from Aerosmith. I remember having some Iron Maiden mixtapes an older brother from a friend made for us when I was like 12 or something. From there on l found out more about metal and punk. I really was into punk more than I was into metal. The first hardcore album I had was Suicidal Tendencies' first album. I just loved the aggression and the fast drums but my life really changed when I saw Sick of it All and Madball for the first time. That was something I just loved instantly. I read the thanks lists on their CD's and started to discover a lot of bands on there. They ruined my life, thanks! Haha. 

IE: You guys have 3 videos off of your new album with the best and most thought out one probably being “Walking Blind” mixing live footage with some street skating. Where was the live footage taken?

Raf: The live footage was for the most part taken on the Rebellion Tour we did this year with Madball, Terror, Comeback Kid, Your Demise and AYS. Some other footage was taken during a show in Antwerp, our “hometown”. Since I'm the only one from Antwerp left it isn't really our hometown anymore though haha.

IE: What about the skating footage? Where was that taken and who was the skater being filmed? Did you just take footage from a helmet cam?

Raf: That footage was taken in the streets of Brussels. We had two skaters involved. One to film and one that just came along and ended up being the one who was followed. One had a Go Pro cam on his head and just filmed his own tricks and followed the other one throughout the city. We did the whole thing ourselves, it's a DIY thing. Tim, our drummer did most of the editing and added some effects to hide the fact that we actually have no budget for a video clip haha. We just wanted a video with some extra material besides the cliché live footage. We really hate those videos where a band has to stand in a forest or an abandoned warehouse, so we came up with this. 

IE: What is the hardcore scene like these days in Belgium?

Raf: Belgium is pretty good, it isn't as good as a couple of years ago, but it still has a good scene. The last couple of years some newer bands have been popping up and playing a decent amount of shows in and outside Belgium. One of my favorite bands out of Belgium at the moment is Redemption Denied. Definitely check them out, you won’t regret it!

IE: You guys have played countless shows all over Europe so in your opinion and with your experience what is the best venue and city to play in all of Europe?

Raf: I'm gonna cheat on this one. The best club is one that unfortunately doesn't exist anymore, it was Lintfabriek in Belgium. It had the best hardcore shows I ever witnessed and almost every band that toured Europe has played there. It was one of those spots where sometimes kids from all over Europe showed up. It was also a good hangout spot for smaller local bands. Kids would go there no matter who was playing.  I really miss that place.

IE: The Setup will be a part of the upcoming Destroy Your World European compilation with a ton of bands on it. Can you tell us what your contribution will be and is it all recorded and ready to go?

Raf: Yeah, that will be a cool compilation if I see all those bands on it. It's a good representation of what's currently up in Europe. We didn't have time to record something new. We got asked as we just left the studio recording “This Thing Of Ours”, so for us it's just some tracks from that release.

IE: How many shows would you guess this band has played in its 10 year history and where has touring taken you over that time?

Raf: I think it's over 500 shows all over Europe. We've played some of the biggest clubs and some of the shittiest squats in: Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Bosnia, Serbia, Greece, Poland, United Kingdom, Scotland, Italy, and France.

IE: After playing these songs for the better part of 10 years what gets you motivated the most to get in front of a crowd and play The Setup’s music?

Raf: Just the love for the music basically. There’s nothing I like more than getting on a stage and start playing music you have put your heart in with a bunch of guys you really like and seeing people go nuts on your music. The energy you get from a hardcore show is unique and I wouldn’t wanna trade it for anything else.

IE: Do you think you will ever head over to the US to tour?

Raf: We would love to come to the US, but the fact is that right now it is pretty difficult to do something that is worth doing. I mean I don't think many kids really know us unless they play in a band and toured over here. We don't have anything out on a US label so first I think we need to look for a US label that wants to put something out or if we can work something out with a US band to tour with, then it would make sense to do come over. So any label out there hit me up! haha.