Theset (pronounced 'the set') was founded on the idea that one band would develop material for one set, so that they could play one show.

That was five years, two albums, and one line-up change ago. Since then, they've played with artists like Metric, Sebastien Grainger, and Stutterfly. (Stutterfly no longer exists under that name, but their style was very similar to Theset.) The five guys from Victoria, B.C. can no longer claim to be the novelty they started out as. They are a real band with an ambitious agenda; starting with their national tour.

I gave Martin Macphail (vocals) a call to get the status update on their trek across Canada. (Yep. I just used Facebook terminology to describe a non-Facebook activity.)

It seems like the first thing that any band from the West coast does before traveling across our nation is purchase the necessary winter garments for the trip. In Martin's case, he had just recently became the proud owner of long underwear.

"I have never had to wear it before, on the West coast. They are these spandexy long underwear. They're pretty awesome."

Theset toured across Canada recently in support of their 2005 release, Philosophy of Time Travel, but the guys are just as pumped for this tour.

"I was born and raised in Victoria, actually all the guys were. Going to Vancouver feels like a big city to us. So when we get out on tour and get to see places like Toronto, it's kind of a big deal for us. Also, this time around it is just us for the most part. I mean, we're playing with a few bands locally, but the whole tour is our brainchild."

Since releasing Never Odd Or Even, the band has planned to tour their pants off. Winter schminter!

"As time goes on we're just going to be touring more and more. We're just trying to take advantage of the time we have. We're going across Canada right now in support of the release of our album; but then, coming into the warmer months, we'll definitely be doing a lot of touring as well. We're not getting any younger."

At this point, there is officially no end of touring in sight. Tomorrow night (February 11th, 2009), Theset plays at the Kathedral. I believe that the band's sound is possibly too big for the venue, but that should only make it a better show. But by the sounds of it, if I miss them tonight I could always catch them in the very near future.

Photo courtesy of Management Records