Set and Setting's music always wore an oozing, thick layer of haze on it, but a new project from the St. Petersburg band's Shane Handal finds him making noisy grunge-rock with the metronome turned up a notch. Timelost — a group Handal formed with Grzesiek Czapla, bassist for Philadelphia black metal group Woe — released a four-song demo last month, and is working with producer Jeff Zeigler (Kurt Vile, Nothing, War On Drugs) to record a full-length album in August.
"Grzesiek and I have been friends for almost 10 years. He helped book an older band of mine, and we met each other on that tour," Handal, 29, told CL in an email. The pair were fast friends, kept in touch and have become close in the last decade.
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"One day last June we were talking about our frustrations with life and other projects and decided that we should try and start a band together. A year later we have 10 songs written with another in the works," Handal said, adding that Gmail and Garageband were integral as the pair readied to record the demos in Philly.
"We start with an idea and send it to each other, then instruments are added and sent back. Ideas are exchanged and structures are worked on until we are both satisfied," he said. No live dates are set, and Handal thinks fans of both Set and Setting and Woe can approach the new project with fresh ears.
"We have never thought once that we are aiming for our old bands' listeners to think this is a similar project," he said. "We hope that people just enjoy it."
Listen, and read a full Q&A, below. Follow Timelost on Bandcamp, Facebook and Instagram.
Could you talk to me about how you first linked up and then eventually decided to start a band?
Grzesiek and I have been friends for almost 10 years. He helped book an older band of mine, and we met each other on that tour. We have became friends very quickly, have kept in touch and have become close friends over the years. One day last June we were talking about our frustrations with life and other projects and decided that we should try and start a band together. A year later we have 10 songs written with another in the works.
Was the recording process a Dropbox thing, or did you go to Philly?
We have been working and sending each other songs on Garageband and through Gmail, mostly. We start with an idea and send it to each other, then instruments are added and sent back. Ideas are exchanged and structures are worked on until we are both satisfied. For this demo that we just released, I flew to Philly to record them.
Any comment on what you want listeners of Set and Setting + Woe to take away from this project?
We hope that people just enjoy it. We have never thought once that we are aiming for our old bands' listeners to think this is a similar project, but we think that the ones who like our other bands can enjoy this one too.
Any local dates in Tampa Bay coming up?
No dates planned yet, but we are recording a full-length album in August of this year with Jeff Zeigler (Kurt Vile, Nothing) and are planning to take the band on the road in the Spring of 2019. Who knows though, life is weird.
This article appears in Jul 5-12, 2018.