From the time they were formed, Set It Off have never been your standard emo band. Or pop group. Or pop-punk band. They are all of those things and more. Just listen to the lead single “Skeleton” from their new album Elsewhere – moody, melodious pop-rock with fast rapping tearing up the break. The song is about embracing who you are unapologetically and without filters. “Skeleton” epitomizes Set It Off now – a group both fully committed to its roots and diving into its future by embracing inevitable change.

What Elsewhere represents is a band that has come to terms with its true identity and its sense of well-being. Cody Carson no longer worries about chasing fame and putting pressure on himself to replicate past successes. He loves what he does and seeks out new ideas to explore, and if they reap big rewards that’s a bonus. Maxx Danziger stopped repressing unsettled feelings about his life, worked them out in therapy, and now feels rejuvenated.

From the get go, Set It Off have strived to stand out by taking their effervescent studio sound and bringing a rock energy to their shows that takes things to the next level. When the band was creating “Skeleton” in the studio, the jump tempo excited Cody, especially when he anticipated the potential crowd reaction.

“We have heard this so many times throughout our career: ‘We're not really sure where to place you. We're not really sure what type of band you are,’” says Maxx. “And sometimes it ended up working against us. One of our goals for this record is embracing that. When we say we're an alternative band, we mean it in the fullest sense. We are not trying to follow a trend. We're fully trying to find out who Set It Off is without any outside influences.”

To further accentuate their new outlook on life, Set It Off have revamped their image. Cody now sports fuschia hair, Maxx has teal, and their video for “Skeleton” pops with, as the drummer notes, “bright neon colors mixed with macabre imagery. The single art for ‘Skeleton’ is these blues and greens and pinks, and there's the skeleton with slime all over.”

The clip is inspired by imaginative tales like Goosebumps, Beetlejuice, The Matrix, and Alice in Wonderland. “It’s entering a new, strange and exciting world,” continues Maxx. “There are these forces that may try to sway your opinion and knock you off track. But it's the idea of trying to stay focused and blocking out the noise and going, ‘Who am I? What do I want? Where do I want to be?’”

Cody says he is in awe of the visual world that Maxx has created around the album’s photo shoots and videos. “I've realized Maxx has an incredible eye for aesthetics and visuals and overarching themes,” he says. “ It makes so much sense with the music. It's a perfect marriage.”

In the spirit of releasing their art in the world and seeing what happens, Set It Off have created something special on an extra level with Elsewhere.

“We wanted to create a concept album without the songs suffering,” reveals Maxx. “We worked backwards where Cody wrote these songs, and then we listened to them and were able to craft a story out of the topics that he was talking about. So this way, if you just want to listen to the songs, you can enjoy them on their own. But if you want to dive deeper, there is a full story there.”

The story will be integrated across all their media, but they will let their devout fans dissect the symbolism and draw their own conclusions. “Maybe someday down the line we can talk about it,” teases Cody slyly.

Either way, fans will be elated by Set It Off’s latest offering and drawn into the varied moods and worlds of Elsewhere.